Psychoanalytic Understanding of The Novel, 'The Tin Drum'

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to make a psychoanalytic investigation on the novel, ‘The tin drum’ which was written by the Gunter Grass. For this purpose, I made a summary of the contents of the novel, and introduced Gunter Grass’s autobiography which appears in his work, ‘Peeling the onion.’ I examined his personal history. Gunter Grass subtly expressed his unresolved oedipal conflicts in his autobiography. I have tried to analyze and interpret his novel with regard to his unresolved oedipal complex which contains and connotes multiple meanings such as patricide, love toward his mother, triangular relationships, anger, jealousy, guilt, omnipotent fantasy, masochism, regression, fixation, further development and sublimation.