Günter Grass is a versatile artist and a colossal literary, cultural and political figure in Germany. He has received several major awards for his work, including the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1999. More than that, for decades he occupied the uneasy position of soul-searcher, conscience-keeper and moral voice of postwar Germany.
Grass stormed the literary scene in 1959 with The Tin Drum, his first novel. Set largely in Danzig, the novel traverses the rise of Nazism, the devastation of the Second World War and its aftermath through the grotesque perspective of Oskar Matzerath, its child protagonist, who refuses to grow. It was followed by Cat and Mouse and Dog Years, the next two instalments of the Danzig Trilogy.
Grass kicked up a storm when he admitted in his semi-autobiographical work Peeling the Onion, published in 2006, that, at seventeen, he had briefly served in the Waffen-SS. The Box is a fictionalised memoir, seemingly presented through the voices of his eight children and stepchildren.
“Once upon a time there was a father, who, having grown old in years, called together his sons and daughters —four, five, six, eight in all. For a long time they resisted, but in the end they granted his wish. Now they are seated round a table and all begin to talk at once, all products of their father’s whimsy, using words he has put in their mouths, yet obstinate, too, determined not to spare his feelings despite their love for him.”
The scene recurs across the nine chapters of the book. These fictional meetings of his sons and daughters reveal the thinly veiled guilt of an author who neglected his children and wives while consumed by literary and political obsessions. He kept retreating under the eaves to the company of his typewriter, or vanishing on political missions, even as the family went downhill “till there was nothing more to be done”. Such unsavoury details might be viewed more indulgently through the lens of adulthood, so Grass allows his grown children to regress into whimsical quasi-caricatures of their younger selves. “But what does it mean to be adults? Regression is permissible.” The device also puts Grass on his favourite pitch.
Regressed and self-stunted characters are Grass’s forte. The conceit allows him to unleash characters who can sail through the sombre and the ominous on wings of sarcasm and dark humour. So his five sons and three daughters regress into their childhood selves, remembering quarrels and bickering, joys and sorrows, neglect and misery. Apart from their celebrity father, they keep reminiscing about Mariechen, the photographic chronicler of the family with her Agfa box camera.
“The air quivers with things unspoken. Only gradually do the brothers and sister wend their way into the confused tangle of their childhood. Their speech regresses, sometimes animated, sometimes irritable. They insist that their feelings are still hurt.”
For all their grievances, however, the children do not see themselves merely as victims of their father’s fame. They remember how success brought them a spacious house after The Tin Drum. They are also quick to defend him when recalling the attacks that greeted some of his later works. They resent his critics and recall how he repeatedly returned to “everything he knew about war, the things that terrified him…. Then, when the country was in ruins, how he had to clear rubble, and the growing hunger.”
Grass has employed the character of Mariechen, based on his family friend Maria Rama, to whom the book is dedicated, to remarkable effect. The brooding, quirky photographer remains a constant presence amid the changing configuration of wives and children. Her camera is as omniscient as she is omnipresent in the family, snapping away at Grass’s behest or of her own sweet will. The box has miraculous powers of digging up history and projecting the future. It can read desires, fulfil wishes and reprimand too. Countless prints from the camera crowd the author’s desk, kicking off memories and remonstrations, kindling insights and inspirations.
Dark, decaying, shuttered-up and war-ravaged apartments turn up in the resulting print with windows draped in white curtains, the sun streaming through onto potted plants and birdcages with canaries. Putrefying kitchens turn up laden with sumptuous food. Children frolicking in bunkers by a riverside are metamorphosed into soldiers, complete with helmets and gas masks, by Mariechen’s box. Children attempting raucous music in a basement appear on stage à la the Rolling Stones, fan mobs and all. The box becomes an ingenious instrument of memory and invention, repairing what was broken, conjuring what never happened and anticipating what might yet come. It foretells the children’s possible futures with disturbing clarity. This prescient box with a few screws loose is nothing less than the author’s own vision and, at times, a mirror held up to society.
The Box is a clever work by an author and political activist who prosecutes and defends himself at the same time. The jury of ‘regressing’, snapping, biting and bantering children takes cognizance of Grass’s neglect of his family and his extramarital liaisons, but ultimately acquits him without serious censure. The children not only summon glimpses of Germany over the years, including Grass’s disapproval of events such as the erection of the Berlin Wall, but frequently echo his views as well. “I assume the media jackals wanted him to write about the past and not about the present.” In submitting himself to their reproof, Grass performs an atonement of sorts for his excesses. Their reminiscences often give voice to his emotions and, at times, serve to explain his stances. The central voice of The Box, then, is that of Günter Grass himself, who, like Oskar before him, knows that growing up is a complicated business and, in his twilight years, decides to put a few things in perspective.
The Box: Tales from the Darkroom
Author: Günter Grass
Translation: Krishna Winston
Publisher: Random House
Pages: 194
One Grain Amongst the Storm 
I have not read Grass before. You are lucky as you get to read such wonderful versatile authors.194 pages is a slim volume but it seems to pack a lot of punch.
You know what Alka, reading translated editions of classics originally written in French, German, Russian, Chinese et al, I feel like a wingless bird. How I wish I could learn those languages and read those works in original. But life is too short, made shorter still by an unforgiving work schedule. Fortunately, Krishna Winston has done a fabulous transcription of The Box. However, it would be best to initiate oneself in Grass by reading The Tin Drum.
I have heard of him..Came to the Kolkata Book Fair a couple of years ago if I am not wrong..Maybe,i will pick this one up!
That’s right, Nabadip. Grass is reported to have stayed in Kolkata for six months and drawn quite a few sketches.
Having just read the Millennium trilogy, picked this up today. Seems to be along similar lines
I have not read the said trilogy although a volume of that sits on my shelf. I believe The Box is a fundamentally different work.
Due to my lack of literary knowledge, I would have never heard of authors like Günter Grass, I am glad I get to know now because of your awesome reviews. I had mentioned in my Blogoversary post about how I learned what great “writing” is after reading the blogs of few bloggers here, well one of the obvious reference was your blog. 🙂
I am glad to be a messanger of exquisite writing, gladder still to have made a mark with you. Thank you, Akshay, for your kind words.
Never read GG.
Well crafted insights into the man’s life, his persona and oeuvre. Reading your articles opens more windows into the world of literature and they also tell me how little I have read.
Thank you for this piece.
Grass is a powerful chronicler of his times. His unique vision and humour showcase and ridicule the most unpalatable of truths with unflinching vividness. As for littleness of efforts, this is what Issac Newton said, “I was like a boy playing on the sea-shore, and diverting myself now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me.” Do I need to say more?
Message is loud & clear, my friend. Going to make amends. 🙂
Now that you remind me of it, it is loud and clear to me too! 🙂
no one can write a book review like you. you put everything in it! even though i am happy as long as i see updates here but you deliver more than what is expected of a blog.
Now that is just about the grandest compliment I got this year, or the year before, or the year prior to the year before, or the year that occurred earlier than prior to the year before! May God bless you, Deb!
Another great review. You are indeed reading lots of serious litrature. This is an author I have at least heard of – I have heard of Tin Drum. Maybe some time I will get to these serious authors. I read Dyotovsky, Tolstoy and all for some time. But they are all good to read during the carefree days of college. I find myself needing something lighter now after the stres at office.
That is so true, TF. Reading is best enjoyed in carefree days. I have fond memories of living in the worlds of Shakespeare, Thomas Hardy, D H Lawrence, Tolstoy, Asimov et al. There are many books I’d like to read again. Sadly, the lightness of those days may never return and we must learn to squeeze in the reading amidst the pulls and pushes of life.
I also love to read lighter stuff but I usually gravitate towards the knottier, heavier strains and travails of humanity.
It is always good to know about new authors and there works through your wonderful lens, though only my ignorance makes them new. Thanks a lot for introducing one more literary stalwart. My wishlist is expanding.
No one is an ignorant, Meenakshi. Everyone’s exposure is sufficient and fulfilling towards the prevailing perspective. One can always go ahead and explore newer vistas and sky is the limit. Wish you well with your wishlist. Thank you, too.
I haven’t read any of Günter Grass’ works, but this somehow seems to be a little on the dark side for me. I must say you really read a wide range of books and that’s truly admirable.
Günter Grass started writing inside out of the Nazi regime. Few things could get darker than that. Thanks for your kind thoughts.
I am forced to repeat myself, Uma! You have this fabulous ability to recreate the mood of a book in your reviews. To be very honest, I enjoy reading these reviews of yours far more than I’d enjoy reading the book – considering my taste for light literature.
Those are reassuring words, Suresh. It is an honour to receive such a compliment from you. That said, The Box is as light a book as they come!
Thanks for this review. I have added a few of his books in my wishlist in Flipkart which now is longer than the list of Abhishek Bachchhan’s flops.
I don’t know about Abhishek Bachchan but at the rate we are wishlisting books at Flipkart they would be soon requiring dedicated servers for the wish-carts alone!
I’d urge you to go ahead with Grass. Do pick up Breon Mitchel’s translation of The Tin Drum. It is said to be closer to Grass’s sparkling German prose.
Heard about Grass in the Kolkata Book Fair, this review will keep me interested in his works now. Good job Uma for telling us why we cannot miss him
That’s right, Arnab. Grass is an unmissable phenomenon. Do pick up his works sometime.
Sounds like a lovely book! I have not read anything by Grass but if I see anything now I am surely going to read it.
You will feel enriched!
I haven’t read him but I have watched The Tin Drum. It happens to be my favorite. Thanks for introducing me to this incredible writer 🙂
You don’t need to be introduced to Grass if you have watched The Tin Drum. And Purnendu, you are bang on: he is an incredible writer.
An excellent review. Yes, Grass has been somewhat controversial of late. Still, a great writer.
I’m glad you approve, Marina. I believe Grass has written about himself after ‘The Box’ yet again. Thank you.
Wow.. u read writers from all across the globe.. Good to know about Grass and this one looks a great read.
It does widen your horizon, doesn’t it?
Günter Grass is one of my favourite authors, but I haven’t yet read The Box. An excellent review that makes me want to read the book.
Grass is a compelling writer. Do read it, sir. Thank you for your kind words.