Günter Grass Books

Published for the Jewish Museum of New York, this illustrated catalog of the Danzig collection accompanied a major exhibition in 1980. It reflects decades of research on the ceremonial art and history of the Danzig Jewish community, which, in early 1939, chose to dissolve itself and emigrate rather than face Nazi oppression. The community sent its most valuable communal property to New York in ten large crates weighing over two tons. The collection includes items from the Great Synagogue of Danzig, artifacts from the Jewish cemetery, and ceremonial objects from local synagogues and private owners. Proceeds from the sale of these treasures were deposited into a special account to support the emigration of remaining members of the Danzig Jewish community who could still leave. This self-liquidation was unprecedented, effectively transforming Danzig into a "city without Jews." The catalog serves not only as a historical record but also as a poignant reminder of the community's resilience and the cultural heritage they preserved despite their tragic circumstances.

This selection combines Selected Poems (1966) and New Poems (1968). The German originals face the translations. Translated by Michael Hamburger and Christopher Middleton. A Helen and Kurt Wolff Book

THE BOOK: 'Funny, macabre, disgusting, blasphemous, pathetic, horrifying, erotic, it is an endless delirium, an outrageous phantasmagoria in which dustfrom Goethe, Hans Andersen, Swift, Rabelais, Joyce, Aristophanes and Rochester dances on the point of a needle in the flame of a candle that was not worth the game.

In this vast novel, packed with incident, Gunter Grass traces the dark labyrinth of the German mentality as it developed during the rise, fall, and aftermath of the Third Reich.

Peeling the Onion is a searingly honest account of Grass' modest upbringing in Danzig, his time as a boy soldier fighting the Russians, and the writing of his masterpiece, The Tin Drum, in Paris. It is a remarkable autobiography and, without question, one of Gunter Grass' finest works. By the Nobel Prize- winning author of The Tin Drum.

Suddenly, in spite of the trials of old age, and with the end in sight, everything seems possible again: love letters, soliloquies, scenes of jealousy, swan songs, social satire, and moments of happiness. Only an ageing artist who had once more cheated death could get to work with such wisdom, defiance and wit. A wealth of touching stories is condensed into artful miniatures. In a striking interplay of poetry, lyric prose and drawings, Grass creates his final, major work of art. A moving farewell gift, a sensual, melancholy summation of a life fully lived.

Selected from the vast range of his work, the writings included in this anthology trace Günter Grass's development as a writer, and with it the history of a nation coming to terms with its past.Excerpts from Grass's major novels-from The Tin Drum to Crabwalk-are included, as are numerous short fictions, essays, and poems, many of which have never appeared before in English. Grass's gifts as an observer of and participant in the social and political landscape are justly celebrated, as are his inimitable sense of humor, his consistent defense of the disadvantaged, and his mastery of the forms of expression he has employed over the years.For readers in search of an introduction to his work or for those familiar primarily with his novels, this diverse collection offers a fresh and stimulating introduction to one of the world's greatest living writers.

Based loosely on Grimm's "The Fisherman and His Wife," this triumphant blend of folk tale and contemporary story takes place over the course of nine months, during which the wife of the narrator becomes pregnant and is regaled with tales of the various cooks the fisherman has met throughout his life. The emerging themes of the novel expose the periods when men made history and women's contributions went largely, in some cases gravely, unrecognized. Inventive, imaginative and irreverent, this humorous, fundamentally brilliant novel highlights the value of modern-day myth and timeless legend.Günter Grass, says The Times, 'is on his own as an artist', and indeed this extraordinary, provoking and joyously Rabelaisian celebration of life, food and sex is unique. Lifted from their ancient fairytale, the fisherman and his wife are still living today. During the months of Ilsebill's pregnancy, the fisherman tells her of his adventures through time with the Flounder, constituting a complete reworking of social, political and gastronomic history.

Probably the most autobiographical of his novels, From the Diary of a Snail balances the agonising history of the persecuted Danzig Jews with an account of Grass's political campaigning with Willie Brandt. Underlying all is the snail, the central symbol that is both model and a parody of social progress, and a mysterious metaphor for political reform. From the winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature and author of The Tin Drum.

As the Berlin Wall crumbled and the two Germanys became one, Grass was one of a few who spoke out against reunification. In this collection of speeches and debates on the factors destined to reshape Europe, he is caustic, indignant, reflective, and compelling. Translated by Krishna Winston with A. S. Wensinger. A Helen and Kurt Wolff Book