R.I.P Gunter Grass

[Myshkin]

The world lost a giant today, and he will be missed.

[Happy Ent]

Fitting. Around the time that the last Osram 60 watt light bulbs are fading, this giant of the German language leaves us as well.

Word of the day: Wortgewalt.

[Neumond]

R.I.P

Few characters got me as much as Oswald Brunies.

Thank you for reminding us, how cruel a man-made world can be.

[King Tyrion I]

The world lost a giant today, and he will be missed.

Fitting. Around the time that the last Osram 60 watt light bulbs are fading, this giant of the German language leaves us as well.

Word of the day: Wortgewalt.

Oh, yeah.

Well said.

R.I.P.

I really enjoyed reading "The tin drum".

[benpeek]

A very fine and excellent authoe. RIP.

[Crowjack]

An interesting and worthy literary career.

I do find it interesting that his Nazi past is ignored/readily forgiven.

A complicated man for sure.

[King Tyrion I]

An interesting and worthy literary career.

I do find it interesting that his Nazi past is ignored/readily forgiven.

A complicated man for sure.

Let's put it like this:

It wasn't that readily forgiven. It caused an uproar when people over here found out about his past.

He was actively rooting for the social democrats - and did it with conviction.

You should perhaps read the so-called "Danzig trilogy" including "The tin drum".

[Gasp of Many Reeds]

An interesting and worthy literary career.

I do find it interesting that his Nazi past is ignored/readily forgiven.

A complicated man for sure.

Yeah, that whole issue's a bit of a non-starter to be frank. Grass did a lot to encourage the literary turn towards honestly assessing the Nazi legacy in Germany. I think he kept his brief SS membership quiet until late on as it would still be too toxic an issue when he was raising the issue of the Nazi past to admit it. So hypocrisy maybe (he wasn't as open about his own collaboration as he asked others to be), but hypocrisy that was understandable given the hypocritic standards of '60s German critical culture (which was very much about a younger generation criticising the collaboration of its parents on the basis of claimed higher moral ground, even though most of these critics did grow up under Nazism and often passively accepted Nazi society).

I think it was also understandable once he did establish himself as a major part of this critical literary movement that he kept quiet given not just the personal damage he would face but also the Cold War issue of the East German claim that the Westies had never rooted out Nazism. Once the Cold War was over and the issue of Nazi collaboration had faded with the issue of Stasi collaboration being more paramount, admitting his Nazi past had fewer personal repercussions and no significant political ones. Plus he was already an old man by that time, so I guess he felt society would be gentler to him on the issue, and at worst he wouldn't have to live with the resultant criticism all too long.

But I think it should be emphasised that he did ultimately open up about his collaboration, and whilst there might be an argument that he did so to prevent the hoo-ha that would result if it came out otherwise, e.g. through journalistic investigation, I think it shows that he was very troubled by it and did want to let it be known eventually. Mind you, I get the impression that much of his earlier work did contain confessions of collaboration, e.g. The Tin Drum's Oscar (a definitely semi-autobiographical character) is not just a victim of circumstance or fooled by propaganda, but rather plays an active role in his own infantalisation, which mirrors the infantalisation of Germany as it succumbs to Nazism.

[King Tyrion I]

^ Could you please put in some paragraphs?

I find it very hard to read your post.

Thank you.

[Myshkin]

Grass was always very open about the fact that in his youth he was a true believer, but of course that was before he, or most people, knew the true extent of the Nazi depredations. It's also generally accepted that those of his generation, those who grew up under Nazi rule, bombarded since childhood with Nazi propaganda, don't bear the same level of responsibility as those of older generations.

What he hid was the fact that he fought for the Waffen-SS. Hypocrisy for sure, since he spent most of his career forcing the German public to face their Nazi past. But as I understand it he didn't enlist with the Waffen-SS; he was conscripted into the Labor Service, then basically drafted into the Waffen-SS.

Now it's hard for me as a complete outsider to understand the political intricacies of post war Germany, but I've heard it said that the outrage over Grass' revelation had more to do with his politics after the war than with his politics during the war. Namely that he 1) spoke out against the rapid reunification of Germany, and 2) was critical of the Israeli hard-liners. These two stances earned him plenty of political enemies, who were only too happy to label him a Nazi, and end the discussion there.

[The Marquis de Leech]

I've only read The Tin Drum, but I found it highly memorable. R.I.P. :(

[Caius Cassius]

RIP. The Tin Drum and The Fish were both really unique books that stick with you. Granted, I have a thing for magical realism.