ABSTRACT
Martin Walser can claim to have set in motion the development in the Federal Republic whereby intellectuals regularly express their political opinions, not least at election times. In an interview in 1985, Walser was prepared to speak somewhat disparagingly of Die Alternative as being characterised by the use of embarrassingly inadequate metaphors, something that reflected the contributors’ lack of an appropriate style for political writing. Whatever stylistic problems there may have been in his contribution to Die Alternative, the early 1960s were the time when Walser began to turn his attentions to politics. Since the mid-1970s Walser has been less prominent in writers’ discussions of political and social issues. Walser echoed this view in his 1985 interview with the present writer.
