The Tin Drum

The Tin Drum, one of the great novels of the twentieth century, was published in 1959. It became a runaway bestseller and catapulted its young author to the forefront of world literature.
To mark its fiftieth anniversary, here is a new translation of this classic book. Breon Mitchell, acclaimed translator and scholar, has drawn from many sources: a wealth of detailed scholarship,a wide range of newly available reference works, and the author himself. The result is a translation that is more faithful to Grass's styleand rhythm, restores omissions, and reflects more fully the complexity of the original work.
After fifty years, The Tin Drum has, if anything, gained in power and relevance. All of Grass's amazing evocations are still here, and still amazing: Oskar Matzerath, the indomitable drummer; his grandmother, Anna Koljaiczek; his mother, Agnes; Alfred Matzerath and Jan Bronski, his presumptive fathers; Oskar's midget friends Bebra, the great circus master, and Roswitha Raguna, the famous somnambulist; Mother Truczinski, Sister Scholastika and Sister Agneta, the Right Reverend Father Wiehnke; Sigismund Markus, the toy merchant; the Greffs, the Schefflers, Herr Fajngold, all Kashubians, Poles, Germans, and Jews - waiting to be discovered and rediscovered.