Die Blechtrommel (or The Tin Drum) is a novel written by Günter Grass. Released in 1959, it is the first book in Grass' Danzig trilogy and tells of the escapades of a boy who refuses to grow up.
Characters[]
- Oskar Matzerath
rest to be added
Publisher's summary[]
The greatest German novel since the end of World War II, The Tin Drum is the autobiography of Oskar Matzerath, thirty years old, detained in a mental hospital, convicted of a murder he did not commit. On the day of his third birthday, Oskar had "declared, resolved, and determined [to] stop right there, remain as I was, stay the same size, cling to the same attire" (striped pullover and patent-leather shoes). That same day Oskar receives his first tin drum, and from then on it is the means of his expression, allowing him to draw forth memories from the past as well as judgments about the horrors, injustices, and eccentricities he observes through the long nightmare of the Nazi era. As that era ebbs bloodily away, as drum succeeds drum, Oskar participates in the German postwar economic miracle -- working variously in the black market, as an artist's model, in a troupe of traveling musicians.
With the onset of affluence and fame, Oskar decides to grow a few inches, only to develop a humpback. But despite his newfound status (and stature), Oskar remains haunted by the deaths of his parents, afflicted by his responsibility for past sins -- and so assumes guilt for a murder he did not commit as an act of atonement and an opportunity to find consolation.The rhythms of Oskar's drums are intricate and insistent, and they lead us, often by way of shocking fantasies, through the dark forest of German history. Through Oskar's piercing, outspoken voice and deformed little figure, through the imaginative distortion and exaggeration of historical experience, a pathetically hilarious yet startlingly true portrayal of the human situation comes into view.
See also[]
| Title | Author | Release date | Significance |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Heritage | Siegfried Lenz | 1978 | A novel with a similarly unreliable narrator and similar themes |
| A Clockwork Orange | Anthony Burgess | 1962 | A novel with a similarly unreliable narrator |
| Vernon God Little | DBC Pierre | 2003 | A novel with a similarly unreliable narrator |
| Life of Pi | Yann Martel | 2001 | A novel with a similarly unreliable narrator |
| Gravity's Rainbow | Thomas Pynchon | 1973 | A novel which similarly explores Germany around World War II |
| The Unbearable Lightness of Being | Milan Kundera | 1984 | Another work of European magical realism |
| Lolita | Vladimir Nabokov | 1955 | A novel with a similarly unreliable narrator |
| Primeval and Other Times | Olga Tokarczuk | 1996 | Another work of European magical realism |
| American Psycho | Bret Easton Ellis | 1991 | A novel with a similarly unreliable narrator |
Sources[]
- Goodreads
- Wikipedia