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| German Literature | Günter Grass
This
German writer is one of the most important figures of post-war
German literature; he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature
in 1999. Born in Danzig, he served in the Luftwaffe (German
Air Force) during World War II and then studied at the Düsseldorf
Academy of Art and at the Berlin Academy of Fine Arts.
After
a not very promising beginning as a playwright, he found fame
through his novels; The Tin Drum (1959) his first
novel, was a sales success that was taken to the movies by
Volker Schlöndorff; later other novels followed such as Cat
and Mouse (1961), The Flounder (1977), The
Meeting at Telgte (1979), Head Births (1980),
and Crabwalk (2002); political essays compiled in
books such as Germany, a Foolish Unification (1989)
or The Call of the Toad (1992); the collection of
100 short stories - one for each year - My Century (1999);
and Five Decades (2003), a book containing reflections
on the ties between literature and painting.
His
style blends realism with a touch of fantasy, horror and symbolism,
an unusual combination with a rare sense of balance, and which
serves to analyze themes such as individuality, collective
guilt and the rupture created among moral values weighed down
by modern day life.
