Much ado about Grass

• Gunter Grass's recent revelations about his service in the German Army are under fire.

So far, both Salman Rushdie and John Irving have spoken out in support of Grass, who has admitted that he was in the SS as a youth. This is a major shitstorm across the pond but over here it doesn't seem like that big of a deal. The way it's been explained to me, conscription in the military during Hitler's reign was compulsory. And Grass's entire body of work has been all about the struggle he had with Nazi ideals and his eventual rejection of them.

So if anyone can explain why they're so mad at him for admitting he'd done just a little more than he previously said he did, feel free. All of the brouhaha seems a bit hysterical to me. At least the Nobel Academy has stated flat-out that Grass's Nobel Prize will not be stripped from him.