The Gunter Grass Reader

Jacket Description/Back: Selected from the vast range of his work, the writings included in this anthology trace Gunter Grass's development as a writer, and with it the history of a nation coming to terms with its past. Excerpts from Grass's major novels--from "The Tin Drum" to "Crabwalk"--are included, as are numerous short fictions, essays, and poems, many of which have never appeared before in English. Grass's gifts as an observer of and participant in the social and political landscape are justly celebrated, as are his inimitable sense of humor, his consistent defense of the disadvantaged, and his mastery of the forms of expression he has employed over the years. For readers in search of an introduction to his work or for those familiar primarily with his novels, this diverse collection offers a fresh and stimulating introduction to one of the world's greatest living writers. Born in Danzig, Germany, in 1927, Gunter Grass is a widely acclaimed author of plays, essays, poems, and numerous novels. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1999. Review Quotes: PRAISE FOR CRABWALK"This short yet sprawling book serves as a reminder of Grass' myriad writerly gifts."-San Francisco Chronicle"Masterful . . . This is his most powerful book since The Tin Drum." -The Seattle TimesPRAISE FOR TOO FAR AFIELD"It is the work of a seasoned craftsman, certain of what he wants to do, completely in control of his gifts." -The New York Times Book ReviewTable of Contents: CONTENTS When the LZ-126 Drew Close to New York (from MY CENTURY) The Stockturm. Long-Distance Song Effects (from THE TIN DRUM) In the Tunnel Nursery Rhyme By the Time the War Broke Out (from CAT AND MOUSE) Execution on the Playground (from MY CENTURY) Roll Your Own There Was Once a City (from DOG YEARS) Dixieland! (from MY CENTURY) A Look Back at The Tin Drum, or: The Author as Dubious Witness Two Left-handers When the Wall Went Up Operation Travel Bureau (from MY CENTURY) I Like Riding the Escalator On Writers as Court Jesters and on Non-existent Courts Literature and Politics A Father's Difficulties in Explaining Auschwitz to His Children When Father Wanted to Remarry Isn't It Nice to Be Rich and Famous? (from FROM THE DIARY OF A SNAIL) A Call to the Special Unit (from MY CENTURY) Police Radio Israel and Me Immured By a Rough Estimate Askesis But What Is My Stone? (from HEADBIRTHS OR THE GERMANS ARE DYING OUT) The Stone The Artist's Freedom of Opinion in Our Society The Last Meal (from THE FLOUNDER) Literature and Myth The Hare and the Hedgehog The Destruction of Mankind Has Begun In Posthuman Times (from THE RAT) Bikini Atoll Berlin-A Projected Fiction Alexander and Alexandra (from THE CALL OF THE TOAD) Madness! Sheer Madness! (from MY CENTURY) The Wallpeckers (from TOO FAR AFIELD) My Old Olivetti Willy Brandt at the Warsaw Ghetto Obituary for Helen Wolff Literature and History To Be Continued... In the Midst of Life I remember... Kleckerburg When Time Had Run Out (from CRABWALK) After Midnight Tango Nocturno Tango Mortale Publisher Marketing: Selected from the vast range of his work, the writings included in this anthology trace Gunter Grass's development as a writer, and with it the history of a nation coming to terms with its past. Review Citations:

Library Journal Prepub Alert 06/01/2004 pg. 104 (EAN 9780156029926, Paperback)

Library Journal 01/15/2005 pg. 111 (EAN 9780156029926, Paperback)

Library Journal 06/01/2004 (EAN 9780156029926, Paperback)

Library Journal 01/01/2005 (EAN 9780156029926, Paperback)

Library Journal Prepub Alert 06/01/2004 pg. 104 (EAN 9780151011766, Hardcover)

Library Journal 01/15/2005 pg. 111 (EAN 9780151011766, Hardcover)

Library Journal 06/01/2004 (EAN 9780151011766, Hardcover)

Library Journal 01/01/2005 (EAN 9780151011766, Hardcover)

Contributor Bio:  Grass, Gunter G?NTER GRASS was born in Danzig, Germany, in 1927. He is the widely acclaimed author of numerous books, including The Tin Drum, My Century, Crabwalk, and Peeling the Onion. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1999. Contributor Bio:  Simic, Charles Charles Simic, poet, essayist, and translator, was born in Yugoslavia in 1938 and immigrated to the United States in 1954. Since 1967, he has published twenty books of his own poetry, including his most recent collection, New and Selected Poems: 1962-2012, in addition to a memoir and numerous books of translations for which he has received many literary awards, including the Pulitzer Prize, the Zbigniew Herbert International Literary Award, the Griffin Prize, the MacArthur Fellowship, and the Wallace Stevens Award. Simic is a frequent contributor to the New York Review of Books and in 2007 was chosen as poet laureate of the United States. He is emeritus professor of the University of New Hampshire, where he has taught since 1973, and is distinguished visiting writer at New York University.