The Reception of Günter Grass’ Works in the Czechoslovak and Russian-Language Cultural Spaces (1960s–1990s) Cover Image

Рецепция творчества Гюнтера Грасса: литературная цензура и паратексты в чехословацком и русскоязычном культурных пространствах (1960–1990-е годы)
The Reception of Günter Grass’ Works in the Czechoslovak and Russian-Language Cultural Spaces (1960s–1990s)

Author(s): Petr Pytlík, Olena Poddenezhna
Subject(s): Studies of Literature, History of ideas, Political history, Comparative Study of Literature, Sociology of Literature
Published by: AV ČR - Akademie věd České republiky - Slovanský ústav and Euroslavica
Keywords: Günter Grass; literary reception; censorship; paratexts; Czechoslovakia; Russian-language literary space; modern literature;

Summary/Abstract: The article analyzes the reception of the works of the German writer Günter Grass in Czechoslovak and Russian-language cultural spaces from the 1960s to the 1990s. The study focuses on the institutional and mediated forms of reception – primarily critical reviews, publishing strategies, translators’ commentaries, and paratexts shaped by the mechanisms of censorship. Rather than addressing mass reader response, the article examines how official and professional discourses framed and reinterpreted Grass’ works within specific ideological contexts. Adopting a comparative perspective, the article explores the distinctive features of the reception of Grass’ prose in the Czech, Slovak, and Russian-language cultural milieus. Particular attention is paid to the censorship practices and paratextual strategies that functioned as instruments for adapting Grass’ creative legacy to the political and cultural constraints of authoritarian regimes. The concluding section discusses Russian-language publications produced in independent Ukraine, which reveal the transformation of Grass’ reception and the gradual shift from controlled interpretation to pluralistic reading in the post-totalitarian era.

  • Issue Year: XCV/2026
  • Issue No: 2
  • Page Range: 129-150
  • Page Count: 22
  • Language: Russian
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