Christa Wolf Summary

Biography EssayChrista Wolf is one of the most prominent postwar German writers. Her works were read and discussed widely in both Germanies prior to reunification in 1990. The intense interest in her ... Read more

In the following essay, Gunew discusses Wolf's humanist perspective, her studies of collective memory, and the social construction of identity, particularly female identity, in A Model Childhoo... Read more

In the following essay, Jay discusses public criticism of Wolf stemming from the publication of Was bleibt and allegations of her complicity with the former East German government. 1. “Why not?... Read more

In the following essay, Voris examines the construction of female self-identity and aspects of alienation in The Quest for Christa T., drawing attention to the representation of women as creative agen... Read more

In the following essay, Juers discusses Wolf's concept of “subjective authenticity” and her abiding moral authority as a critic and author despite controversy surrounding Was blei... Read more

In the following essay, Saalmann examines postmodern elements of Wolf's writings, particularly aspects of self-consciousness and indeterminacy, that foreshadow—and perhaps anticipate... Read more

In the following review of What Remains and The Writer's Dimension, Benn defends Wolf against public condemnation for her socialist beliefs. Angry citizens may have pulled Lenin from his plinth... Read more

In the following review of What Remains and The Writer's Dimension, Hofmann acknowledges Wolf's complicated political commitments and literary context, but is critical of what he conside... Read more

In the following review of What Remains and The Author's Dimension, the critic finds Wolf's writings “dated” and tainted by her collaboration with East German authorities. ... Read more

In the following review, Manos offers a favorable assessment of What Remains and The Author's Dimension. When I first read The Quest for Christa T., I knew that Christa Wolf was presenting a no... Read more

In the following excerpt, Phillips judges What Remains to be “an uneven volume,” but concludes that it is a welcome collection of Wolf's short fiction. When The Quest for Christa ... Read more

In the following essay, Kuhn discusses Wolf's critical reception and provides an overview of her complex identity as an East German female writer, drawing attention to her interrelated politica... Read more

In the following review of Medea, Graves finds Wolf's reinterpretation of the myth “too neat” and ultimately “unpersuasive.” If, as Claude Lévi-Strauss conten... Read more

In the following review of Parting from Phantoms, Gitlin discusses Wolf's despair over her condemnation in the popular press, her disdain for Western capitalism, and her efforts to come to term... Read more

In the following review, Herf discusses Wolf's disillusionment over the German reunification and criticizes Wolf's failure, or refusal, to acknowledge the inadequacies and transgressions... Read more

In the following review, Blomster offers a positive assessment of Ansprachen. When Gerhart Hauptmann and Thomas Mann—the two major literary representatives of Germany in the first half of this ... Read more

In the following review, Eder offers a positive assessment of Accident. It is three years since the nuclear catastrophe at the Chernobyl power station in the Ukraine, and already, for most of us, it h... Read more

In the following review, Blomster offers a mixed assessment of Sommerstück. Sommerstück, a loosely woven recollection of an idyllic Mecklenburg summer, is Christa Wolf's 1987 rewo... Read more

Critical Essay by Jack D. Zipes The theme of alienation in contemporary East German novels is most pronounced in Christa Wolf's The Quest for Christa T. Here, a young woman, as narrator, tries ... Read more

Critical Essay by W. V. Blomster The reconstruction of developmental years lived in the arena dominated by National Socialism once again proves itself a valid literary undertaking. The success of Wolf... Read more

Critical Essay by Peter Graves It is no coincidence that the contemporary German novelists most readily associated with the theme of war-guilt are all from West Germany…. The literature of East... Read more

Critical Essay by Amity Shlaes In No Place on Earth, Christa Wolf imagines the meeting of two young nineteenth-century German writers—the dramatist Heinrich von Kleist and the poetess Karoline ... Read more

Critical Essay by Judith Ryan "What is past is not dead," writes Christa Wolf in A Model Childhood; "it is not even past. We cut ourselves off from it; we pretend to be strangers.... Read more

Critical Essay by Stephen Spender [In A Model Childhood] the narrator—called Nelly—describes her visit, together with her husband (called H), her brother Lutz and her daughter Lenka to h... Read more

Critical Essay by Ursula Mahlendorf [In Kindheitsmuster] Wolf's protagonist-narrator writes her account from her present ideological perspective of a committed socialist, but she is too alienat... Read more

Critical Essay by Margaret Mchaffie The Quest for Christa T. (re-issued to coincide with the publication of Christa Wolf's more recent novel, A Model Childhood) anticipates many of the themes a... Read more

Critical Essay by Marilyn French Because [Christa Wolf] is East German, it would be easy to see her work as political protest, and to some degree it is. She grew up in Nazi Germany and described her e... Read more