Naval disaster, assassination, death, betrayal, hate-filled chat-rooms – these are not the usual content of novels by Gunther Grass but all feature in Crabwalk, a clever interpretation of a historical event of 60 years ago. It would be easy to say that this book tells the story of the sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff, a Nazi cruise ship refitted for war time service, torpedoed by a Russian submarine while carrying escaping German refugees, a platoon of submarine trainees and many injured servicemen and women. The book does this of course, but its real purpose is to reflect on and analyse the impact of 20th German history on modern Germany.
Grass uses many literary devices to achieve this, especially by setting the story in a modern-day context of websites and Internet chat-rooms where the old conflict between German Nationalism and Judaism is relived on a daily basis, with equivalent passion to the Nazi era. As a history book the novel works magnificently. It is written in the first person by the son of a survivor of the tragedy, who may even have been born on the ship or soon afterwards. The voice of the narrator’s mother allows Grass to present a colourful account of the tragedy with great impact.
But before the ship goes down, Grass recounts the career of Wilhelm Gustloff, a Nazi propagandist and martyr shot for his beliefs in Switzerland by a young Jewish man. The first purpose-built “Strength Through Joy” cruise ship is named after Gustloff and spends a few years cruising round the Fjords of Norway and beyond with its cargo of German workers enjoying a holiday on this class-less vessel. Later the ship is converted to war-time use and Grass describes its ultimate fate after being hit by three Russian torpedoes. Even the life of the submarine captain is used by Grass to illustrate the historical context of this naval disaster, which Grass points out is barely remembered today unlike the equally devastating sinking of the Titanic.
Grass never allows the historical sections of the book to be dry and impersonal but constantly brings the events into the present by showing how his present-day characters are affected by them. The narrative is passionate and personal because the main characters feel so deeply about the events of 60 years ago and act out their own responses with devastating effect. This is not an easy read in some senses (the issues being so complex), but I found myself racing through it, because of Grass’s skill in bringing the past into the present.
