belated book review on an edition from someone we all knew.

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Günter Grass – The Tin Drum.

 

This novel that reads like a fantastic voyage through life in Germany from the 1930’s through the end of the War and reconstruction in Western Europe, could be a straight biography of a person who spent his life in various hospitals and asylums, though a number of the details of the story (the standard edition is over five hundred pages) are so out – of – the – ordinary as to call for a fictive and colourful version of a story of a single protagonist Oskar Matzerath.  Oskar, in his childhood, acquired a drum that he replaces with larger and larger versions of the same drum at different points in his life.  The adventures he traverses replacing the drum sometimes are interesting, sometimes humourous and can be even haunting.  The symbolism of the drum is lost on simple readers like me, though the same symbolism might apply to the drum in Grass’ story of Matzerath as bells pealing in other novels, or the “Te Deum” in Shakespeare, or even the stars of David required to be worn by Jews during the Holocaust.  It is perhaps left to each individual reader, the again separate and individual significance of the key image of the novel, Oskar’s drum, that is the subject of various threads through twentieth century German history, antics, again adventures, humour, resentment from others and the like.

 

The novel takes place mostly in Poland, though there is train travel everywhere in Europe the Poles and Germans in the day found themselves.  The book begins with Oskar’s childhood, his relationship with his parents’ parent, his parents, and others that paints a portrait of ordinary life in pre – War Central Europe.  The images of his family are captivating indeed as the customs and mories, and the family – centrism of the old world that have been lost are brought out in great relief.  This is followed by a traversing of the 1933 anti – Jewish laws in Germany and Austria and this period of pogroms in those territories and in Poland as well.  All this time, and partially due to Oskar’s relationship with his drum and other circumstances, Oskar tells his story from the point of view of a mental patient; nonetheless one who is allowed to circulate, see family and friends, have relationships, and whereas his stays in the world with people are temporary if not ephemeral, his relationship to the hospital on most occasions is largely the same.  The text is also full of stories about what goes on in mental hospital psych. units, and there is an entire spate of these anecdotes where Oskar does manage each time, as in his life’s adventures outside an institution, to emerge more or less unscathed with his drum under his arm.  

 

Just before 1940, the Germans attack Poland and Oskar is in a number of battle scenes where his town is destructively attacked by blitzkrieging Wehrmacht and other German military units, resulting in the death and devastation of many of his friends.  There is also the issue in Poland of the Russian army in the partition of the country by the Axis powers and Russia at the time.  Apparently, the Russian army meted out equal devastation as the Germans.  This, along with other images of the war and the operations of concentration camps, the battle scenes, atrocities and the like, has the makings of a long, extremely destructive, interminably bloody nightmare.  The War ends and Oskar takes up different jobs and the like in attempts to continue his life in the post – Axis era with his drum under his arm.  People do express curiosity at the adult Oskar and his drum, and responses to his interlocutors range from his declaring himself a musician to “none of your business” – type declarations given the pestering questions of officious characters. 

 

From the detailed illustration at the beginning of the plot of his family and friends and younger life, through the brutal nightmare of the nazi era, to the post – War era that takes up the latter part of Book Two and Book Three, Oskar maintains his drum playing and his life in and out of hospitals.  He pursues different jobs and has some measure of success with a number of endeavours; all the time maintaining principal focus on his instrument.  The thematics of his family relationships and details, and the grotesque and violent images of the Holocaust carry through and influence the latter part of the plot where Germany recovers from the devastation of WWII to become economically and politically formidable again in a free world where fascism is on the dustbin of history.  Oskar winds his way through various adventures that are colored by the destruction of the war and the ostracism of the Central European powers, including some of the influential figures of the time as hailing from his native Poland.  The emotional and psychological images due to this throughout the text are important to read through, and are fantastic and unreal in the respect that Oskar has no point of reference for his notions as narrated as they are, and his mind meanders through various themes and related and unrelated images showing the great art and authenticity of Grass’ prose and his use of Oskar as a mouthpiece for these meaningful themes and images, dreams and experiences themselves in view of  20^th century military conflict, and with the eventuality of the end of the 1939 – 1945 War.  An excellent read for anyone honestly concerned by these issues.    Oskar toward the end of the plot participates in various travels, relationships, and has influences that eventually render him histrionic, i.e., whereas he comes to fear a ubiquitous “Black Witch,” and provokes various incidents of which declaring himself “Jesus” before police authorities during some of his travels.  Overall, this book and its author post mortem, are an excellent profile of the magical and metaphysical that surround those individuals and groups of people affected, damaged and cast out as the result of the inanity and brutality of 20th century conflict.