The call of the bell toad -- Glass Collection

Author: Grass
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-01-01
Features: This is an important work by Nobel Prize-winning author Grass, documenting some social issues after the reunification of East and West Germany. Professor Alexander is a widower who returns to his hometown of Danzig for a visit. At a flower market, he meets Polish artist Alexandra and they strike up a conversation. Both having been widowed for many years, they fall deeply in love and soon marry. After their marriage, they come up with the idea of founding a German-Polish cemetery company, allowing those who left home at a young age to be laid to rest in their homeland. The number of reburial requests increases; not only do the elderly "Old Danzigers" travel great distances from Germany to Danzig, settling in nearby nursing homes to spend their remaining years, but even the grandsons and great-grandsons of the "relocated" also flock to the area. They construct buildings and infrastructure on the former German territories, and in no time, villas and golf courses for Germans spring up like mushrooms after rain across Polish soil. At this time, some insightful members of the Polish Parliament raise voices such as "Germans are occupying the land through colonial means," "Germans are making a comeback," and "Money can rule everything." To escape pressure from all sides, Alexander and his wife drive to Naples for a trip. Along the way, they hear the call of a toad, which locals believe is an inauspicious sign. Indeed, a car accident awaits them ahead. In the end, they die together in a foreign land, embracing the hope that "enemies no longer become death or enemies." The ending of the story is tragic, prompting readers to reflect upon its themes. This is an important work by Nobel Prize-winning author Günter Grass. Professor Alexander is a widower who returns to his hometown of Danzig for a visit. At a flower market, he meets Polish artist Alexandra and they strike up a conversation. Both having been widowed for many years, they fall deeply in love and soon marry. After their marriage, they come up with the idea of founding a German-Polish cemetery company, allowing those who left home at a young age to be laid to rest in their homeland. The number of reburial requests increases; not only do the elderly "Old Danzigers" travel great distances from Germany to Danzig, settling in nearby nursing homes to spend their remaining years, but even the grandsons and great-grandsons of the "relocated" also flock to the area. They construct buildings and infrastructure on the former German territories, and in no time, villas and golf courses for Germans spring up like mushrooms after rain across Polish soil. At this time, some insightful members of the Polish Parliament raise voices such as "Germans are occupying the land through colonial means," "Germans are making a comeback," and "Money can rule everything." To escape pressure from all sides, Alexander and his wife drive to Naples for a trip. Along the way, they hear the call of a toad, which locals believe is an inauspicious sign.