M

M is an aging writer, who has spent most of his long career writing fictional stories concerning World War II. M had one significant success with a “ripped-from-the-headlines” novel based upon the story of Jan Landzaat, a schoolteacher who disappeared soon after he had had an affair with one of his female students. M now faces a dwindling literary reputation and a growing dissatisfaction with and disconnection from the world around him.

The narrator/the neighbor/Herman

Once a student involved in the Landzaat case, Herman is first introduced as the anonymous and voyeuristic downstairs neighbor of M. He repeatedly displays a tendency to be manipulative and detached in his approach to other people, becoming almost sadistic at times in the enjoyment he finds in exploiting the emotions and weaknesses of those around him. He hopes to make contact with M in order to make the author aware...