Crazy German File #5

This one may not be filed so much under Crazy, but perhaps stupid.

I was out on Friday for a little Stammtisch. I've been doing this for a few weeks with a German guy from the university. We go out, have some beers, and one week we speak English the next German. This was a German week. He invited some friends along, as we have been trying to make a little bit bigger affair.

There were 5 people total there, and I was the only non-German. All were academics. 2 German Master's candidates, an MBA student, one Computer Scientist and myself. We had an excellent time overall, discussing lord knows what.

At one point the topic somehow got to be my Dissertation. I swear, this was not my idea. So, I'm in the position, yet again, of explaining to a group of non-Germanists what my dissertation is about. I've learned at this point that it does me no good to mention Kerouac, so that's completely off the table. However, I'm going through my spiel about Herr Lehmann, Berlin Wall, Enlightenment, tearing down of border, the topographic imagination, feeling hemmed in, etc. and the Computer Scientist tells me I can't make those claims. That they don't make sense.

I'm open to discussing the issue, so I ask him, "Why?" He says, Because you just told me that Herr Lehmann lived in West Berlin. He wasn't trapped. He could go anywhere he wanted. He was from West Germany. Arguments I've heard before. (Trust me, you don't need to understand my dissertation to understand what I'm about to tell you.) I make some counter-arguments, even citing from the novel (I was unaware I could do this, didn't think I had it memorized.). He counters again, still arguing that my claims have no basis.

I'm getting a little peeved that a Computer Scientist thinks he has the right to tell me what I can and cannot say about a novel I've read numerous times and worked for two years on. So, I ask him two simple questions. "Have you read the novel?" "NO". "OK, then have you seen the movie?" "NO." I think it was a bit rude, but my response to this was, "Then you have no right to say anything, because you have no idea what I am talking about." And I ended the conversation.

I do think this qualifies as at least an arrogant German. No one has ever told me that my idea was off base, especially those that had not read the novel. The polite thing to do if you are completely ignorant is to listen and ask questions. Would anyone you know take a stand against something they know nothing about? It was almost like discussing the issues with Rosanne Rosannadanna.

Until Next Time. I'm working on conceptualizing a previous Crazy German experience. Need to find the right words. It may be sometime this week.