| |
|
|
|
|
|
||
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |||||
|
|||||
|
|||||
|
Tin Drum Author G�nter Grass Turns 80
Günter Grass, a luminary and one of the most controversial figures of contemporary German literature, is celebrating his 80th birthday this year on October 16. Through his writings, Grass has gained moral authority and standing as a free-thinker in German society. He was also one of the first authors to become politically engaged during the German Student Movement of `68 and was an active supporter of the SPD (Social Democratic Party) and Willy Brandt’s policies. In 1999, Grass was awarded the Nobel Prize in literature for his prolific life’s work, extending beyond The Tin Drum (1959) to The Meeting at Telgate, Headbirths, or, the Germans Are Dying Out, and Crabwalk, among many others. Even today, Grass’s writings remain disarmingly sharp-witted and ruthless in their criticisms. Grass’s revelation in his 2006 autobiography , Peeling the Onion, that he had not simply served as a soldier during World War II but had, in fact, been a member of the Waffen SS triggered an international controversy over his work and legacy. Grass was born in Danzig in 1927. After spending a year in captivity as a POW following the war, at the age of 18, he received training as a stonemason before devoting himself to studying graphic arts and sculpture in Düsseldorf and Berlin. Throughout this time, his passion for literature and creative writing had also been developing. He began writing his first poems, short stories and plays around 1956.
Renowned beyond German borders for what is referred to as his Danzig trilogy – The Tin Drum (1959), Cat and Mouse (1961), and Dog Years (1963) – Grass retains his unique, at times scathing, style also throughout his later works. In contrast to the Danzig trilogy, which primarily examines the issue of guilt and coming to terms with the past through the lens of surreal and grotesque imagery, Grass’s later works, such as the novel, Local Anaesthetic, deal with contemporary political events.
A lesser known fact about Grass is that his artistic focus is not exclusively limited to the field of literature; he is also a painter and sculptor. As early as 1956, his drawings and sculptures were exhibited in Stuttgart and Berlin. One of his largest sculptures, The Flounder, can today be viewed at the port of Sonderburg in Denmark. October 11, 2007
|
|
 Culture & Life   Life
Newsletters
 Printer-Friendly
Page
Email This Article |
||
|
|||||
|
|||||
