Die Blechtrommel

In the early 1950s, a hunchback born in 1924 is drumming and writing in a sanatorium, recounting the story of his life and his family from the beginning of the century to the Germany of Adenauer. Oskar Matzerath has seen and heard everything; nothing has escaped him, as he was an exceptionally perceptive infant whose mental development was already complete at birth. The outsider, who can drum reality and shatter glass with his voice, proves to be the only sane person in a world of appearances, lies, and crime. By the end of his fantastic autobiography, which takes Oskar from pre-war Danzig to post-war Düsseldorf, one discovers that one knows more about Germany and Central Europe—both during the time of genocide and in the Biedermeier of restoration—than ever before. With the publication of "The Tin Drum" in 1959, the German post-war novel connected with world literature, and Oskar the drummer found his firm place in modern mythology.