My century

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My century is a book by Günter Grass that looks back on the 20th century in a hundred stories . The story is told from the perspective of different people from all areas of German society - from assembly line workers to professors of biology. The work comprises 384 pages.

content

General information about the stories

There is a short story for every year of the 20th century, the title of which is the year. In it, the historically important events are described, or at least hinted at, parallel to the individual circumstances of the first-person narrator , who is different in almost every story. The stories mostly take place in Germany and are told from the perspective of Germans and foreigners. Some of the stories are autobiographical and reflect Günter Grass' perspective on the important events of the year. Upon closer inspection, all of the stories reflect a critical view of the events illuminated. However, the respective first-person narrator usually does not criticize directly, but rather indirectly reveals in a fluent, conversational tone the inability, disinterest or attitude of people who, on closer inspection, turn out to be heartless, latently xenophobic, selfish, etc.

Summaries

The following stories are summarized as examples:

1914ff .: A young Swiss scientist brings Ernst Jünger and Erich Maria Remarque to a retrospective conversation about the First World War.

1925 : A whining boy cannot be sedated by his family. Since detector devices came into circulation in these years and radio became more popular, the child was given such a device with headphones, whereupon he was withdrawn and quiet. (First-person narrator: the whining child; however, the first-person narrator looks back as an adult)

1935 : Adolf Hitler had more motorways built. This gives a lot of work. But due to their unusual severity, a new disease occurs, the "Schipper disease" (a tear off of the vertebral spinous processes). However, the doctor who discovers them cannot publish them. (First-person narrator: assistant to the doctor)

1951 : A citizen of the GDR writes a letter to the VW works, which recently let their 5 millionth car off the assembly line because, just because they live in the GDR, they can't get a VW despite prepayment. (First-person narrator: the GDR citizen)

1973 : A grandmother talks about her sons-in-law, all of whom are car fans. They are upset that there is an oil crisis . Then everyone goes for a walk together. The sons-in-law complain about walking as they prefer to drive. (First-person narrator: grandmother)

1985 : A grandmother gives her grandson information about her everyday life, as he has to write a master's thesis entitled “The everyday life of seniors”. She tells of her loneliness after the death of her grandfather, while the neighbor, Mrs. Scholz, takes on the role of caring force. Incidentally, the old ladies watch entertainment programs like Dallas , the Black Forest Clinic and Lindenstrasse . They also like sports, especially tennis with Boris Becker and Steffi Graf, who were successful at the time . The old lady's chatter reveals how the Beimer family and other television families are replacing the human relationships that apparently no longer exist between her, her son, and her grandson. The story focuses on the loneliness of old people in Germany.

1991 : Two people watch TV together and discuss current events. You mean z. For example, that the Gulf War that CNN is broadcasting is like a good show to Europeans and Americans, and that the trigger for war is often oil.

1993 : A small police officer from the former GDR reports on changes that have occurred since reunification, in particular the emergence of right-wing extremists, the resulting disorientation of the police and problems with the “know-it-all” West. Between the lines, the official mourned the conditions in the GDR, he turned out to be latently xenophobic with regard to the attacks on the foreigners' dormitories in Hoyerswerda and Solingen and he did not believe in the expressions of solidarity with the weak. In the end, however, the man shows himself to be a victim of reunification.

1995 A radio reporter reports live from the Love Parade in Berlin, which is taking place for the seventh time, with its excesses: half-naked, stylish visitors, mountains of rubbish, deafening loud music. The statements of some young people make it clear that the Love Parade is the festival of a society addicted to fun. Their only endeavor is to dance in ecstasy in designer outfits with “Tschaka Tschaka Tschaka”. Everyone thinks they are individualists, but their outfits are adopted by the fashion industry. Nobody is interested in the war that is taking place in the Balkans at the same time. In his comments, the reporter ignored positive statements: joie de vivre, guests from all over the world, longing for peace ... ( report )

style

The book has no introduction , you are - as usual with short stories - put directly into the first event. The varied writing style is often permeated with colloquial expressions or colored by dialect . The years of the two world wars stand out because the narrator and location are retained here. Some stories are told in retrospect so that the year of the chapter does not coincide with when it was told.

reception

Horst Königstein staged My Century for the Hamburg Thalia Theater .

expenditure

literature

  • Volker Neuhaus : Günter Grass: My Century . In: interpretations. Novels of the 20th century. Vol. 3. Reclam, Stuttgart 2003 ( RUB ), pp. 320-332.
  • Volker Neuhaus: Günter Grass: My Century - 1934 [monologue by SS man Ehardt, adjutant of the Oranienburg camp commandant Theodor Eicke , about the murder of Erich Mühsams ]. In: interpretations. German short prose of the present. Edited by Werner Bellmann and Christine Hummel. Reclam, Stuttgart 2006 ( RUB ), pp. 236-243.
  • Volker Neuhaus: Günter Grass: My Century - 1970 [monologue by a journalist who hates Willy Brandt and Egon Bahr about Willy Brandt's kneeling in front of the memorial for the Warsaw Ghetto]. In: interpretations. German short prose of the present. Edited by Werner Bellmann and Christine Hummel. Reclam, Stuttgart 2006 ( RUB ), pp. 244-249.