The Flounder
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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The Flounder (Template:Lang-de) is a 1977 novel by the German writer Günter Grass. It is loosely based on the fairy tale The Fisherman and His Wife.
Themes
Günter Grass said that "The Flounder is about women and food, but it is also about women and war, including what women have done against war — unfortunately, mostly silence." Regarding his view on the human sexes and its influence on the novel, Grass said:
"Most women who read the book all the way through like it. Those in the women's liberation movement who say there is no difference between men and women don't like it. I like the difference - I hate those who don't like the difference between men and women."
The key theme of the book is of Woman's historical contributions in both fact and fiction, ranging from the early goddesses of the matriarchial Stone Age society by the Vistula River, to the Grimm Brothers' fairy tale, "The Fisherman and His Wife", to the novel’s contemporary "women’s' libbers" (as phrased in the English translation). The Flounder plays a central role as agent and provocateur in the cause of one or the other sexes throughout.
See also
