'Weil Die Geschichte Nicht Aufhort': Gunter Grass's Im Krebsgang

Abstract

W.G. Sebald's 1997 lectures, Luftkrieg und Literatur, sparked intense debate in the German media over the supposed taboo surrounding the literary depiction of German civilian victims of Allied attacks and the potential blurring of the already problematic ‘Tater’/‘Opfer’ complex. On its publication, Grass's most recent work Im Krebsgang either fuelled or became embroiled in this dispute and became front- page news. It is contended that such a media frenzy led to literary reviews at the time ignoring the aesthetic merits and failures of the novella and thus overlooking the complexities of its narratological structure, giving rise to over-simplistic interpretations of Grass's contribution to the ‘Tater’/‘Opfer’ debate. The following article attempts to redress the journalistic imbalance by undertaking a detailed analysis of the various narrative strategies employed within the work and relating this to the generational and familial framework with which Grass addresses the issue of German suffering. This serves to illuminate further the topic of memory and memorialising the past which lies at the heart of Sebald's essay and of Grass's novella.