The Tin Drum by Günter Grass made a big impression on me when I first read it 20 years ago and it’s high on my list of books to reread. Crabwalk is not as good, but is much shorter and plays on familiar Grass themes, namely post war German society and its attitudes. Grass uses the little-know worst maritime disaster in history, the sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff by a Russian submarine in January 1945, with the loss of over 9,000 lives, as the fulcrum for his story. The narrator is Paul Pokriefke, a washed up writer whose patron pushes him to write a book about the disaster, mainly because Paul was born on the Gustloff the night it sank, before being rescued with his mother Tulla. During the course of his research, Paul comes across a website that glorifies the person for whom the ship was named, a staunch Nazi who was assassinated by a Jewish student in 1936. It turns out the website is run by Paul’s teenage son, Konrad, heavily influenced by grandmother Tulla, who thinks the Gustloff story should be widely told and reminisces about the happy days when it was a cruise ship subsidized by the Nazis. Konrad’s right wing dogma is opposed by the arguments of his chat room rival, a Jew. Their back and forth arguments and interaction contrast the scenes describing the real Gustloff and his Jewish assassin, David Frankfurter.

Grass uses three generations of characters to skillfully paint a picture of German attitudes and where they are going since the war ended. There is Paul’s mother Tulla and his mysterious patron who could be Paul’s father or Grass himself. This generation that lived through the war recognizes the suffering of the German people and want their story told, rather than dwelling on a guilty past and keeping quiet. There is Paul’s generation who have an overwhelming sense of guilt and never want to talk about the war. And there is the next generation who are starting to ask questions, who want to know more. This latter generation’s opinions are driven in two very different directions, fueled by the silence of their parents; the right wing using past guilt and non-recognition of German suffering as a platform for Neo-Nazi doctrine and the left wing who want to take responsibility for Germany’s past and speak openly about it. The two viewpoints are represented by young Konrad and his opponent, who expound both sides of the Gustloff sinking story to further their arguments (the Gustloff was also carrying hundreds of German auxiliary naval personnel, although their numbers were dwarfed by the overwhelming number of civilian refugees on board).

While probably not Grass’s best work, Crabwalk does paint a realistic picture of the gamut of German attitudes towards the war. I've heard the same arguments from German friends. It still remains relevant today 20 years after its publication, even more so with the rise of the political right and anti-immigration movement not only in Germany but in Europe as a whole. ( )

Ingadoztam, mint xenofób szocialista a kvótanépszavazás előtt, hogy ez most négy csillag, vagy négy meg egy fél. Mert egyrészt nem sok van benne a nyelvi síkok csodás karneváljából, amiért Grasst becsülöm, és amivel Grass olyan inspirálóan tudja megkínozni az embert – másfelől viszont a tartalom (a) meg a forma (b) nagyon is rendben van, és hát Grass elég jó író ahhoz, hogy már ennyiből tisztességes regényt üssön össze. (Vagy tisztességtelent. Az irodalomban ez utóbbi is tud bók lenni.) Talán mire megírom eme értékelést, eldöntöm. Úgyhogy legyen még pár mondat.

a.) A tartalom: a könyv mélyén egy pedáns történelmi tanulmány rejlik Wilhelm Gustloffról, a szabályszerűen megmerényelt náci tisztviselőről, valamint a róla elnevezett hajóról, ami csúf véget ért 1945 januárjában: egy szovjet tengeralattjáró torpedója a tenger fenekére küldte – nagyobb baj, hogy ebben a pillanatban fedélzetén menekültek ezrei tartózkodtak, köztük jelentős számban gyermekek. A világháború iránt érdeklődök számos korrekt információt kiszemelgethetnek belőle mártírképzéssel, Harmadik Birodalom jóléti intézkedéseivel, haditengerészettel, és az orosz előretörés által előidézett menekültáradattal kapcsolatban – ha valami felfelé billenti a csillagozásomat, ezek az adatok lesznek azok. A lényeg azonban nem ez, hanem a sérelmi gondolkodás folyamatának kialakulása – így lesz a könyv példabeszéd arról, hogyan sodorják katasztrófába a szélsőségre hajló elmét a kibeszéletlen traumák.
b.) A forma: súlyos dolgok ezek, Grass nem is vállalkozik arra, hogy maga beszéljen róluk – ő csupán saját regényének marginális mellékszereplője (az Öreg) marad. Ráklépésben közelít a témához: megteremt egy elbeszélőt, aki pont a hajó süllyedésekor jött a világra. A születés helye és ideje nem mindegy – talán az a terv, hogy narrátorunk szimbolikusan feloldja a tömeghalál feszültségét azzal, hogy élni kezd. Csak hát az a baj, hogy erre nem képes: túl gyenge hozzá. Ahogy – attól tartok – Grass is túl gyenge ahhoz, hogy választ adjon a kérdésekre, az irodalom eszközeivel megváltson áldozatokat és bűnösöket – még az sem sikerül neki, hogy egyáltalán elkülönítse őket egymástól. De azt hiszem, ez érthető – ehhez a munkához (Grass szerint legalábbis) senki sem lehet elég erős. Mert nincs feloldozás, nincs megoldás, sőt Grass részéről még állásfoglalás is alig van… No mondjuk ez hiányzott, az állásfoglalás. Tudom, tudom, az írói állásfoglalás voltaképpen mindig az olvasó korlátozása, de mégis… Jól esett volna. És ennek elmaradása (így végiggondolva) lentebb is pöcköli a csillagokat. ( )

A very interesting book. ( )

I listened to an unabridged compact disc edition with spoken narration by George Guidall (ISBN 9 781841 978932).

The author captures the plaintive tone of the protagonist in this first-person narrative which is draining but rewarding. The narrator recounts the history of his family in particular the events leading up to the arrest of his son accused of a serious crime. At the same time, telling stories of the Germans in Eastern Europe through World War II and the aftermath.

Spoken narrator comments: Mature male, United States English accent. Pronounces German words well. Cadences sound like a German speaker (strong stress is realistic but sometimes sounds like a speech synthesizer in English).
Translation gripe: I don't know the German cognate of "leftist".

(SPOILERish)
A quote I liked went something like "if we use few words, we will get to the end sooner" which succeeded the narrator's comments that thoughts and motivations are locked up in other's head's, inaccessible to us (towards the end of the work). I didn't write it down :/ Does anyone know the exact quote? If the German source is quotable, a quote in German would suffice.
( )

"History, or, to be more precise, the history we Germans have repeatedly mucked up, is a clogged toilet. We flush and flush, but the shit keeps rising."

I found Crabwalk to be very compelling. Grass explores the dangers of an obsession with one's identity and history, especially in combination with isolation and the Internet, which enables people to absorb themselves in wallowing and battling with their fellow obsessives. This phenomenon is not unique to Germans.

Tulla Pokriefke, a survivor of the Gustloff sinking, and her grandson Konrad are desperate for some official acknowledgment of the tragedy, but the memorial to Gustloff the man was torn down decades ago. Tulla can't stop reliving the events, and her stories become a sort of poison for her grandson.

Crabwalk raises a lot of interesting questions, particularly in light of the debates in Germany over war and holocaust memorials. Would a monument to the Gustloff have brought peace to Tulla? Would it have prevented her son from running away from his mother and her history? Would it have prevented her grandson from falling into a dangerous obsession? ( )