Günter Grass liest “Die Box” November 29, 2008
Last Sunday, Günter Grass read from his latest book “Die Box” in the “Berliner Ensemble” in Berlin. I do not really know his work, but E. preferred Grass over “Orpheus und Eurydike” in the “Bodemuseum“. So we went to listen to him and a discussion between Grass and an eminence grise, I suppose. “Die Box” is autobiographical and told from an interesting point of view: GG wrote down a discussion between his 8 children, who were going through photographs from a magic camera (the box, die box). These pictures and the original focalization allowed Grass to speak about himself and his history from a distance, calling himself “the father”.
Günter Grass
He read pleasantly, with voices and gestures, and really enjoyed the audience. The discussions with Grey-man were alright and to the point, although the grey-man seemed to show off his knowledge a bit. Nevertheless, interesting things have been said. “Die Box” was put into the viewpoint of Grass’ previous autobiographical work.
Too bad, the seats in the Grosse Saale of the Berliner Ensemble are a literal pain in the ass. I remember my presence during a performence of Mutter Courage, almost two years ago now, for which only Stehplätze were available (2 euro!). Those were also painful, as MC is about 4 hours. With Stehplätze, the pain is concentrated in other parts of the body.
Afterwards, Günter Grass signed his books, and I think everybody wanted to have an autograph. The line was huge, but Günter remained friendly, even when we had our turn after half an hour or so, and with quite a que behind us waiting.
