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Der Butt

Günter Grass

1977530 pagesabout 8–12 hours
1977
first published
  • 1977Luchterhand · 693 pages · ENG
  • 1978Harcourt Brace Jovanovich · 547 pages · ENGISBN 9780151314867
  • 1979Penguin · 547 pages · ENGISBN 9780140049206
  • 1985Limited Editions Club · 530 pages · ENG
  • 1989Picador · 547 pages · ENGISBN 9780330305587
  • 1993Peter Smith Publisher · ENGISBN 9780844667058
  • 1983Fawcett · ENGISBN 9780449203491
  • 540 pages

Based loosely on Grimm's The Fisherman and his Wife, this triumphant blend of folk tale and contemporary story takes place over the course of nine months, during which the wife of the narrator becomes pregnant and is regaled with tales of the various cooks the fisherman has met throughout his life. The emerging themes of the novel expose the periods when men made history and women's contributions went largely, in some cases gravely, unrecognized. Inventive, imaginitive and irreverent, this humorous, fundamentally brilliant novel highlights the value of modern-day myth and timeless legend.

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