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Günter Grass

ギュンター・グラス

Gunteru Gurasu

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1927-10-16 （Danzig-Langfuhr, Free City of Danzig (now Gdańsk, Poland)）
Died
2015-04-13 （Lübeck, Germany） age 87
Nationality
Germany
Languages
German
Religion
Roman Catholic
Residence History
Berlin (including Friedenau district) → Behlendorf, Schleswig-Holstein (Germany) → Lübeck, Germany → Southern Portugal (Algarve, seasonal stays) → A Danish island (summer residence)

Career

Occupations
novelist, poet, playwright, graphic artist, sculptor, graphic designer
Active Years
1956-2013
Influenced
John Irving, Salman Rushdie

Education

Kunstakademie Düsseldorf
sculpture and graphics
Period: 1946–1953
Country: Germany
Trained as a stonemason and studied sculpture and graphics.
Berlin University of the Arts
sculpture and graphics
Period: 1953–1956
Country: West Germany
Moved to West Berlin in 1953 and continued studies.

Awards

Georg Büchner Prize
1965
Organization: Deutsche Akademie für Sprache und Dichtung
Result: 受賞
Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature
1993
Organization: Royal Society of Literature
Result: 受賞（名誉フェロー）
Nobel Prize in Literature
1999
Work: for his body of work
Organization: Swedish Academy
Result: 受賞
Prince of Asturias Award for Literature
1999
Organization: Prince of Asturias Foundation
Result: 受賞
Hermann Kesten Prize
1995
Organization: Hermann Kesten Foundation / PEN-related
Result: 受賞
Hidalgo Prize
1992
Organization: Presencia Gitana (Spain)
Result: 受賞
European of the Year
2012
Organization: European Movement Denmark (Europabevægelsen)
Result: 受賞

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

The Tin Drum (Die Blechtrommel)

1959 novel (magic realism)

First book of the Danzig Trilogy, telling the story of Oskar Matzerath, a boy with extraordinary traits, as a satirical and magical-realist account of Danzig and the rise of Nazism.

memorycoming to terms with the pastcritique of Nazismchildhood as allegory
Adaptations
  • [film] The Tin Drum (film) / Volker Schlöndorff (1979)

Cat and Mouse (Katz und Maus)

1961 novella

A novella in the Danzig Trilogy focusing on adolescence, friendship, and the pressures of the era.

youthfriendshippolitical tension

Dog Years (Hundejahre)

1963 novel

A novel connected to the Danzig Trilogy, portraying mixed ethnicities and the complexities of 20th-century history.

ethnicitycomplex historymemory and responsibility

The Flounder (Der Butt)

1977 novel (allegory, controversial on gender issues)

Based on the folktale 'The Fisherman and His Wife', the novel interrogates male-female relations and sparked feminist debate in the 1970s.

gender relationspatriarchypower

Crabwalk (Im Krebsgang)

2002 novella

A novella addressing a refugee ship sunk in WWII, exploring German victimhood and historical memory.

memoryvictimhoodhistorical consciousness

Peeling the Onion (Beim Häuten der Zwiebel)

2006 memoir

Autobiographical first volume of a memoir trilogy, using the layers of an onion as a metaphor for memory; in it Grass revealed his Waffen-SS service.

uncertain memoryguilt and atonementautobiographical examination

Bibliography

  • The Tin Drum (Die Blechtrommel)
  • Cat and Mouse (Katz und Maus)
  • Dog Years (Hundejahre)
  • The Flounder (Der Butt)
  • Peeling the Onion (Beim Häuten der Zwiebel)
  • Crabwalk (Im Krebsgang)

Adaptations

  • The Tin Drum (film adaption directed by Volker Schlöndorff, 1979; won Palme d'Or and Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film)

Translations of Works

  • The Tin Drum and other works have been widely translated into numerous languages

Style & Themes

Literary Style
blend of magic realism and satireallegorical, dark-fable narrative voiceautobiographical elements mixed with ironic storytelling
Recurring Motifs
memory and forgettingguilt and atonementDanzig/Gdańsk as place of originchildhood perspective

Health

  • long-term pipe smoking; lung infection in 2015
    終生（2015年に肺感染症で死去）
    Hospitalized and died of a lung infection in 2015. Long-term smoking likely impacted health.

Legacy

One of postwar Germany's most prominent writers, acclaimed for allegorical and incisive treatments of war and memory. His legacy includes a Nobel Prize and archival/museum preservation (Günter Grass House in Lübeck), alongside controversies following his late disclosure of Waffen-SS service.

Museums

  • Günter Grass House (Lübeck) Lübeck, Germany

Academic Societies

  • Deutsche Akademie für Sprache und Dichtung (related)

Archives

  • Archive at the Günter Grass House in Lübeck

In Popular Culture

  • Became internationally known through the successful film adaptation of The Tin Drum

Quotes

  • "whose frolicsome black fables portray the forgotten face of history"
    Source: Swedish Academy (Nobel Prize citation) (1999)

Trivia

  • In 2006 he revealed he had served in the Waffen-SS as a teenager, triggering controversy.
  • Long-term pipe smoker.
  • Longtime supporter of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD).
  • Fan of football club SC Freiburg.
  • Had 18 grandchildren at the time of his death.