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[READ: February 22, 2025] The Living Statue
This book came as part of my New Directions subscription. It’s a “newly discovered” story written by Günter Grass in 2003. It’s very short. 57 pages with big margins.
This story sees Grass (or a fictional substitute) travelling around to give book talks. On a trip before the Berlin Wall fell, he and his wife went to Naumberg. They visited a chapel which featured “life-size” statues. But everyone on the trip is disappointed at how small they actually are. One of the statues is of Uta of Naumberg [click for the Wikipedia explanation of who she was].
The repeated phrase in the book is “you can do anything on paper.” And so, he invites the 12 statues to lunch. It’s a jolly time with these ancient statues not really grasping modern behavior (they all hate the potatoes). He was quite taken with Uta. She ordered a Coke and then said she had to go.
He ran into her again after the Wall fell, She was being a living statue outside of Cologne Cathedral. She was very convincing, standing still and doing nothing. He approached her and got very close whereupon he whispered to her that she should take a break and get a Coke with him. She did not break character at all. But her manager/boyfriend came up and told him to get lost.
He saw her again some time later and wanted to approach, but the manager/boyfriend was staring. (more…)
I Just Read About That... 