East German Writers and the Politics of Culture: Dealing with the Stasi

Before the fall of the Berlin Wall many East German writers were praised in the Western world as dissident voices of truth, bravely struggling with the draconian constraints of living under the GDR's communist regime. However, since unification, Germany has been rocked by scandals showing the level to which the Stasi, the East German Secret Police, controlled these same writers. This is the first study in English to systematically explore how the writers have responded to the challenge of dealing with the Stasi from the 1950s to the present day. Front Matter....Pages i-xxi Front Matter....Pages 1-1 The East German Ministry of State Security and East German Society during the Honecker Era, 1971–1989....Pages 3-24 Uwe Johnson’s Awkward Legacy: A Sympathetic Secret Policeman of the pre-Stasi Era....Pages 25-39 The Stasi as the Force of Evil: Collin’s Faustian Struggle with the Stasi Boss Urack in Stefan Heym’s Collin ....Pages 41-55 ‘Die Tragikomödie Deutschland’: Scenes from No Man’s Land in Martin Walser’s Dorle und Wolf ....Pages 57-70 Tallhover or The Eternal Spy: Hans Joachim Schädlich’s Stasi-Novel Tallhover ....Pages 71-84 Front Matter....Pages 85-85 ‘Ich, Seherin, gehörte zum Palast’: Christa Wolf’s Literary Treatment of the Stasi in the Context of her Poetics of Self-Analysis....Pages 87-106 ‘Könnte man sagen, du seist ein Spiönchen?’: Erich Loest’s Fallhöhe ....Pages 107-120 Telling Tales: Moral Responsibility and the Stasi in Uwe Saeger’s Die Nacht danach und der Morgen ....Pages 121-138 The Stasi as Panopticon: Wolfgang Hilbig’s »Ich« ....Pages 139-153 The Stasi, the Confession and Performing Difference: Brigitte Burmeister’s Unter dem Namen Norma ....Pages 155-172 ‘Bekenntnisse des Stasi-Hochstaplers Klaus Uhltzscht’: Thomas Brussig’s Comical and Controversial Helden wie wir ....Pages 173-194 The Stasi as Literary Conceit: Günter Grass’s Ein weites Feld ....Pages 195-212 Jürgen Fuchs: Documenting Life, Death and the Stasi....Pages 213-226 Escaping the Autobiographical Trap? Monika Maron, the Stasi and Pawels Briefe ....Pages 227-242 Back Matter....Pages 243-262 Cover 1 Contents 6 Acknowledgements 8 Notes on the Contributors 10 List of Abbreviations 14 Introduction 16 Part One 23 1 The East German Ministry of State Security and East German Society during the Honecker Era, 1971–1989 24 2 Uwe Johnson's Awkward Legacy: A Sympathetic Secret Policeman of the pre-Stasi Era 46 3 The Stasi as the Force of Evil: Collin's Faustian Struggle with the Stasi Boss Urack in Stefan Heym's Collin 61 4 'Die Tragikomödie Deutschland': Scenes from No Man's Land in Martin Walser's Dorle und Wolf 76 5 Tallhover or The Eternal Spy: Hans Joachim Schädlich's Stasi-Novel Tallhover 90 Part Two 104 6 'Ich, Seherin, gehörte zum Palast': Christa Wolf's Literary Treatment of the Stasi in the Context of her Poetics of Self-Analysis 105 7 'Könnte man sagen, du seist ein Spiönchen?' Erich Loest's Fallhöhe 125 8 Telling Tales: Moral Responsibility and the Stasi in Uwe Saeger's Die Nacht danach und der Morgen 139 9 The Stasi as Panopticon: Wolfgang Hilbig's »Ich« 157 10 The Stasi, the Confession and Performing Difference: Brigitte Burmeister's Unter dem Namen Norma 172 11 'Bekenntnisse des Stasi-Hochstaplers Klaus Uhltzscht': Thomas Brussig's Comical and Controversial HeIden wie wir 190 12 The Stasi as Literary Conceit: Günter Grass's Ein weites Feld 212 13 Jürgen Fuchs: Documenting Life, Death and the Stasi 230 14 Escaping the Autobiographical Trap? Monika Maron, the Stasi and Pawels Briefe 244 Bibliography 260 Index 273 Before the collapse of the Berlin Wall, many East German writers were praised in the Western World as dissident voices of truth, bravely struggling with the draconian constraints of living under the GDR's communist regime. Since unification, however, Germany has been rocked by scandals revealing the extent to which the East German Secret Police, the Stasi, had these same writers in its pocket. Throughout the 1990s a number of studies have examined the use that the Stasi made of writers during the GDR's 40 year history. However, this is the first study in English to systematically explore how the writers themselves have responded to the challenge of dealing with the Stasi from the 1950s to the present day Unification and the fight for survival Policies, programmes and personalities : the post-1998 Left Party Aims and ambitions : policy, office, votes and the Left Party Haven't we been here before? : comparing the Left Party and the Greens The Left Party in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania The Left Party in Berlin The Left Party in opposition From the PDS to the Left Party Combining new thinking in International Relations theory with original historical research, Kleuters explores the struggle between Christian Democrats and Social Democrats on the subject of German reunification, from Westbindung to Ostpolitik. 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