... is what John Berger deftly does in The denial of true reflection . (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
"Günter Grass, aged 15 and dreaming of being a heroic warrior, volunteered to join the army and, when he was 17, accepted to enlist with the Waffen SS. After a few months, having participated in no atrocity - except that of wearing a uniform that rightly provoked an atrocious fear - he became a prisoner of war and started to learn, with horror, what the forces that he had enlisted with had perpetrated."
"That he was naive when he was 17 means only that he was 17."
All of this is probably true, and as true 60 years ago as it is today. So one question is why it took Grass 60 years to get around to mentioning it. But the point is that, having kept it quiet all these decades,Grass never missed an opportunity to lord it over others for much the same thing. He established himself as an exception and turned out not have been exceptional at all. No one is actually condemning Grass for what he did 60 years ago. They are condeming him for his posturing between then and now.
The so-called posturing had its uses. Have a look at my own thoughts at LOWEBROW.
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ReplyDeleteAnd Frank, you're quoting out of context. In the rest of the article Berger goes on to explain his thoughts about Grass's long silence. You may not agree with Berger, or find it a weak argument, but it's there.
ReplyDeleteHi Lee,
ReplyDeleteI guess you mean this:
"To me it is clear that he felt that it was only at this age that he could do any real justice to this incident, which was both a choice and an accident. And by 'do justice' I mean to tell the story without any oversimplification, so that it could encourage true reflection in future readers. He chose the story's time with the courage of a burrowing storyteller."
First, I don't know how it can be clear to Berger how Grass - or anybody else - felt. Second, oversimplification is exactly what Grass's admission has thus far amounted to. I wasn't quoting out of context. I was quoting what I thought was Berger's strongest point. Will check out your blog now.