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.

Table of Contents:
Ian Wallace: Foreword David Clarke and Axel Goodbody: Introduction The Third Reich in Socialist Autobiographies Martin Kane: Omissions and Revisions: Hans Marchwitza’s Autobiographical Writing Joanne Sayner: Verehrter Gen. Ulbricht: Negotiations of Self and Socialist Identity in Greta Kuckhoff’s Letters Helmut Peitsch: ‘Ein Kommunist kann nicht die Politik seiner Partei vom Blickwinkel seines Einzelschicksals her begreifen’: Rudi Goguels Schreiben über das eigene Leben Sara Jones: Why Stay? Shifting Perspectives on ‘Inner Emigration’ and Resistance in the Works of Elfriede Brüning Writing the Self in the German Democratic Republic Ricarda Schmidt: Heinrich von Kleist in Christa Wolf’s Kein Ort. Nirgends Georgina Paul: ‘Aber erzählen läßt sich nichts ohne Zeit’: Time and Atemporality in Christa Wolf’s Subjectively Authentic Narratives Renate Rechtien: From Vergangenheitsbewältigung to Living with Ghosts: Christa Wolf’s Kindheitsmuster and Leibhaftig Axel Goodbody: Poetic Reflections on Stunted Lives: Wulf Kirsten’s Contribution to East German Autobiographical Writing Heinz-Peter Preußer: Institutionen hatten ‘sich in der Landschaft festgesetzt wie ägyptische Pyramiden’: Volker Brauns Lebens/Werk und sein Hinze-Kunze-Roman in der Dialektik von Stagnation und Radikalkritik Shifting Perspectives after 1989 Owen Evans: ‘Ein Botschafter des Vergessenen’: Günter de Bruyn, the Chronicler Peter Barker: Re-writing My Life and Work: Jurij Brĕzan’s Autobiographical Writings Christine Cosentino: ‘Idylle mit Gewehr’: 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: ‘Wer schreibt, kann nicht töten’: Writing and Life in Reinhard Jirgl’s Abtrünnig: Roman aus der nervösen Zeit Andrew Plowman: Experience, Military Fiction and the Shameful Self in Ingo Schulze’s Neue Leben Hannes Krauss: Memories of a GDR-Watcher, oder: Die westdeutsche Germanistik und die DDR-Literatur Dennis Tate: List of Publications Contributors Index