How does the film adaptation of Volker Schlöndorff's 'Die Blechtrommel' work?

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Essay from the year 2001 in the subject German Studies - Comparative Literature, grade: A, University of London (Faculty of German Literature), course: German Narrative Fiction: Text and Film, language: English, abstract: The key to understanding The Tin Drum lies in understanding the mind of itsremarkable first-person narrator, Oskar Matzerath, that brilliantly conceived fictionaleyewitness and personification of the Third Reich, its prehistory, and its aftermath.1This quote stresses the importance of the narrator in Günter Grass novel. In this essay, Ishould like to compare the narrative structure in the novel with the film adaptation. As my aimis to find out how the film version works, I would like to put forward the proposition that notonly the understanding of the narrators mind is crucial for the understanding of the novel, butalso the understanding of the narrative structure itself within Die Blechtrommel. Therefore, Iwill have a closer look at the novel first and then proceeding to the film, in order to examinethe changes Volker Schlöndorff made and what effect they may have on the understanding ofthe film.Hans Magnus Enzensberger, a famous German poet and critic, described Günter Grass novelas aBrocken, an dem Rezensenten und Philologen mindestens ein Jahrzehnt lang zu würgenhaben, bis es [sic] reif zur Kanonisierung oder zur Aufbewahrung im Schauhaus derLiteraturgeschichte ist.2This prophecy of 1959 came true and it was not until twenty years later that VolkerSchlöndorff tried the first film adaptation of this complex work of literature. Nevertheless, thenovel was a tremendous success, not only in post-war Germany. In the following paragraph, Iwill start with an explanation of the elements, which make the novels narrative structure socomplicated and multilayered.1 Keele, Alan Frank. Understanding Günter Grass, page 112 Richter, Frank. Die zerschlagene Wirklichkeit. Überlegungen zur Form der Danzig-Triologie von GünterGrass, page 7

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