Günter Grass
- Germany
- Zu Gast beim ilb: 2003
Günter Grass was born in Danzig (now Gdansk) in 1927. He served on an anti-aircraft battery and as a tank gunner towards the end of the Second World War, eventually being wounded and captured by the U.S. Army. After his release he trained as a stonemason before studying Graphic Art and Sculpture in Düsseldorf and Berlin, writing poetry and plays.
In 1955 he won a prize in a regional poetry competition. This success earned him his first reading for the Gruppe 47, an influential group of writers, and the publication of his first book of poems, prose and illustrations entitled ‘Die Vorzüge der Windhühner’ in 1956. In 1958 he was awarded the literary prize of the Gruppe 47 for the novel ‘The Tin Drum’, which was published in 1959 and established Grass on the global literary scene. This first volume of his so-called ‘Danzig Trilogy’ of novels was followed by ‘Cat and Mouse’ (1961) and ‘Dog Years’ (1963). Although Grass also wrote dramas and poems, it was his prose with its autobiographical figures and narrators that drew the most attention. His works are distinguished by the link between realism and absurd fantasy, a profound enjoyment of language games, jargon, and grotesque imagery.
The 60’s saw Grass assuming an active role in politics, supporting the German Social Democrats on election campaigns and founding the Social Democratic Voters’ Initiative. He continues to regularly express his critical views on political issues, most recently on the Iraq war in the spring of 2003. His writing also “lets the citizen in the writer have his say”, giving a political moralist’s perspective on the history of Germany – whether the East Berlin worker’s rebellion on June 17, 1953 in his drama ‘The Plebeians Rehearse the Uprising’ (1966), German reunification in the novel ‘Too Far Afield’ (1995) or the sinking of the ‘Wilhelm Gustloff’, a ‘Kraft durch Freude’ cruise liner, in January 1945, in his novella ‘Crabwalk’ (2002). Shortly before the publication of his memoirs ‘Beim Häuten der Zwiebel’ (2006; t: Peeling the Onion), it became public that the author at age 17 had briefly been a member of the Nazi “Waffen-SS”, he became the subject of a heavy public debate in Germany.
After receiving countless literary distinctions and honorary titles, Grass was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1999 for his life’s work. He was cited in the official declaration as a writer “whose frolicsome black fables portray the forgotten face of history”.
In 2015 Günter Grass died in Lübeck.
© international literature festival berlin
Die Blechtrommel
Luchterhand
Darmstadt, 1959
Gleisdreieck
Luchterhand
Darmstadt, 1960
Katz und Maus
Luchterhand
Darmstadt, 1961
Hundejahre
Luchterhand
Neuwied, 1963
Die Vorzüge der Windhühner
Luchterhand
Berlin, 1963
Ausgefragt: Gedichte und Zeichnungen
Luchterhand
Neuwied, 1967
Hochwasser. Ein Stück in zwei Akten
Suhrkamp
Frankfurt/Main, 1968
Über das Selbstverständliche
Luchterhand
Neuwied, 1968
Briefe über die Grenze
[mit Pavel Kohout]
Wegner
Hamburg, 1968
Die Ballerina
Friedenauer
Berlin, 1969
Örtlich betäubt
Luchterhand
Neuwied, 1969
Theaterspiele
Luchterhand
Neuwied, 1970
Gesammelte Gedichte
Luchterhand
Neuwied, 1971
Aus dem Tagebuch einer Schnecke
Luchterhand
Neuwied, 1972
Mariazuehren
Bruckmann
München, 1973
Der Bürger und seine Stimme: Reden, Aufsätze, Kommentare
Luchterhand
Darmstadt, 1974
Der Butt
Luchterhand
Darmstadt, 1977
Denkzettel: Politische Reden und Aufsätze
Luchterhand
Darmstadt, Neuwied, 1978
Das Treffen in Telgte
Luchterhand
Darmstadt, 1979
Kopfgeburten oder Die Deutschen sterben aus
Luchterhand
Darmstadt, 1980
Aufsätze zur Literatur
Luchterhand
Darmstadt, Neuwied, 1980
Die bösen Köche: Ein Drama in fünf Akten
Luchterhand
Darmstadt, 1982
Ach Butt, dein Märchen geht böse aus
Luchterhand
Darmstadt, 1983
Die Rättin
Luchterhand
Darmstadt, Neuwied, 1986
Mit Sophie in die Pilze gegangen
Steidl
Göttingen, 1987
Zunge zeigen
Luchterhand
Darmstadt, 1988
Die Gedichte: 1955 – 1986
Luchterhand
Darmstadt, 1988
Skizzenbuch
Steidl
Göttingen, 1989
Meine grüne Wiese
Manesse
Zürich, 1989
Schreiben nach Auschwitz
Luchterhand
Frankfurt/Main, 1990
Totes Holz: Ein Nachruf
Steidl
Göttingen, 1990
Vier Jahrzehnte: Ein Werkstattbericht
Steidl
Göttingen, 1991
Gegen die verstreichende Zeit
Luchterhand
Frankfurt/Main, 1991
Rede vom Verlust: Über den Niedergang der politischen Kultur im geeinten Deutschland
Steidl
Göttingen, 1992
Unkenrufe
Steidl
Göttingen, 1992
Schaden begrenzen oder auf die Füße treten
Volk & Welt
Berlin, 1993
Novemberland: 13 Sonette
Steidl
Göttingen, 1993
Günther Grass – In Kupfer, auf Stein
Steidl
Göttingen, 1994
Gestern, vor 50 Jahren: Ein deutsch-japanischer Briefwechsel
[mit Kenzaburo Oe]
Steidl
Göttingen, 1995
Ein weites Feld
Steidl-Verlag
Göttingen, 1995
Fundsachen für Nichtleser
Steidl
Göttingen, 1997
Mein Jahrhundert
Steidl
Göttingen, 1999
Für- und Widerworte
Steidl
Göttingen, 1999
Vom Abenteuer der Aufklärung: Werkstattgespräche
[mit Harro Zimmermann]
Steidl
Göttingen, 1999
Ohne Stimme: Reden zugunsten des Volkes der Roma und Sinti
Steidl
Göttingen, 2000
Die Zukunft der Erinnerung
Steidl
Göttingen, 2001
Gebrannte Erde
Steidl
Göttingen, 2002
Ill: Dirk Reinartz
Im Krebsgang
Steidl
Göttingen, 2002
Letzte Tänze
Steidl
Göttingen, 2003
Lyrische Beute
Steidl
Göttingen, 2004
Fünf Jahrzehnte
Steidl
Göttingen, 2004
„Wir leben im Ei“
Suhrkamp
Frankfurt/Main, 2005
Freiheit nach Börsenmaß
Steidl
Göttingen, 2005
Beim Häuten der Zwiebel
Steidl
Göttingen, 2006