Critical Theory of Christa Wolf: What remains?

Catalog description

Understood as one of the most prominent writers of the GDR, Christa Wolf's literary contributions shape cultural production of former East Germany and beyond. Nevertheless, her critical engagement with the writing process and the role that memory plays for identity formation and a collective historical process remain less known. This course will shed light on Wolf's iconographic text Die Dimension des Autors, in which she develops the notion of fossilization--medallions of memory--to unpack cultural and historical productions. Indeed, the course traces her most influential texts such as Storfall, Kassandra, Kindheitsmuster and Was bleibt? within her theoretical framework, thereby offering students an opportunity to connect East German literary production with critical theory. The course seeks to illuminate the intrinsic connections between cultural products, practices and perspectives. The course will be taught in German and could fulfill Cross-Cultural Analysis.