Outline the main functions and responsibilities of authors in the GDR and describe
some of the key historical developments in the relationship between writers and the
GDR state. Explain briefly what is meant by the ‘deutsch-deutscher Literaturstreit’,
which was particularly enflamed by the publication of Christa Wolf’s Was Bleibt in
1990. Looking at the portrayal of the writer figure in Was Bleibt, discuss what Wolf’s
text reveals about the challenges and demands of writing, both in general and in the
context of the GDR in particular. Consider also, whether Wolf’s text addresses issues
raised in the ‘Literaturstreit’. If so, which?
Christa Wolf’s “Was Bleibt” details a day in the life of a female writer being observed by the
Stasi. It explores the psychological strain of living under the GDR’s constant observation,
reflecting the criticism of the GDR that is rarely found in Wolf’s writing. However, the
intensity of the criticism found in “Was Bleibt” made it Wolf’s most controversial text, and
consequently placed her at the centre of the ‘deutsch-deutscher Literaturstreit’. During the
GDR era, Wolf, as an author in the public eye, received a certain level of leniency from the
SED, thus making her a victim of accusations of hypocrisy. Furthermore, the publication of
strong criticism against the DDR from an author whose writing was strongly linked with the
SED party confused the public. Despite the text being written in 1979, it was left unpublished
until 1990. This was interpreted by many as move by Wolf to protect her personal interests
by deciding not to publish it until it was ‘safe’, rather than publishing it when it could have
contributed to political o...
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...2003) Wende und Einheit im Spiegel der Deutschsprachigen Literatur. Berlin: Walter de Gruter.
Pg. 335
8 Brockmann, S. (Winter 1994) ‘Preservation and Change in Christa Wolf's Was Bleibt’. The German Quarterly,
67 (1):82.
Works Cited
• Deiritz, K. and Krauss, H. (1991) Der Deutsch-Deustche Literaturstreit. Hamburg: Luchterhand Literaturverlag.
• Grub, F. T. (2003) Wende und Einheit im Spiegel der Deutschsprachigen Literatur. Berlin: Walter de Gruter.
• Wolf, C. (1990) Was Bleibt. Frankfurt am Main: Lucherhand Literaturverlag.
• Greiner, U. (1990) ‘Christa Wolf und der deutsche Literaturstreit’, Zeit, nd November. Available from http://www.zeit.de/1990/45/die-deutsche-
gesinnungsaesthetik. [2nd 2 December 2013]
• Brockmann, S. (Winter 1994) ‘Preservation and Change in Christa Wolf's Was Bleibt’. The German Quarterly, 67 (1):73-85.
Gluckel's memoir enables a reader to gain an understanding of what a widowed Jewish woman would face in Christian dominated Germany both from a personal and public perspective throughout seventeenth and eighteenth century. Throughout her memoirs Gluckel describes the worries that a mother would have over her children, her relations with both her first and second husband while addressing the responsibilities she faced as a businesswoman. Gluckel arranged her life narrative in seven books. The first four books and the opening section of the fifth book have been written consecutively in the months or year of mourning after Haim's (her first husbands) death in 1689. The rest of Book 5 was written during the decade of the 1690's but given final form after her second marriage. The sixth book was written in 1702 or shortly afterward, during the initial shock of Hirsch Levy's (Gluckel's second husbands) bankruptcy in Metz, and the seventh and final book was composed in 1715, during her second widowhood, with a final paragraph from 1719 before her death. Gluckel has conveniently broken down her narratives in seven books, which help the reader clearly identify with individual aspects occurring in her life. In her memoirs Gluckel thoroughly encompasses a social, cultural and economical perspective about her life as a Jewish woman while contrasting it to Christian ways which dominated Germany during both 17th and 18th century.
Drawn from her surviving love letters and court records, The Burgermeister's Daughter is an engaging examination of the politics of sexuality, gender and family in the 16th century, and a supreme testament to the grit and perseverance of a woman who challenged the inequalities of this distant age. The story, in Steven Ozment's meticulous and experienced hands, goes well beyond the litigious Anna to encompass much else about the 16th century, including the nature of sexual morality, the social individuality of men and women, the jockeying for power between the upwardly striving bourgeoisie and the downward sliding nobility, and the aftereffect of the reformation on private life. Steven Ozment's understanding of the Medieval German society and its effects on its citizens is amazing. Steven Ozment brings a medieval drama to life in this extensively researched and absorbing account of the 30-year lawsuit between Anna Buschler and her family. Anna's father was the Burgermeister (mayor) of the German town of Schwabisch Hall. He banished his daughter from the family home in 1525 after he read letters that proved her sexual connection with two men. Anna responded by suing her father. Anna Buschler looked predestined to a comfortable and serene life, not one of constant personal and legal conflict. Born into an eminent and respectable family, self-confident and high-spirited in her youth, and a woman of acknowledged beauty, she had a standing as the beauty of her hometown, and as something of a free soul. In an era when women were presumed to be disciplined and loyal, Anna proved to be neither. Defying 16th-century social mores, she was the constant subject of defamation because of her indecent dress and flirtatious behavior. When her we...
Guerin, Wilfred L. A Handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature. New York: Harper & Row,
Anna was the daughter of Hermann Buschler, a prominent citizen who had even been the burgermeister of the German town of Schwabisch Hall, within the Holy Roman Empire. When she was young, Anna had simultaneous affairs with a young local nobleman, Erasmus Schenk of Limpurg, and a cavalryman named Daniel Treutwein. Anna’s father was so upset when he discovered these affairs; he deprived her of mostly all her inheritance. Anna a scandalized woman, fought in the Hall legal system for decades, and she eventually won back some of her inheritance.
7 Hamilton Fish, FDR: The Other Side of the Coin, (New York: Vantage Press 1976), pp.
Updike, John. "A&P." Thinking and Writing About Literature. Ed. Michael Meyer. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2001. 981-86. Print.
The World Book Encyclopedia. 2000 ed. : p. 78. Griswold, Rufus Wilmot. The "Scarlet Letter" The Library of Literary Criticism of English and American Authors. Ed.
Heberle, Mark. "Contemporary Literary Criticism." O'Brien, Tim. The Things They Carried. Vol. 74. New York, 2001. 312.
Schwarz, Frederic D. "The Demagogue’s Downfall." American Heritage Nov.-Dec. 2004: volume 55, issue 6. Web.
Baldwin, J. (2000). Down at the Cross. In Brunk, T., Diamond, S., Perkins, P., & Smith, K. (Eds.), Literacies (pp. 27-42). New York, N.Y.
Wiesel appeals to logos, ethos, and pathos in Night. The reader’s logic is not so much directly appealed to, but indirectly the description of the events causes the reader to...
Neustagt begins with President Franklin D. Roosevelt, whom he believes is the one president that knew how best to yield his power. He uses other examples throughout the book of Presidents from FDR to Reagan and endeavors to show the reader the ways in which power and persuasion was used in order for the presidents too perform at the best of their ability and still retain the power to persuade in order to govern the country and appease the public. Neustadt points out to the reader his opinion of the ways the president power is seen by others and how affective it is when certain strategies are applied correctly.
The wolves’ were hunted in late 1800 s’ and early 1900‘s in the United States because farmers wanted more land for their cattle’s to graze upon. As farmers were moving out west they felt threaten that the wolves would hunt their cattles so the farmers thought that the best solution would be to take them out of the picture. This was possible because at the time there were no government regulations on hunting....
Guerin, Wilford L. A Handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature. New York: Oxford University Press, Inc., 1979.
Schwarz, Danie Reference Guide to English Literature, 2nd ed., edited by D. L. Kirkpatrick, St. James Press, 1991