In her first nonfiction collection since German unification, East
Germany's most prominent novelist wrestles eloquently with the
ghosts of the past: her own, her country's. After the Berlin Wall
collapsed in 1989, Wolf was pilloried in the West German press for
two reasons. First, having been a privileged figure in East
Germany, she had the bad judgment to publish a story showing how
she, too, had been persecuted by the East German secret police.
This rang hypocritical to some, even though Wolf had been a
dissident since the late 1960s. Second, and more damaging, it came
to light that from 1959 to '62 Wolf was an "unofficial
collaborator" with the secret police (though none of the
information she gave was damaging to anyone but herself). The
present collection of essays, letters, diary entries, and speeches
mainly comprises Wolf's responses to her critics and detractors.
Though the attacks have plainly wounded her deeply, she does not
run for cover, but stands her ground with clear-eyed self-critique
and self-defense. In an exchange of letters she tells Gunter Grass
that she and her husband chose to remain in the East German police
state because they thought they might "have an influence there,
which would not have been possible if I had pranced around too much
in the Western media." She relates her reluctance to see East
Germany become part of West Germany to her 1984 novel Cassandra, in
which she presents East Germany as Troy, doomed to destruction.
Yes, the East was doomed to fall, but not necessarily to be
swallowed whole by larger, richer West Germany: The utopian Wolf
did not advocate "preserving or restoring the old GDR. For a very
brief moment in history we were thinking about an entirely
different country. . . ." Wolf's enemies will not be persuaded, but
on the whole she acquits herself well. A rare view of life from the
perspective of East Germany. Essential reading for anyone
interested in Europe's intellectual life. (Kirkus Reviews)
"Parting from Phantoms" is a window into the soul of the most
prominent writer of the German Democratic Republic and its most
famous export, Christa Wolf. The essays, diary entries, and letters
in this book document four agonizing years in Wolf's personal
history and paint a vivid portrait of the cultural and political
situation in the former German Democratic Republic. This collection
stands as an important testimony to the personal and cultural costs
of German reunification.
"The works in this book constitute an essential document of the
history of reunified Germany, and this alone recommends it to
scholars and those interested in current European events."--
"Publishers Weekly"
"Christa Wolf was arguably the most influential writer of a nation
that no longer exists. . . . "Parting from Phantoms" traces the
fever chart of her anguish. . . . In some ways, the rawness of the
present volume is its greatest contribution, and its bona
fides--testifying to the human cost of deception and
self-deception."--Todd Gitlin, "Nation"
"A thrilling display of ideological soul-searching."--Ilan Stavans,
"Newsday," Favorite Books of 1997
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