Op-Ed: Grass: Let's Be Brave Poets, Not Fearful Puritans

Arutz Sheva ^ | 9/4/12 | Scott Krane

[Eleutheria5]

It took me until now to respond to the poem, What Must Be Said, by Günter Wilhelm Grass. I, a literary critic, am not as quick on the draw as Shas' Eli Yishai who declared the Nobel Prize winning octogenarian a persona non grata.

Instead, I like to think about the lyric, let it soak in. See where it takes me. Given, the language in this particular piece does not induce much philosophizing.

First I had to consider the genre under which the writer is commonly filed: Vergangenheitsbewältigung, an artistic movement seeking to make sense of Deutschland's confusing past. It is sad,though, that before he goes to his death, he illustrates his fear of Jews and Jewish statehood, and his inability to recognize Israeli policy – while sometimes confusing and nevertheless contested – as democratic and just.

Martin Luther once may have proved Germany as the mother nation of humanistic thinking, and earth-shattering theological reform (Germany was this, of course, for the Jews of the enlightenment). However, Luther, like Grass, turned to Jew-bashing and by doing so, spoiled his talent on hatred.

I, as critic –the poem only having been printed one week ago – am not as quick to make artistic judgments as Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman who identified the poem with the "egoism of so-called Western intellectuals, who are willing to sacrifice the Jewish people on the altar of crazy anti-Semites for a second time, just to sell a few more books or gain recognition…"

..... more pompous bloviating .....

Today, I can at least say this: aside from the fact that the poet is clearly anti-Semitic, his didactic lyric is extremely uncreative.

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[Eleutheria5]

My own poetic response:

Midget beats a tin drum Cacaphony Steel hat Ezra Pound sans talent, Contrition and Eruditeness Gunter: That which thou hatest well Remains. The rest of you is dross.

[GeronL]

poetry:

This grass sounds like an @$$

[Eleutheria5]

Oh, yeah.

Here’s one of my favorites

I have no Jooos! in my pocket.
Have you got any in yours?

Yes, I have Jooos! in my pocket.

Tell me what you use them for.
I blame them for all my problems,
And I beat them black and blue,
And then ask them for advice
When I don’t know what to do.

What do they do in your pocket?
They conspire and lie and cheat
And then use the blood of infants
In the matzah that they eat.

So if your pockets are empty
And you want to grow and thrive,
Put some Jooos! in your pocket,
But don’t let them out alive.

By mois.

[GeronL]

wow.

So... what does grass think about Muzzies? Does he think they’re soft and cuddly?

[SJackson]

Middle East and terrorism, occasional political and Jewish issues Ping List. High Volume

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