poetry as éclat??
Posted: Wed Apr 04, 2012 12:19 pm
The national news presented a poem by Nobel prize winner Günter Grass as its second headline this evening. And the largest newspapers printed it. Politicians are furious and calling it anti-semitic. I'll keep out of the political point of view, but I was simply shocked that a poem made national headlines.
The first stanza is:
Warum schweige ich, verschweige zu lange,
was offensichtlich ist und in Planspielen
geübt wurde, an deren Ende als Überlebende
wir allenfalls Fußnoten sind.
I'll translate this: Why am I silent, keeping quiet too long
that which is obvious and which was practised as planning games,
the end of which we as survivors are mere footnotes.
The poem is a bit long. No matter. I simply never thought a poem would be the center of national conversation and politics!
The first stanza is:
Warum schweige ich, verschweige zu lange,
was offensichtlich ist und in Planspielen
geübt wurde, an deren Ende als Überlebende
wir allenfalls Fußnoten sind.
I'll translate this: Why am I silent, keeping quiet too long
that which is obvious and which was practised as planning games,
the end of which we as survivors are mere footnotes.
The poem is a bit long. No matter. I simply never thought a poem would be the center of national conversation and politics!