Dolfi et Marilyn (French for Dolfi and Marilyn) is a French novel by François Saintonge.
20 Minutes into the Future, divorced history professor Tycho Mercier lives with his son Bruno in a small town near Paris. One day when he returns home, he has a strange guest: Adolf Hitler. Of course, it is only a clone, because by the time of the book, you can buy clones of famous dead people and his ex-wife won Hitler in a lottery using his name. Since the A.H.-series is illegal, he tries to get rid of the clone but while doing so, he also gets a clone of Marilyn Monroe. Hilarity Ensues
This book provides examples of:
- Absent-Minded Professor: Tycho sometimes acts like this, but not because he thinks about his studies but because he has so many problems with his private life after he wins Dolfi.
- Adolf Hitlarious: Dolfi looks like Hitler, but his awkward behaviour as a clone gets played for laughs.
- Affably Evil:
- It's not entirely sure if the majority of the people at the Schliffkopf are actually nazis or just paid actors, but the ones Tycho meets seem nice despite never breaking character as SS officers and the like. The SS officer even says he's glad that he (a German) and Tycho (a French) can celebrate Gentschels Third Reich reenactment without worrying about their different nationalities.
- Tycho also suspects this for Dolfi, since he doesn't seem to understand the ideology he talks about and only is a puppet for Gentschel
- Amicable Exes: Tycho and Phoebé are still on good terms despite being divorced because she cheated on him with several men.
- Beautiful Slave Girl: Marilyn, given that all clones are essentially slaves.
- Benevolent Conspiracy: The organisation that searches for the last clone of Adolf Hitler.
- But I Can't Be Pregnant!: Marilyn has a child with Dolfi, though both should be neutered by their manufacturers. Tycho suspected that Marilyn's manufacturer didn't do this, given that she's an illegal copy, but Dolfi came from an official manufacturer of clones, so this was most likely a mistake.
- Capture and Replicate: Hitlers DNA has been destroyed, but Dolfi survives as the last clone, so Gentschel wants to use him to create a dynasty of Hitler clones.
- Clones Are People, Too: One of the main themes of the book. The clones are treated like slaves, but the protagonist often thinks about what they may think and if it is okay how people treat them.
- Creepy Child: Dolfi is only eleven years old, but looks like 35 year old Adolf Hitler.
- Deus ex Machina: The plane with Gentschel and his wive, Pölzl, Dolfi and Marilyn crashes and it's implied that a secred organisation is to blame. The reader learns all of this through the epilogue.
- Differently Dressed Duplicates: When Dolfi first arrives at Merciers house, he wears Lederhosen instead of a more typical nazi uniform.
- Doppelgänger Replacement Love Interest: It is mentioned that some people want clones for this reason, but it's illegal to clone anybody who didn't die at least 70 years ago.
- Eccentric Millionaire: Gentschel until you find out that he is a Nazi and wants to revive the Third Reich.
- Education Mama: Tycho really hopes Bruno will become a historian like him.
- Evil Vegetarian: It's mentioned that Hitler was a vegetarian while Dolfi isn't.
- Expendable Clone: Clones who get called back a liquified. Also, Mercier thinks about buying another Marilyin clone as a substitute for his Marilyn.
- Feminine Women Can Cook: Marilyns talent for cooking is mentioned several times as an example for her attractivity.
- Fiction 500: Gentschel is rich enough to buy some land and found a new country in the middle of Germany.
- Glorified Sperm Donor: Dolfi leaves Marilyn as soon as he finds out that she's pregnant, but later they get married
- Happiness in Slavery: It's not entirely sure, but it seems that their "programming" makes clones unable to not like their situation. Especially Marilyn looks pretty happy as long as she lives with Basompierre and Tycho.
- Historical Domain Character: Both title characters are clones of real historical characters, namely Adolf Hitler and Marilyn Monroe.
- Historical Villain Downgrade: Played with. It's stated very often that Hitler was a monster and what he and the Nazis did was extremely cruel. But Dolfi, Hitlers clone, is obedient and generally a nice guy.
- On another note, Gentschel gives Hitler and the Nazis an in-universe Historical Villain Downgrade as he talks about how they weren't as evil as everybody says and thinks they are the victims of Historical Villain Upgrade and Written by the Winners. Tycho, as a history professor, strongly disagrees.
- Intelligence Equals Isolation: Tycho is a history professor, which implies he's pretty smart, and his only social contacts are his son, his ex-wive and the clones. He even mentions that he doesn't really have any friends.
- Just a Stupid Accent: The clones of Adolf Hitler are produced in France and they are taught to speak French with a ridiculous German accent.
- Last of His Kind: Dolfi is the last known Hitler clone, due to them being outlawed and Hitler's DNA being destroyed.
- Late for School: Bruno when his father sleeps in after a night with Marilyn and fails to wake him.
- Legacy Character: This is how Gentschel plans to make Hitler immortal. He just wants to create new clones as soon as the current one gets to old.
- Like Father, Like Son: Bruno shares Tychos interest in history.
- Make It Look Like an Accident: The plane crash in the epilogue is strongly hinted to be anything but an accident.
- Me's a Crowd: The clones grow up among others of their series.
- Naughty by Night: Tycho and Marilyn have sex nearly every night as long as she lives with him, but don't show any attraction by day.
- Nazi Protagonist: Averted. Adolf Hitler (or Dolfi) is the title character, but he doesn't know much about the real Hitler or the Third Reich.
- Never Say "Die": In-universe: Clones are liquified, which means they get killed.
- No Periods, Period: Averted. When Marilyn doesn't visit Tycho in bed, he suspects she's on her period. Then he wonders if clones are even fertile and have a period. Later, it turns out that she is indeed fertile.
- Organization with Unlimited Funding: What Gentschel has created at the Schliffkopf
- Primal Scene: Tychos son doesn't catch him and Marilyn during sex, but when he sees that she sleeps in his bed, he understands what happened last night.
- Puppet King: Dolfi as chancellor the Schliffkopf. Inverted since everybody knows that Gentschel is behind everything, but they accept Dolfi nonetheless because he looks like Hitler
- Putting on the Reich: The Schliffkopf, Gentschels own little Nazi Germany.
- Really Gets Around: Marilyn had sex with every male character she ever lived with. Also Phoebé, who cheated on Tycho with several men.
- Released to Elsewhere: It's not really known to the public what happens to clones who get called back. When a politician shows it to Tycho, he looses his job.
- Rescue Sex: Since she doesn't know what will happen to her (as an illegal clone) after her owner Basompierre dies, Marilyin views Tycho as her rescuer when he allows her to live with him. And they have sex in the first night of her living with him.
- Science Hero: Downplayed. Tycho is a scientist (a historian) and he is the protagonist, but he isn't really a hero and he doesn't use his knowledge to solve the plot.
- Screw the Rules, I Have Money!: How Gentschel is able to recreate the Third Reich atop the Schliffkopf without anybody intervening
- Servant Race: The clones are treated as this, but genetically they are not different from the free humans.
- Sex Equals Love: Tycho already was somewhat attracted to Marilyin before, but after they had sex, he slowly falls in love with her.
- Sex for Services: This is probably Marilyins reason why she sleeps with Tycho and Dolfi, because they provide her with a home and some protection from prosecution.
- Sex Slave: One of the reasons why people buy clones. Mercier suspects this to be the reason why Basompierre bought Marilyn.
- Sexy Discretion Shot: Only in the next morning the reader learns that Tycho and Marilyin did indeed have sex.
- Single Mom Stripper: Being left alone with her baby after Dolfi leaves her, Marilyin has to resort to this.
- Slave Race: Since the clones are essentially human, they may be counted as slave race instead of Servant Race.
- Stupid Jetpack Hitler: Gentschel is the last surviving person who lived during World War II and wants to use modern technology to revive the Third Reich
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Tycho suspects that Gentschel sees Marilyn as a substitute for Eva Braun since there are no clones of the latter.
- Sweet Tooth: Dolfi likes chocolate a lot.
- 20 Minutes into the Future: The book is set in the year 2060.
- Twin Maker: This his how Gentschel plans to continue his Reich after Dolfi will eventually be to old
- Visit by divorced Mum: The plot gets set in motion when the protagonists son is away with his mother and they win a clone of Adolf Hitler in a tombola. The protagonists ex-wive shows up several times over the course of the book.
- Who's Your Daddy?: When he finds out Marilyn has a child, Tycho wonders if it could be his. This gets disproven pretty fast as he finds out that the child is only a year old and they haven't seen each other for three years.
- You Are Number 6: All (legal) clones have a serial number. Dolfi's is A.H.6. When Tycho finds out that Marilyn doesn't have one, this tips him off that she is an illegal copy.
- You Cloned Hitler!: There are 12 clones of Adolf Hitler which were later made illegal and called back.
