Günter Grass, Hundejahre [Dog Years]

Sigrid Mayer (University of Wyoming)
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Dog Years

is one of the most influential and important novels written since the Second World War. A work of what Heinrich Böll called “rubble literature” [work to come out of the rubble of German reconstuction], it offers a darkly-brilliant, satiric and comic commentary on the German people's understanding of the rise of fascism and of wartime events. Loosely modelled on Grass's own autobiographical experiences, first as a school boy in National Socialist Germany, then as a member of the Hitler youth and airforce auxiliary, the tale weaves a densely-allusive and complex allegorical thread of oddly-patterned and estranged events that gather around the lives of humans (often allegorised as scarecrows) and dogs (often standing for humans). Through its comic scenes it captures the banal…

4908 words

Citation: Mayer, Sigrid. "Hundejahre". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 27 June 2002 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=9353, accessed 09 October 2024.]

9353 Hundejahre 3 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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