The Writers' State: Constructing East German Literature 1945-1959 (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9781571139535)

Twenty-five years after the demise of the German Democratic Republic, there is perhaps more scholarship being produced on all aspects of that country than ever. This is true also in the field of literary studies, but especially in English-language literary scholarship there has been a strong imbalance toward a focus on the last three decades of GDR literature. The literature of the earlier GDR has mostly been dismissed or ignored by scholars, as the discontinuities between the early and late GDR have been emphasized over the considerable continuities. This book seeks to redress that state of affairs, examining the literature produced from the very beginnings of what became the GDR through the 1950s. In doing so it applies to GDR literature the insight gained by scholars over the past few decades that the immediate postwar period was more complex, more meaningful, and more rewarding of study than it was long deemed to be. Far from all being mere propaganda or rote socialist realism, the literature of the early GDR has much to tell us about the budding socialist state, even as it goes far in explaining the developments in the later GDR. STEPHEN BROCKMANN is Professor of German at Carnegie Mellon University.

Author: Stephen Brockmann
ISBN-10: 1571139532
ISBN-13: 9781571139535
Publisher: Camden House (NY)
Language: English
Published: 12/21/2015
Pages: 380
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 1.61lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.00w x 1.00d

Review Citation(s):
Choice 07/01/2016