The Tin Drum by Günter Grass (CD)

A New Translation by Breon Mitchell read by Paul Michael Garcia

The Tin Drum, one of the great novels of the twentieth century, became a runaway best-seller and catapulted its young author to the forefront of world literature. Now on the book’s fiftieth anniversary comes this new translation by Breon Mitchell, one that is faithful to Grass’s style and rhythm, restores omissions, and reflects more fully the complexity of the original work.

This is the story of Oskar Matzerath, a dwarfish hunchback detained in a mental hospital, convicted of a murder he did not commit. From his third birthday when he received a tin drum, it has become the means of his expression, allowing him to draw forth memories from his past as well as from the Nazi era. Oskar’s imaginative distortion and exaggeration of history reveals a startlingly true portrayal of the human situation.

 REVIEWS

“Grass is one of the master fabulists of our age.”—Times

"The Tin Drum will become one of the enduring literary works of the twentieth century."—Swedish Academy, awarding Günter Grass the Nobel Prize for Literature, 1999

GÜNTER GRASS was born in Danzig, Germany, in 1927 and is the widely acclaimed author of numerous novels, plays, poems, and essays. The 1999 Nobel Prize for Literature was awarded to him, “whose frolicsome black fables portray the forgotten face of history” (The Swedish Academy, Nobel committee).

BREON MITCHELL is a professor of Germanic studies and comparative literature and the director of the Lilly Library at Indiana University. He was awarded the Kurt and Helen Wolff Prize for his translation of Uwe Timm’s Morenga in 2004.