Comments on: Jacobson on Grass http://crookedtimber.org/2006/09/12/jacobson-on-grass/ Out of the crooked timber of humanity, no straight thing was ever made Sun, 27 May 2012 00:43:58 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: a different chris http://crookedtimber.org/2006/09/12/jacobson-on-grass/comment-page-1/#comment-171867 a different chris Wed, 13 Sep 2006 22:21:07 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/2006/09/12/jacobson-on-grass/#comment-171867 I suspect Hitchens was just being a dick. I know that's hard to believe. I suspect Hitchens was just being a dick. I know that’s hard to believe.

]]> By: vanya http://crookedtimber.org/2006/09/12/jacobson-on-grass/comment-page-1/#comment-171834 vanya Wed, 13 Sep 2006 17:40:50 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/2006/09/12/jacobson-on-grass/#comment-171834 I had the same reaction immediately when reading Hitchen's Slate piece - no-one who has read "Crabwalk", whatever their opinion of the novel, would ever describe it as "large and cumbersome." It is 224 pages long in softcover. I noticed Chris' attacker in the other thread never really addressed the bizarre way Hitch characterized the novel. Either Hitch never read the book or was simply lying for effect assuming, unfortunately correctly, that most Slate readers would not have read "Crabwalk." I thought it polite of Chris to make the first assumption, I would assume the latter to be the case. I had the same reaction immediately when reading Hitchen’s Slate piece – no-one who has read “Crabwalk”, whatever their opinion of the novel, would ever describe it as “large and cumbersome.” It is 224 pages long in softcover. I noticed Chris’ attacker in the other thread never really addressed the bizarre way Hitch characterized the novel. Either Hitch never read the book or was simply lying for effect assuming, unfortunately correctly, that most Slate readers would not have read “Crabwalk.” I thought it polite of Chris to make the first assumption, I would assume the latter to be the case.

]]> By: astrongmaybe http://crookedtimber.org/2006/09/12/jacobson-on-grass/comment-page-1/#comment-171814 astrongmaybe Wed, 13 Sep 2006 11:39:10 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/2006/09/12/jacobson-on-grass/#comment-171814 Thanks for the link thers. Unusual to read such a good piece in such a generally shitty magazine. Thanks for the link thers. Unusual to read such a good piece in such a generally shitty magazine.

]]> By: Thers http://crookedtimber.org/2006/09/12/jacobson-on-grass/comment-page-1/#comment-171800 Thers Wed, 13 Sep 2006 05:52:53 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/2006/09/12/jacobson-on-grass/#comment-171800 I'm wondering why Grass's fiction seems not to have so far been ransacked for further "revelations." The miltary career of the second fictional narrator of <i>Dog Years</i>, Harry Liebenau's, seems to mirror Grass's, for instance. Harry does not explicitly state that he was Waffen SS, but that could also perhaps be deduced by an account of what German armored divisions were still inducting 17-year-olds from Danzig at that time...? I wonder if Grass's revelation hasn't been lying out there in his fiction the entire time. <a href="http://www.newyorkmetro.com/news/media/19768/" rel="nofollow">John Leonard</a> claims that Grass's Waffen SS membership was clear from his POW release papers. This secret, then, has been hiding in plain sight for decades. Fascinating, captain. I’m wondering why Grass’s fiction seems not to have so far been ransacked for further “revelations.” The miltary career of the second fictional narrator of Dog Years, Harry Liebenau’s, seems to mirror Grass’s, for instance. Harry does not explicitly state that he was Waffen SS, but that could also perhaps be deduced by an account of what German armored divisions were still inducting 17-year-olds from Danzig at that time…? I wonder if Grass’s revelation hasn’t been lying out there in his fiction the entire time.

John Leonard claims that Grass’s Waffen SS membership was clear from his POW release papers. This secret, then, has been hiding in plain sight for decades.

Fascinating, captain.

]]> By: JR http://crookedtimber.org/2006/09/12/jacobson-on-grass/comment-page-1/#comment-171794 JR Tue, 12 Sep 2006 23:41:39 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/2006/09/12/jacobson-on-grass/#comment-171794 "More amusing than sensational is Grass's recollection of a boy named Joseph, with whom he spent time in a prisoner-of-war camp. When asked whether this 17-year-old was in fact the man who became Pope Benedict XVI, Grass says: 'He became my friend and we played dice together. I had managed to smuggle my dice shaker into the camp. (...) I wanted to be an artist and he was interested in a career in the church. He seemed a little shy, but he was a nice guy.' Like Grass, Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, was in fact imprisoned at Germany's Bad Aibling camp. Whether the Vatican will comment on Grass's recollections remains to be seen." http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/0,1518,431353,00.html “More amusing than sensational is Grass’s recollection of a boy named Joseph, with whom he spent time in a prisoner-of-war camp. When asked whether this 17-year-old was in fact the man who became Pope Benedict XVI, Grass says: ‘He became my friend and we played dice together. I had managed to smuggle my dice shaker into the camp. (…) I wanted to be an artist and he was interested in a career in the church. He seemed a little shy, but he was a nice guy.’
Like Grass, Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, was in fact imprisoned at Germany’s Bad Aibling camp. Whether the Vatican will comment on Grass’s recollections remains to be seen.”

http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/0,1518,431353,00.html

]]> By: rea http://crookedtimber.org/2006/09/12/jacobson-on-grass/comment-page-1/#comment-171782 rea Tue, 12 Sep 2006 18:51:14 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/2006/09/12/jacobson-on-grass/#comment-171782 "Throughout his career he had claimed that during the last months of Hitler’s war he had served as an unwilling conscript in an anti-aircraft battery . . ." I think you're confusing him with the Pope; an understandable mistake . . . “Throughout his career he had claimed that during the last months of Hitler’s war he had served as an unwilling conscript in an anti-aircraft battery . . .”

I think you’re confusing him with the Pope; an understandable mistake . . .

]]> By: Aidan Kehoe http://crookedtimber.org/2006/09/12/jacobson-on-grass/comment-page-1/#comment-171758 Aidan Kehoe Tue, 12 Sep 2006 12:49:28 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/2006/09/12/jacobson-on-grass/#comment-171758 <i>Throughout his career he had claimed that during the last months of Hitler's war he had served as an unwilling conscript in an anti-aircraft battery; now, […]</i> That's not quite exact; he's always made it clear that he was an ardent Nazi as a young man. Throughout his career he had claimed that during the last months of Hitler’s war he had served as an unwilling conscript in an anti-aircraft battery; now, […]

That’s not quite exact; he’s always made it clear that he was an ardent Nazi as a young man.

]]> By: Kevin Donoghue http://crookedtimber.org/2006/09/12/jacobson-on-grass/comment-page-1/#comment-171741 Kevin Donoghue Tue, 12 Sep 2006 11:13:45 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/2006/09/12/jacobson-on-grass/#comment-171741 Your final link goes to Jacobson also. [thanks - fixed! cb] Your final link goes to Jacobson also.

[thanks – fixed! cb]

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