From the Diary of a Snail

Gunter Grass, Germany's most famous literary figure, is also known in his country as a political speaker. In 1969 Grass gave close to one hundred election speeches for Willy Brandt's party, the Social Democrats. His family saw him only intermittently. In his snail's diary, he purports to explain, imaginatively as well as factually, why he felt impelled to devote himself to politics.
Along with his report on the election campaign, Grass tells the story of the persecution and exile of the Jews of Danzig, his childhood city. He also invents a fictional Jew -- a school teacher nicknamed "Doubt, " a collector of snails -- who becomes a brilliantly bizarre metaphor for his own political philosophy. "What's progress?" Grass asks, "Being a little quicker than the snail ... and never getting there, children."

About the author

GÜNTER GRASS (1927–2015), Germany's most celebrated contemporary writer, attained worldwide renown with the publication of his novel The Tin Drum in 1959. A man of remarkable versatility, Grass was a poet, playwright, social critic, graphic artist, and novelist. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1999.
 

Product details

• Authors: Gunter Grass, Günter Grass
• Assisted by: Ralph Manheim (Translation)
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 19.12.1973
• EAN: 9780156339506
• ISBN: 978-0-15-633950-6
• No. of pages: 320
• Dimensions: 140 mm x 216 mm x 19 mm
• Weight: 453 g
• Series: Harvest Book; Hb 330; Harvest Book; Hb 330
• Subject: Fiction > Narrative literature