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Revision as of 14:49, 26 October 2005 by Teiladnam (talk | contribs) (specifying "index")(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)Cat and Mouse is a novella in the Danzig Trilogy of Günther Grass.
Topic of the book is the development of the adolescent Joachim Mahlke. He mainly spends his life with some other boys of the same age, but never really catches up with them and is therefore the outsider. The story is set in the Second World War.
The title of the novella was chosen due to Mahlke's big larynx- which is the leitmotif throughout the whole book. In one scene, a cat confuses the larynx with a mouse. Mahlke becomes the mouse and society a deathly cat.
In 1961 the attempt was made to put the book on the index of Germany's Federal Department for Media Harmful to Young Persons, especially because of the "wank competition" scene of the protagonists. After protest from both the public and other writers the request was withdrawn.
(translation of the article on Katz und Maus on www.wikipedia.de)