The Life and Work of Gunter Grass

Literature, History, Politics

J Preece author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Palgrave USA

Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back

The Life and Work of Gunter Grass cover

Julian Preece is the author (with Waldemar Lotnik) of "Nine Lives: Ethnic Conflict in the Polish-Ukrainian Borderlands" (1999) and the editor of the "Cambridge Companion to Kafka" (2002).

It shows in particular how his experiences as a teenage Nazi shaped his thinking, both in his novels and his role as critic and campaigner, from The Tin Drum (1959), his most famous novel, to My Century (1999), from his public protest against the building of the Berlin Wall (1961) to his diatribes against Helmut Kohl in the late 1990s.This book traces the career of the most widely read and influential German novelist in the second half of the Twentieth-century. It shows in particular how his experiences as a teenage Nazi shaped his thinking, both in his novels and his role as critic and campaigner, from The Tin Drum (1959), his most famous novel, to My Century (1999), from his public protest against the building of the Berlin Wall (1961) to his diatribes against Helmut Kohl in the late 1990s. This new paperback edition includes new material on his last two books, My Century and Crabwalk including a revised Bibliography and Chronology.

'The study goes far beyond a mere introduction to the man and his work. Rather, in its combination of trenchant analyzes of the major texts, elucidation of the historical-political background, and skilful summary of the major battles Grass fought with his critics as well as other issues that affected his career, the work is a significant achievement that will take its rightful place among the literature on Grass.' - Seigfried Mews, Professor of German, The University of North Carolina

'Preece's book is an admirably comprehensive account of Grass's literary biography right down to the recent best-seller My Century.' - Professor J.H. Reid, Department of German, University of Nottingham

Reviews of hardback edition:

'Julian Preece combines literary analysis and elucidation of the historical-political context that so incisively shaped Grass's generational experience that informs all his writing, fiction and non-fiction, and all his public utterances...Yet the emphasis Preece places on the political, historical, and biographical context does not detract from his careful reading of Grass's texts. In incorporating biographical details...Preece draws attention to a dimension of the text that is often neglected and goes far beyond a mere introduction.' - Siegfried Mews, German Quarterly

'...satisfying...enormously rewarding.' - German Studies Review

'...[for] anyone interested in Grass... [this would] provide a useful or even necessaryfoundation.' - Brad Prager, Seminar

'...well written and well researched and can be read by specialists and non-specialists alike.' - Kerstin T. Gaddy, South Atlantic Review

ISBN: 9781403916082

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: unknown

243 pages

New edition