[NP] Grass & beyond

[Terrance F. Flaherty]

Grass says that after The Tin Drum (and becoming famous) "[I] didn't need to stoke
the furnace any more while writing. Since then I've found it harder to write." And
he refers to "Potato Peelings" (the original title for Dog Years) as "short-winded
project."

Anyway, I always think of Van Gogh's Potato Eaters.

"I'm against revolutions...I am a revisionist and worse--I am a social democrat."

Grass (1969)

Lorentzen / Nicklaus wrote:

>  Of course, Grass is very famous. Furthermore, Mr. P. has probably read him.
>  Fine. Nevertheless, I have great difficulties to accept him as the adequate
>  representative of contemporary German literature on this list. There are better
>  people! Personally I like only the first 2/3 of the "Blechtrommel". Over the
>  years, the books of Grass got worse and worse. And his, well, 'political
>  thinking' is hopelessly overestimated. Today in this country he is read mainly
>  by boring old SPD-voters & by nostalgic East Germans. Not exactly my kind of
>  people.
>
>  Who are the better comtemporary German writers? Wolfgang Koeppen, Paul Celan,
>  Arno Schmidt, Ingeborg Bachmann, Uwe Johnson, Hubert Fichte, Rolf Dieter
>  Brinkmann & Rainald Goetz. Except for the lastnamed they're all physically
>  dead. But their writings are alive! You may check that out. Unfortunately, I
>  don't know about translations.
>
>  Strongly reading, Kai