Hannibal (novel)

Hannibal is a novel by Thomas Harris and a continuation of the world success The Silence of the Lambs , in which the author describes the further - also common - fate of the protagonists Hannibal Lecter and the FBI agent Clarice Starling.

In terms of content, the novel represents the last part of the plot about Hannibal Lecter. It follows Hannibal Rising , Roter Drache and Das Schweigen der Lämmer .

content

So many people - officials as well as criminals - are killed in an operation led by Federal Police Officer Clarice Starling that at the behest of the highest representative of her authority at the Ministry of Justice, she has to devote herself to minor tasks until further notice, such as who is selling documents and souvenirs dealing with the escaped psychiatrist Hannibal Lecter. In the meantime, Mason Verger, the morally and physically degenerate heir of a butcher's empire, is looking for him with a high bounty promise to take revenge for a severe mutilation that Hannibal persuaded him to do while intoxicated. An Italian detective discovers the wanted Dr. in the new curator of the Florentine Capponi library. Lecter and plans to get hold of him with the help of Sardinian kidnappers. A pornographer is then given the task of filming for the heir of the butcher's empire how Hannibal is eaten alive by wild pigs. The kidnapping attempt fails because of Hannibal's agility.

The detective is killed and the filmmaker is eaten by the pigs himself. Hannibal escapes to America. Clarice Starling is increasingly developing a feeling for his exclusive way of life. The highest representative of her authority at the Ministry of Justice, Paul Krendler, is meanwhile won over by the heir of the butcher's empire with the promise to finance his election campaign for a political office, to deliver Hannibal in the event of his capture in any case to the personal revenge of the heir of the butcher's empire .

Clarice's soulmate instinct brings her very close to Hannibal when Hannibal is kidnapped, and she follows the trail to the estate of the heir to the butcher's empire. There, the feeding of Hannibal has been meticulously prepared by pigs specially trained for this purpose. Clarice succeeds in intervening and freeing Hannibal, with almost everyone involved sooner or later finding a cruel end. Mason dies at the hand of his sister Margot. She puts his moray eel in her brother's mouth, which tears him apart. Then she lays Hannibal's hair, which she had torn out earlier, on the bed because Hannibal advised her to do so. Only the corrupt representative of Clarice's agency at the Ministry of Justice, Paul Krendler, who always assaulted Clarice, is what Hannibal saves for a special dinner with her. He and Clarice devour Krendler's brain, slice by slice, after Hannibal drugged him and removed the top of his skull. Krendler's behavior becomes more and more childish due to the reduction of his brain and is perceived by the two as disturbing. That's why Hannibal kills him with a targeted shot of his crossbow in the heart.

Then she goes on a world tour with the incidentally wealthy Hannibal, who has fallen in love with her, later she moves with him to a luxurious house near the French embassy in Argentina.

filming

In 2001 the novel was made into a film by Ridley Scott , but with an ending that was acceptable for Hollywood. In Hannibal , Julianne Moore and Anthony Hopkins played the roles of Clarice Starling and Hannibal Lecter. Apart from the modified ending, the characters Jack Crawford and Margot Verger in Hannibal have also been removed from the plot.

Expenses (selection)

• Thomas Harris: Hannibal . Delacorte Press, New York 1999, ISBN 0-385-29929-X .
• Thomas Harris: Hannibal . From the American. by Ulrich Bitz. Heyne-Verlag, Munich 1999, ISBN 3-453-43170-7 .
• Thomas Harris: Hannibal . From the American by Ulrich Bitz. Hoffmann & Campe, Hamburg 1999, ISBN 3-455-02688-5
• Thomas Harris: Hannibal . Audiobook, abridged version. Read by Hansi Jochmann. Heyne-Verlag, Munich 1999, ISBN 3-453-17053-9