Grass was born in Gdansk, Poland (formerly Danzig, Germany), the scene of his several novels. He was educated at Danzig Volksschule and Gymnasium. In the 1930s he joined the Hitler Youth, drafted at the age of 16 and wounded in battle. He was imprisoned in 1945 and released next year.

After the war Grass studied art at the Academy of Art in Düsseldorf (1948-52) and at State Academy of Fine Arts in Berlin (1953-55). He was also trained as a stone mason and sculptor. Grass made journeys in the 1950s to Italy, France, and Spain. In 1954 he married Anna Margareta Schwartz - they were divorced in 1978. In 1979 he married Ute Grunert. From 1956 to 1960 Grass worked as a sculptor and writer in Paris, and settled in 1960 in West-Berlin.

The Tin Drum appeared in 1959 and caused a furore in Germany because of its depiction of the Nazis. The central character is Oscar Matzerath, who has refused to grow as a protest to the cruelties of German history, and communicates only through his toy drum.

Grass has been active also in politics. He worked as a ghost-writer for the leader of the Social Democrats, Willy Brandt (1913-1992), who was elected chancellor from 1969-74. (Collection of speeches and essays: DER BÜRGER UND SEINE STIMME, 1974 - The Citizen and his Voice).

From 1986 to 1987 Grass lived in India, which he has depicted in ZUNGE ZEIGEN (1988). From 1976 he has been coeditor of L and from 1980 Verlag L '80 publishers. Between the years 1983 and 1986 he was President of Berlin Academy of Arts. Among Grass' several awards are Gruppe 47 Prize (1958), Critics' Prize (1960, Germany), Foreign Book Prize (1962, France), Bühner Prize (1965), Fontane Prize (1968), Heuss Prize (1969), Mondello Prize (1977, Palermo), Carl von Ossiersky Medal (1977), Viareggio-Versilia Prize (1978), Majakowski Medal (1977), Feltrinelli Prize (1982), Leonhard Frank Ring (1988). Grass has honorary degrees from three colleges and universities.

As an essayist Grass has been prolific, dealing with several topics. He developes balanced aeguments based on facts embedded in historical context when in his novel Grass has used more baroque style. In 1989-91 Grass opposed German's hasty reunification and in 1992 he dedicated a public address about the decline of political culture in the United Germany to theTurkish victims of Mölln. In his later essays Grass has also criticized contemporary culture and poltics.

For further reading: Günter Grass: the Literature of Politics by A.V. Subiotto (1978); Günter Grass: the Writer in a Pluralist Society by M. Hollington (1980); Günter Grass by Ronald Hayman (1985); Critical Essays on Günter GraSs, ed. by Patrick O'Neill (1987)

Selected bibliography:

• DIE VORZÜGE DER WINDHÜHNER, 1956
• ONKEL, ONKEL, 1957 (play)
• HOCHWASSER, 1957 (play)
• DIE BÖSEN KÖCHE, 1957 (play)
• NOCH ZEHN MINUTEN BIS BUFFALO, 1957 (play)
• BERITTEN HIN UND ZURÜCK, 1958 (play)
• 32 ZÄHNE, 1958
• STOFFRESTE, 1959 (text for ballet)
• DIE BLECHTROMMEL, 1959 - THE TIN DRUM film 1979, dir. by Volker Schlöndorff, Oscar award as the best foreign film
• GLEISDEIK, 1960
• KATZ UND MAUS, 1961 - CAT AND MOUSE film 1966, dir. by Hansjürgen Pohland
• HUNDEJAHRE, 1963 - DOG YEARS
• DIE PLEBEJER PROBEN DEN AUFSTAND, 1966
• AUFGEFRAGT, 1967
• ÜBER DAS SELBSVERSTÄNDLICHE, 1968
• DAVOR, 1969
• ÖRTLICH BETÄUB, 1969 - LOCAL ANAESTHETIC
• DOKUMENTE ZUR POLITISCHEN WIRKUNG, 1971
• AUS DEM TAGEBUCH EINER SCHECKE, 1972
• DIE BÜRGER UND SEINE STIMME, 1974
• DER BUTT, 1977 - THE FLOUNDER
• DENKZETTEL, 1978
• DAS TREFFEN IN TELGTE, 1979 - THE MEETING AT TEGLTE
• KOPFGEBURTEN: ODER DIE DEUTSCHEN STERBEN AUS, 1980 - HEADBIRTHS, OR, THE GERMANS ARE DYING OUT
• AUFSÄTZE ZUR LITERATUR, 1980
• WIEDERSTAND LERNEN, 1984
• On Writing and Politics, 1985
• DIE RÄTTIN, 1986
• ZUNGE ZEIGEN, 1988
• DEUTSCHER LASTENAUSGLEICH, 1990
• EIN SCHNÄPPCHEN NAMENS DDR, LETZTE REDEB VOM GLOCKENGELÄUT, 1990
• GEGEN DIE VERSTREICHENDEZEIT, 1991
• UNKENRUFE, 1992 - THE CALL OF THE TOAD
• Cat and Mouse and Other Writings, 1994
• EIN WEITES FELD, 1995
• DIE DEUTSCHEN UND IHRE DICHTER, 1995
• FUNDSACHEN FÜ
• DER NICHTLESER, 1997

Danzig trilogy: The Tin Drum, Cat and Mouse, Dog Years.

Other writers who combine fantastic element, fabulations, with realistic narrative: Italo Calvino, Umberto Eco, Vladimir Nabokov. See also: Magic Realism