For reasons of taking a break from blogging and temporary detachment from news sources, I have (thankfully) been unable to discuss the above. Thankfully, because Francis Sedgemore has succinctly and shortly (which I am usually unable to do) summarized the whole story.
Two remarks:
- I too was unable to fall in love with Günter Grass the writer. It seems to me that the man is totally devoid of sense of humor, and I rather pity such people.
- The whole travel ban thingy was concocted by our Interior Minister Eli Yishai, a man who is grasping at straws for several (internal politics) reasons. Stupid of course. But lawful.
16 comments:
I read the first half of the Tin Drum, the novel that "made" him, years ago but just couldn't finish it. What a stinker.
Günter Grass is a lousy author, lousy poet and a former SS officer. On the latter he has been banned. But he should be allowed into Israel then put on trial for murder.
http://goaliesanxiety.blogspot.com/2012/04/gunter-grass-what-must-be-said.htmlhas links to the numerous takes on the grass poem controversy
internationally. if you think gg hasn't sense of humor you evidently have not read the tiin drum or cat and mouse.
http://www.facebook.com/mike.roloff1?ref=name
and you evidently know absolutely nothing to claim that grass, ethnically a kashubian, was an ss officer. he was conscripted at gun point, as were just about anyone that late in the war.
I agree on lousy, with a proviso that it's a matter of taste, so your taste and mine happen to coincide. The poem in question was definitely a lousy piece by any taste. As for trial, I am not sure I get that point.
Why import someone else's morons? Surely Yishai knows where to find them locally.
His father was an ethnic German and his mother was something else but what has that got to do with anything?
He volunteered to fight for the Nazis, but was not accepted in the Nazi Navy. Then he was drafted to serve in the SS.
For some reason he kept that secret for years, meanwhile screaming blue murder when Ronald Reagan merely visited a cemetery of German war dead where some of the SS were buried.
Now he is fighting the Jews again, joining forces with Ahmadinejad. Nice chap.
"evidently" doesn't work in my case, Michael. I've read the books you mention and this is why I said what I said.
And you evidently didn't read the post I linked to. Neither I nor Francis claimed that his was an officer, nor tried to argue his ethnicity or anything else. Mountain out of molehill seems to be what you are making out of the whole story.
Absolutely unclear to me what is that excites you so much in this sorry case.
Bingo.
And I am even not sure that he is fighting the Jews - more like fighting his senility. And losing.
Yishai sure do...
Some excellent work (the Tin Drum. the Flounder Dog Years) but long in the past. As for excluding him, that is Israel's right. Britain has a quite a lot of people with exclusion orders (It certainly did when I was worked for the old IS here in the mid 89s to early 90s). I know that Farrakhan and Dukes are still excluded as are the Phelps family. Plenty more from the middle east to.
The cheery soul who gave me a beating when I refused him entry back in 86 was excluded at least until I left the IS. I daresay he is older an wiser nowadays
That argument could work had he not been a Nazi and a commie when he was young.
I guess Grass is a matter of taste - like any other writer, so arguing about it will be pointless, I just didn't like him.
Heh
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