1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910781697903321

Autore

Jones Sara <1980->

Titolo

Complicity, censorship and criticism [[electronic resource] ] : negotiating space in the GDR literary sphere / / Sara Jones

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Berlin ; ; New York, : De Gruyter, c2011

ISBN

1-283-39945-8

9786613399458

3-11-023796-2

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (236 p.)

Collana

Interdisciplinary German cultural studies, , 1861-8030 ; ; v. 10

Classificazione

GN 1522

Disciplina

830.9/943109045

Soggetti

German literature - 20th century - History and criticism

Literature and society - Germany - History - 20th century

Censorship in literature

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Frontmatter -- Foreword -- Contents -- Introduction -- Complicit Critic: Hermann Kant and the Writer as Functionary -- Hostile Partisan: Stefan Heym and the Search for Clarity -- Uncertain Comrade: Elfriede BrĂ¼ning, Loyalty, Criticism and Power -- Conclusion: Ambiguity, Fragmentation and the End of the GDR -- Bibliography -- Index of Names

Sommario/riassunto

This study develops an interdisciplinary approach to the analysis of the cultural history of the German Democratic Republic, examining the interaction between intellectuals and Party functionaries from a literary and historical perspective. Divided into three case studies, the work focuses on writers positioned along a spectrum of conformity and dissent and who had quite different relationships to political power: Hermann Kant, Stefan Heym and Elfriede BrĂ¼ning.Drawing on and comparing unpublished archive material, autobiography and the literary output of the three named writers, this study brings to the fore the ambiguities and contradictions of intellectual life in the GDR. Tensions between the different sources point towards tensions inherent in the subject positions of writers, publishers, reviewers and cultural authorities. This granular approach to the study of GDR cultural history



challenges top-down interpretations and builds into a theoretical understanding of GDR cultural life based on the concepts of ambiguity and ambivalence and the increasing fragmentation of ideology. Comparison with other spheres of GDR life points towards the significance of these concepts for the study of East German society as a whole.