Cultural Influences of the Author and the Character

[Approaching Tin Drum: Objective and Subjective Criticism]

           Grass’ The Tin Drum is considered a German novel even though it takes place largely in Poland, and doesn’t much consider German mentality in its portrayal of the world (i.e. Oskar does not identify as German). Character histories and names and referred cities delve into Polish culture; Oskar even addresses the oddity of the relationship between language and surname in the second chapter: “Well, that’s enough about my grandfather regardless of whether we call him Goljaczek (Polish), Koljaiczek (Kashubian), or Joe Colchic (American).”

The protagonist of the novel is not a native German, and historical issues within the country of Germany (not those that affected the world, i.e. The Third Reich) are not discussed. Grass’ own heritage and nationality, then, are the basis for the presumption of “the German novel” category. By contrast Toni Morrison’s Beloved is classified as an American novel, but it goes beyond the life of the author: it takes place in the US, addresses social and political issues the US has faced, and questions the American ideal of “freedom”. Effectively, it is multifacetedly American because unlike The Tin Drum, it’s directly relevant to the culture it embodies in many ways.

A recent change in the mindset of literary critics addresses the issue of an author’s bias and whether scholars should study a work based on what the author intended or was influenced by, or on the work itself. Criticism is moving toward subjectivism—the emphasis of a reading being the reader’s perception of the work outside of its author’s age, gender, sexuality, race or nationality (etc.).

The authorial intent in The Tin Drum is particularly interesting because the narrator and the author, being completely different “characters”, carry with them different biases and opinions, but because one is created by the other, the former is influenced by the world view of the latter. So the matter of discussion is whether or not Oskar can accurately represent a Polish person even though he’s written by a German. Is Grass’ understanding of Poland the same as a Pole’s? How far does he stray from it? Does it even matter, if the work is straightforwardly fictional?

Largely, it rests on whether extracting the author’s intention from the equation in studying literature is the appropriate thing to do, especially when an audience that approaches a well-known, Nobel Prize-winning novel, might not be the most informed on literary criticism techniques.

In his book How to Read a Poem, English critic Terry Eagleton discusses breaking down the “meaning” of poetry into content and form (what a poem says and how we interpret what it means) as respectively objective and subjective areas of study. Regarding reader opinion of literature, he states, “We might disagree over whether someone is waving or drowning, but it is unlikely that he is doing both. Unless the swimmer has a remarkably nonchalant attitude to his death, one of us is almost bound to be wrong.” (102).

The Tin Drum’s being categorized as a “German novel” should also be considered against Hesse’s Siddhartha, which similarly does not address German issues (assuming the idea of Nazism in Tin Drum is a historical issue rather than a simply German one) and yet is not considered a “German novel”. What differentiates the two, exactly? Perhaps we should reconsider the label which, through the assumption of authorial bias, mutes the reality of the character’s world views.