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.
Breon Mitchell Book order (chronological)
This literary translator specializes in German literature, bringing both classic and contemporary works to readers. His translations are acclaimed for their fidelity to the original text and their literary merit. Through his dedicated work, he makes the richness of German-language literature accessible to a wider audience. His deep understanding of language and literature shines through in every volume he renders.
The tin drum
- 526 pages
- 19 hours of reading
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.
The God of Impertinence
- 224 pages
- 8 hours of reading
From the acclaimed author of The Discovery of Slowness comes a book that is "postmodernist beach reading: Apollo channel surfing, Hermes discovering french fries and the trickster god taming the gods of war" (The New York Times Book Review). The ancient gods are still among us! After 2,187 years in chains, Hermes -- the fun-loving god of stolen kisses, erotic freedom, turmoil, and thievery -- is freed. He soon sets out to resurrect the long-forgotten virtues of curiosity, imagination, humor...and mischief.Finding the modern age strange and confusing, Hermes catches up with the cultural changes of the last two millenniums by tapping the minds of everyone from graffiti artists to brain specialists. He soon learns that disempowered Zeus has retired to play golf in Missouri and that Hephaestus, the neurotic and cranky god of volcanoes, is plotting the demise of gods and mankind alike. Hermes needs all the impertinence and roguery he can muster for the game of divine poker that will decide the fate of the world, in this swift and amusing fable for the end of the millennium.