Günter Grass, Breon Mitchell: Of All That Ends (2017, Penguin Random House)
176 pages
English language
Published June 25, 2017 by Penguin Random House.
The final work of the Nobel Prize winner Günter Grass—a witty and elegiac series of meditations on writing, growing old, the world
In spite of the trials of old age, and with the end in sight, suddenly everything seems possible again: love letters, soliloquies, scenes of jealousy, swan songs, social satire, and moments of happiness crowd onto the page. Only an aging artist who has once more cheated death can set to work with such wisdom, defiance, and wit. A wealth of touching stories is condensed into artful miniatures. In a striking interplay of poetry, lyric prose, and drawings, the Nobel Prize-winning author creates his final major work of art.
A moving farewell gift, a sensual, melancholy summation of a life fully lived.
Günther Grass' last book is a fitting conclusion. It's a wittily funny, perfectly curmudgeonly, and surprisingly touching account of the end of his life, documented through short essays, poems and drawings. There is narrative here, and a deep love for humanity coupled with a mild hopelessness about a future that he will never see. And a final tooth that perhaps he cannot save.
