Guest of the ilb 2002
Christa Wolf was born in Landsberg on the Warthe in
1929 and fled with her family to Mecklenburg in 1945. In 1949, the year
of her A-levels, she joined the SED. Until 1953 she studied German in
Jena and Leipzig. After this she worked in East Berlin at the German
Writers Association as academic assistant, as editor of the magazine
»Neue deutsche Literatur« and the »Aufbau-Verlag«, amongst others.
Since 1962, Christa Wolf is freelance writer.
Literature and politics are inseparable in Christa Wolf’s life:
until the early fifties she felt »at one« with the socialist system,
but already in her second narrative, the love story »Der geteilte
Himmel« (1963) she is concerned with the problems of the GDR on the eve
of the building of the Wall. The book received much attention in the
East and the West.
Her »subjective authenticity« writing style, that is having own
personal experiences in which social connections are reflected as a
central theme, quickly brought Wolf into conflict with the official
given doctrine of realism. Nevertheless, she remained, despite all her
critique on the prevailing circumstances, tied to the principle of the
socialist state. Her story »Nachdenken über Christa T.« (1968) is a
true to life depiction of life in the GDR and questions the
relationship of the individual and the state. The protagonist, »Christa
T.«, is a counter figure to the socialist hero of the given order. Her
personal ideas of happiness and the demands which the community puts on
her in the name of the creating of socialism, don’t want to come
together.
In 1976 the novel based on recollections, »Kindheitsmuster«, came
out in which the author follows her own history and attempts to once
again understand the path taken by her generation.
In the same year, Christa Wolf was one of the people who openly
protested against the expatriation of Wolf Biermann. »Kein Ort.
Nirgends« (1977) is an expression which speaks for itself of the crisis
of self-understanding which the author was thrown by these events. Also
in 1983 the story »Kassandra« came out which deals with the
powerlessness of (matriarchal) knowledge against the interests of power.
Nevertheless, she remained loyal to her concept of socialism with a
human face. Even in the last days of the GDR, at the demonstration on
the Alexanderplatz on fourth November 1989, she announced her support
of reforming of this state.
The publication of the story »Was bleibt« (1990) which, with
autobiographical traits, reflects her surveillance by the Ministry for
State Security (MfS) of the GDR, led to a discussion, in the early
nineties, on the responsibility and share of guilt of intellectuals in
socialism. Her answer to the critique on her role in the SED state was
»Medea« (1996), a novel with its roots in mythology on the social
isolation of outsider figures. In 2002 the highly praised story
»Leibhaftig« of the »Büchner Prize« carrier of 1980 came out, followed
by the extraordinary diary »Ein Tag im Jahr« (2003) and the
correspondence »Ja, unsere Kreise berühren sich« (2004). In 2006 her
collection of essays »Der Worte Adernetz« was published.
The oft-awarded writer lives in Berlin and Woserin, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.
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