Die Grasserotik als Symptom des zwanzigsten Jahrhunderts

Summary

Starting point of the paper is the statement about the lack of a univocal definition of the term eroticism whose location is to be sought between love and sexuality. The book by Alberoni draws a line of demarcation between male and female eroticism — the former being manifested by a strong interest in pornography, the latter being expressed by a fascination in flat erotica.

The neologism introduced, grasseroticism, means eroticism in the work by Günter Grass. The term was created as a word play by referring to the author’s name. The prose by Grass is labelled as lacking the traditional image of love as passion, total devotion and longing. Relationships between man and woman in Grass’ work are mostly accompanied by a disturbing factor, which makes them grotesque or obscene. Seven examples from Grass’ novels illustrate such relationships. They do not reinforce Alberoni’s differentiation between male and female eroticism. On the contrary, eroticism seems to acquire more and more homogeneity, which corresponds with the social development of the twentieth century.