“Kann schon sein, daß in jedem Buch von ihm etwas Egomäßiges rauszufinden ist” 1 : “Political” Private Biography and “Private” Private Biography in Günter Grass's Die Box (2008)

This article examines the tension between private shame and social and political engagement which, it might be argued, permeates Günter Grass's entire æuvre, with specific reference to Die Box . The articles begins with a discussion of “shame” as a motivation for Grass's literary and political work and sets out a distinction between the author's “political” private biography—his youthful admiration for Hitler and his Waffen SS service—and the “private” private biography that is concealed within his texts (his neglect of his family, his ambition, self‐obsession and his tendency to vampirize the stories of others). Close analysis of the Die Box subsequently explores the author's exposure of this ‘private’ private biography and the way he redeems the shame attached to being “who and what you inalienably are” (Minden). Finally, the article suggests that its reading of Die Box might offer an alternative approach to Grass's work as a whole which focuses less on ‘political’ themes and more on its broader, more timeless exploration of “human nature.”