AP Interview: Guenter Grass surprised by success of “Tin Drum” 50 years on

AP: Guenter Grass surprised by “Tin Drum” success

GOETTINGEN, Germany — Fifty years after he rocketed to the international stage with “The Tin Drum,” Guenter Grass is still surprised at the overnight success of his tale of World War II as told through the eyes of a stunted boy and his toy instrument.

Grass — who turned 82 Friday — paused when asked the reason for the book’s global appeal during an interview with The Associated Press in the library of his German publisher, Steidl, in the central German university town of Goettingen.

“Perhaps because it’s a good book,” he quipped.

His pivotal work has been translated into some 40 different languages. It helped earn Grass the Nobel Prize in literature in 1999 and a standing as one of the world’s literary giants.

The highly political author reflected not only on his work, but the Swedish Academy’s decisions for the Nobel Prize in literature, the “deplorable state of affairs” for authors in China and what he called the equally dismal state of democracy in Germany.

The anniversary of “The Tin Drum” is being marked by publication of nearly a dozen new translations which were unveiled at the 61st Frankfurt Book Fair that ends on Sunday.

This year’s fair is highlighting literature and culture from China, and Grass, well-known for his history as a prominent supporter of Germany’s center-left Social Democrats, did not shy away from jumping into the discourse surrounding the decision by the fair’s organizers to feature a country where many authors openly suffer from government censorship.

“We know the deplorable state of affairs in China, and we need to name them,” said Grass, but he was quick to point out what he sees as shortcomings in his own country.

“But we must not forget to name our own grievances. What I cannot stand is the arrogance from the chancellor to whomever, as though our democracy was perfect — which it isn’t,” Grass said, singling out corruption and the influence of lobbyists on lawmakers as two acute problems facing Germany.

“Please, let us not act as if we cornered the market on democracy. Such insolence of course makes it very difficult for the Chinese to acknowledge their own mistakes,” he said.

Grass was less critical of the Swedish Academy’s decision to award this year’s Nobel prize for literature to the little-known German author Herta Mueller. He said it is a “wonderful thing” for the German language that three of its authors — Austria’s Elfriede Jelenik in 2004, himself and now Mueller — have won the prize in the past decade.

“She was awarded the prize and she earned it,” he said of the Romanian-born Mueller, noting that many worthy and well-known authors never win.

“One could say that it is possible to imagine others” who could have won this year, he said, naming Israeli writer Amos Oz as an example.

Grass was already established when he received the Nobel prize and said that the most meaningful award for him was the recognition from the postwar German literary organization Group 47, bestowed on him in 1958, a year before “The Tin Drum” was published.

Though it was worth 4,500 German marks — roughly euro2,250 or ($3,340) at today’s rates — it came when he was an unknown author struggling to pay the bills.

That prize, he said, “made it possible for me to finish writing the book at my leisure, without any pressure from my publisher — a wonderful situation for an author.”

Yet he still remains surprised at how swiftly “The Tin Drum” became a best-seller.

He reflected that although it tackles one of the most daunting periods of German history — the rise of the Nazis and World War II — it does so by focusing on the minutiae in the lives of ordinary people, told in a way that readers could relate to.

After finishing “The Tin Drum,” Grass tried out different concepts of storytelling, which resulted in “Cat and Mouse,” and then “Dog Years” — the other two books that make up the Danzig trilogy. Although he views “Dog Years” as the climax of what he set out to achieve with “The Tin Drum,” none of his books since has met with such wild success.

In the years since, Grass has gone on to publish more than a dozen works, including his 2006 biography “Peeling the Onion” that addressed for the first time his brief stint serving in the Nazi’s Waffen SS — a revelation that stirred intense debate in Germany and abroad given the author’s long-standing status as virulently anti-Nazi.

Next fall he plans to bring out his newest work of prose, but he refused to reveal any details about it, saying only, “It’s in the works.”

Yet there is little chance that Oskar Matzerath, the main character who rattles readers throughout the pages of “The Tin Drum” will play any role. Despite Grass’ admission that his characters take on lives of their own, he said he hasn’t heard from Oskar lately.

“At the moment, he’s quiet,” Grass said. “And I’m very happy about that.”