Günter Grass and His Critics: From The Tin Drum to Crabwalk(Studies in German Literature Linguistics and Culture)

A comprehensive narrative overview and analysis of the criticism of the controversial German author's works. When the Swedish Academy announced that Günter Grass had been awarded the 1999 Nobel Prize for Literature, it singled out his first novel The Tin Drum (1959, English translation 1963) as a seminal work that had signaled thepostwar rebirth of German letters, auguring "a new beginning after decades of linguistic and moral destruction." Nearly fifty years after its publication, the novel's significance has been generally acknowledged: it is the uncontested favorite among Grass's works of fiction on the part of reading public and critics alike, yet its canonical status tends to obscure the decidedly mixed and even hostile reactions it initially elicited. Along with The Tin Drum, Grass's impressive body of literary work since the 1950s has spawned a cottage industry of Grass criticism, making a reliable guide through the thicket of sometimes contradictory readings a definite desideratum. SiegfriedMews fills this lacuna in Grass scholarship by way of a detailed but succinct, descriptive as well as analytical and evaluative overview of the scholarship from 1959 to 2005. Grass's politically motivated interventions in publicdiscourse have kept him highly visible, blurring the boundaries between politics and aesthetics. Mews therefore examines not only academic criticism but also the daily and weekly press (and other news media), providing additionalinsight into the reception of Grass's works. Siegfried Mews is Professor of German at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Table of Contents:
Introduction Die Blechtrommel / The Tin Drum Katz und Maus / Cat and Mouse Hundejahre / Dog Years Danziger Trilogie / The Danzig Trilogy Örtlich betäubt / Local Anaesthetic Aus dem Tagebuch einer Schnecke / From the Diary of a Snail Der Butt / The Flounder Das Treffen in Telgte / The Meeting at Telgte Kopfgeburten oder Die Deutschen sterben aus / Headbirths or The Germans Are Dying Out Die Rättin / The Rat Zunge zeigen / Show Your Tongue Unkenrufe / The Call of the Toad Ein weites Feld / Too Far Afield Mein Jahrhundert / My Century Im Krebsgang / Crabwalk Epilogue Works Cited Index

Review :
As a prolific author and also graphic artist and performer, Grass has earned both intense critical responses from the media, in Germany and abroad, and vast amounts of scholarship. Mews's first-rate, well-organized guide to and overview of this literature ... is nuanced, balanced, and sophisticated, making this a treasure trove of information. CHOICE