Gunter Grass

Grass, Günter 

Born Oct. 16, 1927, in Danzig (present-day Gdansk). German writer (Federal Republic of Germany).

Grass studied at an academy of arts. His literary career began in 1956 with the collection of poems The Advantage of Racing Hens. The Tin Drum (1959), which parodies the traditional “novel of upbringing,” brought him fame despite its limited social perspective. The novel Dog Years (1963) describes Nazism, war, and the early postwar years in West Germany. The novella Cat and Mouse (1961; Russian translation, 1968) shows the tragedy of the generation deceived by Nazism. An attempt to interpret events connected with a West German youth movement became the play Beforehand (1968), the subject of which was also used in the novel Under Local Anesthesia (1969). Grass received the G. Büchner Prize in 1965.

WORKS

Ausgefragt. [Neuwied-Berlin] 1967.
Ausgewählte Texte. Neuwied-Berlin [1968].

REFERENCES

Karel’skii, A. “Blesk i nishcheta satiry.” Inostrannaia literatura, 1965, no. 6.
Mlechina. I. “Tertium non datur.” Literaturnaia gazeta, July 26, 1966.
Chernaia. L. “Predely terpimosti. . . .” Inostrannaia literatura, 1969, no. 5.
Tank, K. L. Günther Grass, 2nd ed. Berlin, 1966.
Loschütz. G. Von Buch zu Buch: G. Grass in der Kritik.[Neuwied-Berlin] 1968.

I. V . MLECHINA