Everyone is born into a certain era. I wouldn't want to see anyone faced with the circumstances that prevailed at the time, when there were few or no alternatives.
Gunter GrassRead
So I have no grounds to complain; on the contrary, writers should consider the condition of permanent controversiality to be invigorating, part of the risk envolved in choosing the profesión. It is a fact of life that writers have always and with due consideration and great pleasure spit in the soup of the high and mighty. That is what makes the history of literature analogous to the development and refinement of censorship.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Writers thrive on controversy, as it is integral to their profession and enriches literary history.
In this quote, Gunter Grass emphasizes that controversy is an inherent aspect of a writer's life, suggesting that writers should embrace it as a vital and invigorating part of their work. He points out that throughout history, writers have often challenged authority and societal norms, which not only shapes literature but also highlights the ongoing struggle between expression and censorship.
Themes
WritingControversyCensorshipLiteratureProfession
In practice
Example use cases
In a literature class discussing the impact of censorship.
More from Gunter Grass
All quotes →I wept when the muse Ulla bent over me. Blinded by tears I could not prevent her from kissing me, I could not prevent the Muse from giving me that terrible kiss. All of you who have ever been kissed by the Muse will surely understand that Oskar, once branded by that kiss, was condemned to take back the drum he had rejected years before, the drum he had buried in the sand of Sapse Cemetery.
Gunter GrassRead
Today I know that all things are watching, that nothing goes unseen, that even wallpaper has a better memory than human beings.
Gunter GrassRead
I did not volunteer for the Waffen SS, but was, as were thousands of my year group, conscripted. I did not then know as a 17-year-old that it was a criminal unit. I thought it was an elite unit.
Gunter GrassRead
Art is uncompromising, and life is full of compromises.
Gunter GrassRead
If work and leisure are soon to be subordinated to this one utopian principle - absolute busyness - then utopia and melancholy will come to coincide: an age without conflict will dawn, perpetually busy - and without consciousness.
Gunter GrassRead
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