The Failure of Günter Grass

Another Nobel bomb.

THE award of the Nobel Prize for Literature to Gunter Grass wrings a groan from the heart. The Swedish Academy is at it again. A jury of learned professors in Stockholm has the great treasure to confer. They like to see themselves as advancing universal values, which have come to be defined as the rejection of capitalism in general, and of America in particular. In their hands, the Nobel Prize has become one of the world’s foremost symbols of an anti-American political correctness that has for years been the intellectual mainstream in much of the world. When the professors claim that Grass, and especially his novel The Tin Drum, has left a mark on the 20th century, they are spouting a most fashionable aberration of the day, which in its local form may be called Swede-think. Needless to say, prize-winners who are so contemptuous of capitalism and America seem able to pocket about a million dollars without noticing the smallest inconsistency.

About the Author

David Pryce-Jones

David Pryce-Jones (1936–2025) was a British author and commentator and served as a senior editor of National Review.

Featured Tags

Another Nobel bomb.

THE award of the Nobel Prize for Literature to Gunter Grass wrings a groan from the heart. The Swedish Academy is at it again. A jury of learned professors in Stockholm has the great treasure to confer. They like to see themselves as advancing universal values, which have come to be defined as the rejection of capitalism in general, and of America in particular. In their hands, the Nobel Prize has become one of the world’s foremost symbols of an anti-American political correctness that has for years been the intellectual mainstream in much of the world. When the professors claim that Grass, and especially his novel The Tin Drum, has left a mark on the 20th century, they are spouting a most fashionable aberration of the day, which in its local form may be called Swede-think. Needless to say, prize-winners who are so contemptuous of capitalism and America seem able to pocket about a million dollars without noticing the smallest inconsistency.