The Tin Drum

One of the most important novels of modernity, which has entered the post-war canon of European literature, was first published in 1959. Its hero — the "little man" Oskar Matzerath, whose childhood coincides with the years of the rise of National Socialism. Realizing the absurdity of reality, he decides to stop growing and refuses to become an adult. His constant companion is the tin drum: by beating it, Oskar expresses his attitude towards the world around him. With a merciless, sarcastic, and at the same time insightful gaze of an observer "from below," life in the Third Reich is depicted, the atmosphere of the world of bourgeois, leading to indifference to the increasingly terrible evil. The novel, grotesquely reflecting the history of Germany in the 20th century, brought its author world fame.