Taking as its starting point the work of Professor Dennis Tate, this volume brings together essays which explore varieties of East German autobiographical writing before, during and after German unification. The volume examines the invention and re-invention of the self through literature in response to historical change, analysing how authors have negotiated social transition in the East German context. Many of the contributions also discuss how authors have sought to understand lives which have spanned the National Socialist, socialist and post-unification periods. This volume will be particularly valuable to students and researchers working on contemporary Germany and its culture, as well as to those with an interest in autobiographical writing.
Ian Wallace: Foreword
David Clarke and Axel Goodbody: Introduction
The Third Reich in Socialist Autobiographies
Martin Kane: Omissions and Revisions: Hans Marchwitzaâs Autobiographical Writing
Joanne Sayner: Verehrter Gen. Ulbricht: Negotiations of Self and Socialist Identity in Greta Kuckhoffâs Letters
Helmut Peitsch: âEin Kommunist kann nicht die Politik seiner Partei vom Blickwinkel seines Einzelschicksals her begreifenâ: Rudi Goguels Schreiben über das eigene Leben
Sara Jones: Why Stay? Shifting Perspectives on âInner Emigrationâ and Resistance in the Works of Elfriede Brüning
Writing the Self in the German Democratic Republic
Ricarda Schmidt: Heinrich von Kleist in Christa Wolfâs Kein Ort. Nirgends
Georgina Paul: âAber erzählen läÃt sich nichts ohne Zeitâ: Time and Atemporality in Christa Wolfâs Subjectively Authentic Narratives
Renate Rechtien: From Vergangenheitsbewältigung to Living with Ghosts: Christa Wolfâs Kindheitsmuster and Leibhaftig
Axel Goodbody: Poetic Reflections on Stunted Lives: Wulf Kirstenâs Contribution to East German Autobiographical Writing
Heinz-Peter PreuÃer: Institutionen hatten âsich in der Landschaft festgesetzt wie ägyptische Pyramidenâ: Volker Brauns Lebens/Werk und sein Hinze-Kunze-Roman in der Dialektik von Stagnation und Radikalkritik
Shifting Perspectives after 1989
Owen Evans: âEin Botschafter des Vergessenenâ: Günter de Bruyn, the Chronicler
Peter Barker: Re-writing My Life and Work: Jurij BrÄzanâs Autobiographical Writings
Christine Cosentino: âIdylle mit Gewehrâ: Volker Brauns Versuche einer Annäherung an den Vater in Das Mittagsmahl
Ute Hirsekorn: Vom verblendeten Selbst zum gewendeten Selbst: Der Wandel in der narrativen Identität in den
Selbstreflexionen Günter Schabowskis nach 1989
David Clarke: âWer schreibt, kann nicht tötenâ: Writing and Life in Reinhard Jirglâs Abtrünnig: Roman aus der nervösen Zeit
Andrew Plowman: Experience, Military Fiction and the Shameful Self in Ingo Schulzeâs Neue Leben
Hannes Krauss: Memories of a GDR-Watcher, oder: Die westdeutsche Germanistik und die DDR-Literatur
Dennis Tate: List of Publications
Contributors
Index