Gunter Grass

The Tin Drum

Translated by Ralph Manheim

 

Oskar is born preternaturally intelligent. Clear-eyed about the state of the world and warped adult expectations, he decides not to grow. Thus begins his strange adventure that involves a tin drum, a Christ complex, a Satan obsession, the magical real, and an allegorical portrayal of his Polish–German identity. This novel is the first in The Danzig Trilogy, dealing with the period surrounding World War II in what is now Gdańzk, Poland.