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Günter Grass (1927–2015)

The Tin Drum announced Grass as a writer who would not let Germany forget. The novel is grotesque, funny, inventive, and relentless in its refusal to look away from what happened. Grass became Germany's literary conscience, a role he inhabited for decades until his 2006 admission that he had served briefly in the Waffen-SS as a teenager. The revelation complicated everything. It did not make his work less important. If anything, it proved his own argument: complicity is everywhere, including in the mirror.

Concepts

agency, alienation, authenticity, conformity, freedom, loneliness, meaning, rebellion, totalitarianism

Quotes (6)

“Even bad books are books and therefore sacred.” — The Tin Drum (1959)
“He who destroys a good book kills reason itself.” — The Tin Drum (1959)
“Art is uncompromising and life is full of compromises.” — Cat and Mouse (1961)
“The job of a citizen is to keep his mouth open.” — Dog Years (1963)
“Believing and devouring — a peculiarly German process.” — The Tin Drum (1959)
“Writing — I can say this after years of practice — is a lonely business.” — Peeling the Onion (2006)