Racing with Utopia: Selected Speeches and Essays of Grass

Author: (German) Grass (Grass/G.) / Lin Jia et al.
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-05-01
Features: Grass is one of the most outstanding contemporary German writers. His groundbreaking novel The Tin Drum has been translated into dozens of languages and sold nearly 500 million copies. The film adapted from it won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 1979 and the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 1980. His other novels, such as The Dog Years, Cat and Mouse, Reunion in Teplitz, The Rat Mother, and The Crab Walk, are widely acclaimed and celebrated worldwide. His honors are as abundant as falling leaves, including the prestigious Nobel Prize in Literature, as well as the Gruppe 47 Prize, the Bremer Literature Prize, the Medal of the Free Academy of Arts and Sciences of Hamburg, the Bavarian State Prize for Arts and Sciences, the Büchner Prize, the Fontane Prize, the Thomas Mann Prize, the German Book Prize for Peace, the French Prize for the Best Book, the Mondello International Prize for Literature in Italy, the Polish Golden Medal of the Alexander-Majkowski Foundation, the Antonello-Fettinelli International Novel Prize in Rome, the Hidalgo Prize in Spain, the Karel-?apek Prize in the Czech Republic, and the Sonning Prize in Denmark, among dozens of other influential German and international awards. Grass is a versatile writer, not only a novelist but also a poet and playwright. He is also a sculptor and etcher. In recognition of his contributions to literature and the arts, Germany appointed him as a member of the Berlin Academy of Sciences and Arts, while universities in the United States, Poland, and many other countries have awarded him the titles of Honorary Doctor and Honorary Professor. Grass has received so many honors, not only for his works but also for his character. He speaks for the ordinary people, and his behavior is just like that of ordinary people. His charm lies in his integrity and courage to speak out. He takes every opportunity to stand up for justice and criticize the various shortcomings of modern society, whether domestic or international, with his words and pen. For this reason, on the basis of publishing his nine long novels, we have selected 56 of the most outstanding speeches and essays from his three-volume monumental Collected Speeches and Essays, which reflect the author's views and insights on a series of major issues in today's society, politics, military, economy, science and technology, education, culture, and literary arts. These articles can be said to embody the essence of Grass, one of the most outstanding contemporary German writers, and we believe they will also help us understand and explore the unique creative thought trajectory and its context of Grass.