Gunter grass book on calcutta

Apr, 2015 nobel prizewinning author gunter grass, best known for his book the tin drum, has died at age 87 at a hospital in luebeck, germany. The novel is the first book of grass s danziger trilogie danzig trilogy. At that time we just knew him as a german writer who wrote the tin drum. The book was published in multiple languages including english, consists of 567 pages and is available in paperback format. Why was grass fascinated by india, especially kolkata. Grass most recently, on writing and politics 19671983. In the popular imagination, calcutta is a packed and pestilential sprawl, made notorious by the black hole and the works of mother teresa.

The book was dedicated to the calcutta social project csp, a non. Yes, it is social commentary, a travel diary and a bit of morals all packed into one. This is the place where the west first truly encountered the east. Gunter grass, the nobelprizewinning german writer who explored the countrys postwar guilt and in 2006 himself admitted to serving in one of the nazis most notorious military units, died. Gunter grass project gutenberg selfpublishing ebooks. Gunter grass probably visited calcutta then for first time in 1975, when i was a 2 nd year mbbs student of medical college kolkata from a bellow poverty level family and my father was working hard to form left party at sodepur under banner of cpm with gopaluncle. It is a collection of short prose meditations, poems and pencil sketches on objects and ideas as they impinge on the consciousness of the artist as an old man. His works are frequently considered to have a leftwing political dimension, and grass was an active supporter of the social democratic party of germany. A record of the authors stay in calcutta from august 1987 to january 1988. The book is the second great illustrated diary from the east, preceded by. The city of joy which was the capital of british indian empire till 1911 also drew many acerbic comments like gunter grass s a bloody great mass that was dropped by god and called calcutta.

This was the period when naxalite movement was being handled brutally by hostile congress government and then hostile. He found the whole city to be a large slum, but then threw fuming and indignant kolkatans offtrack by. After gunter grass won the nobel prize for literature in 1999, the. While i have stressed the parts of my broken love where kampuchen features essays on grass in bangladesh, there are many articles in the book on gunter grass in kolkata that will be of interest to. May 20, 2014 a stunning book in drawings and words would indeed be the correct description of this book show your tongue by gunter grass.

That gunter grass is one of the worlds leading postwar novelists is certain. They stayed predominantly in calcutta kolkata, capital of british india from 1772 to 1912 and todays capital of the state of west bengal, a city that also plays a prominent role in the. Gunter grass, show your tongue 1989, harcourt brace jovanovich much of the call of the toad, especially the character of chatterjee, was planted in grass head during an almostsixmonth trip to india in the mideighties. The wrapper is in fine condition and is protected in a removable brodart archival protector. Apr 14, 2015 gunter grass and kolkata a four decade of lovehate tale updated. Cuomo, professor of german studies 19922017, new college of florida, with whom the translator first began work on this project in 1997. The kolkata which inspired gunter grass was a place where you.

The book fair was started on a small scale in 1976 by the kolkata publishers and booksellers guild. Naipaul, gunter grass and louis malle revived its hellish image. About the book in the popular imagination, calcutta is a packed and pestilential sprawl, made notorious by the black hole and the works of mother teresa. World famous german writer gunter grass talks about his controversial masterpiece, the tin drum, on world book club. From pile of shit, discovery of breathtaking contradictions. Gunter grass visited calcutta for the first time in 1975. But, unfortunately, his text often reads like a memory jog, not very evocative to a reader who wasnt there.

India bars filming of a documentary on calcutta the new. Apr 18, 2015 gunter grass expired on april in his home aged 87 years. Gunter grass was born in gdansk, poland on october 16, 1927 to a german father and kashubian mother. Grass s tribute to calcutta s unparalleled ability to move and engage. Calcutta is a city with a lot of important historical values. A stunning book in drawings and words would indeed be the correct description of this book show your tongue by gunter grass. Gunter and ute grass visit our home in dhakarashid haider. Gunter wilhelm grass was a german novelist, poet, playwright, illustrator, graphic artist. Exhibition catalogs exhibitions in art exhibitions. In his younger years, grass was a member of hitler youth. I have listed all of them in my book, but i would like to mention two here. Apr, 2015 gunter grass, who has died aged 87, was germanys bestknown postwar novelist, a man of titanic energy and zest who, besides his fictionwriting, enjoyed the cut and thrust of political debate. In 1975, he told filmmaker mrinal sen that calcutta was gods excrementsthis is recorded in the martin kampchenedited book, my broken love. The daily life of a sahib that you mention comes from two books in particular.

Form, content, and even the very choice of his subject were. It was a bittersweet relationship that he shared with this city, and its residents with him. Zunge zeigen show your tongue chapter 11 gunter grass. Yes, it has slipped into obscurity again and again. Grass touches again on the sources of his pure political passion. The living city, edited by sukanta chaudhuri, my teacher at jadavpur university, and gunter grass s. I n the summer of 1967, when the west was perhaps for the last time in the clutches of the optimism disease, when the microscopic, invisible bacillus of optimism made its young people believe that they would overcome some day, when unemployment was an irrelevance and the future still existed, and when i was twenty years old, i bought from a bookshop in cambridge a paperback copy of. Real audio interview with gunter grass and norman mailer. In the book the west german novelist condemns subhas chandra bose, a bengali. Apr 15, 2015 gunter grass probably visited calcutta then for first time in 1975, when i was a 2 nd year mbbs student of medical college kolkata from a bellow poverty level family and my father was working hard to form left party at sodepur under banner of cpm with gopaluncle. Grass is best known for his first novel, the tin drum 1959, a key text in european magic realism. In the 1980s, he became active in the peace movement and visited calcutta for six months. Yes, it is social commentary, a travel diary and a. It may be known to many because of the many tragedies of the past, but this image was revived after a century by v.

The tin drum, became the literary spokesman for the german generation that grew up in the nazi era and survived the war. The writer remembers gunter grass whose search for truth did not fail to impress. Browse author series lists, sequels, pseudonyms, synopses, book covers, ratings and awards. The first time i met gunter grass was at the venice film festival where my film paar 1984 won two awards. Grasss publisher, steidl, made the announcement, but has. It was the first book of his danzig trilogy, the other two being cat and mouse and dog years. Gunter grass has 214 books on goodreads with 3003 ratings.

Its also certain that he has had a sustained and serious relationship with india, especially with the city of calcutta. Gunter grass, who confronted germanys past as well as his. Much like danzig in poland where guenter grass s pathbreaking novel is set in. Later, we sat and talked about the film and discussed the characters at the lions bar. Ive got a copy and have read show your tongue, his calcutta book, so the whole gunter grass in india thing was not a suprise. Cat and mouse by grass, gunter and a great selection of related books, art and collectibles available now at. The nobel laureates iconic work and relaunched as a special 50th anniversary edition. The tin drum, became the literary spokesman for the german generation that grew. Gunter grass was a german author who won the 1999 nobel prize in literature. Calcutta is the measure of all things the new york times.

Show your tongue is grass travel diary of that time, a hundred pages of text, a hundred pages of drawings, and a long poem. Grass, who died on april in germany aged 87, was torn in his reactions to calcutta, or kolkata as it is now called. But what is less certain is whether both these factors necessarily result in a good book on grasss relationship with india. Having spent more time than i probably should have in calcutta, i get why gunter chose to spend his time in this most amazing of cities. It was adapted into a 1979 film, which won both the palme dor, in the same year, and the academy award for best foreign language film the following year. Kipling called it a city of dreadful night, and a century later v. Krishna dutta was born and educated in calcutta and has.

When the time comes, we will rest on leaves an exclusive extract from the nobel prizewinning authors final work describes how he and his wife imagined their farewell. Only a few days before he died, he was in hamburg accepting the. There have also been recent criticisms of a new book on calcutta by gunter grass titled show your tongue. Exactly years ago, rudyard kipling wrote the above lines quoted about calcutta in his poem a tale of two cities, and many others, up to and including geoffrey moorhouse and gunter grass. Kolkata occupied a special place in gunter grass heart, his consciousness and in his works. Only a few days before he died, he was in hamburg accepting the ovations of a large crowd in the. The meeting at telgte, 1981 spent six months in calcutta, during 198687, escaping his disgust at german politics, recording his impressions of india in words and drawings. Gunter grass and kolkata a four decade of lovehate tale. Playing theatre in calcutta with gunter grass amitava roy.

If you decide to tackle the danzig trilogy, reddicks critical analysis is indispensable. There were germans, kashubians and even scandanavians. Viking that gunter grass is one of the worlds leading postwar novelists is certain. The drawings bleed off the page and have somewhat been reduced in this post. Apr 14, 2015 gunter grass, the german novelist, social critic and nobel prize winner whom many called his countrys moral conscience but who stunned europe when he revealed in 2006 that he had been a member. Calcutta robbed me of words, i was mute outlook india magazine. Outside is college street, on which vendors sell hundreds of books and.

The book fair was started to meet the growing public demand for books, and a relative lack of bookshops. In 1999, he devoted a short chapter to calcutta in his book mein. Two years later, his muchawaited book on this sojourn zunge zeiggen show your tongue. It is about joachim mahlke, an alienated only child without a father. But what is less certain is whether both these factors necessarily result in. Later i heard from some people who expressed their disapproval of him as a nazi, who fought for the germans in world war ii. The book is dedicated to the calcutta social project, an educational undertaking for the children of the most. Grass was born in the free city of danzig now gdansk, poland. When hitler came to power he spoke of getting rid of all the different nationalities in the city danzig to make it one city with one culture. May 21, 1989 in the fall and winter of 198788, gunter grass and his wife, ute, settled in calcutta for the bengalilanguage staging of his 1966 play, the plebeians rehearse the uprising. Even though the country now has several large bookshops like landmark, starmark, crossword bookstores, and the oxford bookstore, in addition. The art of cookery is at the tip of a whole range of themes. The works protagonist, oskar matzerath, narrates the novel from an asylum for the insane. Until his death in 2015, nobel laureate gunter grass had a lovehate relationship with the indian city of calcutta, now kolkata.

He described calcutta as a melting pot of cultures. The book has been signed to the title page by gunter grass. Gunter grass held up a mirror to kolkata kolkata news. German writer and nobel laureate guenter grass afp photo. He was injured in the second world war and also kept captive as a prisoner of war from 19441946 after which he worked as a miner and a farm laborer. Why do you think that such a minor incident as the black hole of calcutta. Free download or read online the tin drum pdf epub book. The first edition of the novel was published in 1959, and was written by gunter grass. What you said at first, and that relates to the flounder too, the history of our nourishment. Gunter grass held up a mirror to kolkata kolkata news times of. He would have turned 90 on october 16 of this year.

The first thus uk printing published by harvill secker in 2009. The moist kiss of a parttime muse on call free as a bird after a stint at the hospital lends the author a. Until his death in 2015, nobel laureate gunter grass had a lovehate. Z unge zeigen, which was published in the fall of 1988, is the result of grass and his wife utes extended sojourn in india from august 1986 to january 1987. The spindle doesnt know whom to prick, the little girls hands that her father has chopped off, havent a single tree to catch hold of, the third wish remains unspoken.