Word: gelnhausen
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Theron W. Parker Gelnhausen, West Germany...
...over the proper use of dactylic words. They fall into grim dispute "over the essence of irony and of humor." Thunderous abuse follows the reading of each manuscript. Worst of all, these noble spirits find themselves implicated in the cruelty of their age; the feast mysteriously provided them by Gelnhausen, a dashing young member of their entourage, turns out to have been tainted by violence and plunder...
...underscore this point, Grass gives the best speech in the novel to the rascally Gelnhausen. The discredited young man takes his leave, boldly promising the group that some day he will write a book: "But let no one expect mincing pastorals, conventional obituaries, complicated figure poems, sensitive soul-blubber, or well-behaved rhymes for church congregations. No, he would let every foul smell out of the bag; a chronicler, he would bring back the long war as a word-butchery, let loose gruesome laughter, and give the language license to be what it is: crude and softspoken, whole and stricken...