Women's Writing and Historiography in the GDR [Hardcover]

This is not only the first study to offer a detailed comparison of historical and literary discourses in the GDR, but also the first to illuminate relations between three topics popular in East German women's writing: the National Socialist past; the lives of historical women; and the use of mythical themes and forms to voice critiques of history.

IntroductionIntroduction
I. 'Das Vergangene ist nicht tot': new approaches to National Socialism in literature of the 1970s
1. Historical and literary treatments of National Socialism prior to the 1970s
2. Shifting perspectives on the National Socialist past in 1970s literature and historiography
3. 'Der gew?hnliche Faschismus': Helga Sch?tz'sJette/Julianovels
4. 'Wie sind wir so geworden, wie wir heute sind?': Christa Wolf'sKindheitsmusterand its reception in the GDR
5. Developments in historians' and writers' approaches to National Socialism afterKindheitsmuster
II. 'ihre Geschichte w?re noch zu schreiben': biographical fictions about women
6. Women's lives as a challenge to Orthodox historical narratives
7. Academic work on women's history in the GDR and feminist debates in the West
8. Writing a woman's life: Christa Wolf; Sigrid Dumm and Renate Feyl; Brigitte Struzyk
III. 'Die Welt der unendlichen M?glichkeiten neben dieser einen Realit?t': fantastic approaches to history in literature of the 1970s and 1980s
9. Literary treatments of myth in the GDR
10. Fantastic approaches to history: Morgner'sTrobadora BeatrizandK?nigsdorf's Respektloser Umgang
11. Myth as history and history as myth: Wolf'sKassandraand Morgner'sAmanda
Conclusion
Bibliography
Index

In this excellent study, Helen Bridge argues that narrative fiction by women expanded the boundaries of historical debate in the GDR.... Bridge not only offers perceptivló×