GDR Women Writers: The Post-War Generations Bibliography of Narrative Prose, June 1987

GDR Women Writers: The Post-War Generations Bibliography of Narrative Prose, June 1987 Dorothy Rosenberg In the 1970s, GDR women began writing about themselves . Christa Wolf's Nachdenken über _ Christa T. was followed by Gerti Tetzner's Karen W., "Brigitte Reimann's Franziska Linkerhand, and Irmtraud Morgner's Leben und Abenteuer der Trobadora Beatriz. These works were the first to challenge the idealized and convenient female stereotypes which had populated much of GDR literature in the 1950s and 1960s, in which women characters had been smoothly integrated into the flow of work life without significantly ruffling the surface of domestic tranquility. In the small flood of novels and, in particular, the collections of short stories that followed, women began to write about the price of admission to the public sphere and the personal costs of leading a double life. Wolf, Tetzner, Reimann, and Morgner were joined by Maxie Wander (Guten Morgen,__Du Schöne), Charlotte Worgitzky (Vieräugig oder Blind), and Renate Apitz (Evastöchter) , from their own generation and a growing number of younger writers: Helga Königsdorf, Helga Schubert, Maria Seidemann, Monika Helmecke, Angela Stachowa, Christine Wolter, and Rosemarie Zeplin, among others. The past ten years have seen the development of a body of GDR literature written by and about women which explores and discusses in depth the contradictions and problems of a society in which the economic organization and political ideology promote equality between the sexes, but in which cultural norms and individual attitudes toward sex roles and appropriate gender behavior lag far behind. With the major changes in social and economic structure largely accomplished, women writers in the 1980s have turned to address the much deeper challenge of sexual stereotyping and the social division of labor. 233 The writers listed below constitute the post-war generations in the sense that their concept of society has been either predominantly or exclusively determined by the experience of GDR socialism. Those who experienced the war did so as children. I have included several well-known writers born in the early 1930s (Wolf, Morgner, Reimann, and Wander) for the sake of completeness , but have tried to emphasize less well-known, younger writers. This is not a complete list of GDR women writers. It is a sample of prose works by women who fall into the above loose definitions and who write about questions of gender and society, broadly defined. My selection has been further limited by the practical question of accessibility: I have listed only works which I have been able to get copies of, read, and find interesting. I have listed GDR first editions wherever possible. West German editions are given for Wolf and Morgner (for convenience) and for works which did not appear separately in the GDR. As of June 1987, all of the authors except Katja Lange-Müller, Monika Nothing, and Doris Paschiller were GDR citizens. Renate Apitz (1939) Evastöchter. (Erzählungen), Rostock: Hinstorff, 1981. Hexenzeit. (Roman), Rostock: Hinstorff, 1984. Christiane Barckhausen (1942) Schwestern. Berlin: Verlag der Nation, 1985. Daniela Dahn (1949) Spitzenzeit. (Feuilletons), Halle-Leipzig: Mitteldeutscher Verlag, 1978. Prenzlauer Berg-Tour, Halle-Leipzig: Mitteldeutscher Verlag, 1987. Gabriele Eckart (1954) Per Anhalter: Geschichten__und Erlebnisse aus der DDR. Berlin: Verlag Neues Leben, 1982. So sehe ick die Sache. (Protokolle), Köln: Kiepenheuer und Witsch, 1984. Der Seidelstein. (Novelle), Berlin: Buchverlag der Morgen, 1986. Renate Feyl (1944) Rauhbein. (Roman), Rudolstadt: Greifenverlag, 1968. Bau mir eine Brücke. (Roman), Berlin: Verlag Neues Leben,"1972. Der lautlose Aufbruch. (Portraits), Berlin: Verlag Neues Leben, 1981. 234 Rosemarie Fret (1935) Nachsaison. (Erzählungen), Rostock: Hinstorff, 1973. Hoffnung auf Schneewittchen. (Erzählungen), Halle: Mitteldeutscher Verlag, 1981. Roswitha Geppert (1943) Die Last die du nicht trägst. Halle: Mitteldeutscher Verlag, 19 78. Christiane Grosz (1944) "Der Trick" in: Das Kostüm. "Der verlorene Ausdruck" in: Das Kostüm. "Das würde dir guttun" in: Brautfahrt. Monika Helmecke (1943) Klopfzeichen. (Erzählungen), Berlin: Verlag Neues Leben", 1979. Ursula Höntsch-Harendt (1934) Wir Flüchtlingskinder. Halle: Mitteldeutscher, 198 5. Rosita Ionescu (1941) Lila, Kolorit auf Breitwand. Berlin: Aufbau, 1976. Dorothea"lser (1946) Wolkenberge tragen nicht. Berlin: Militärverlag, 1979. Lea. Berlin: Militärverlag, 1983. Neuzugang. Berlin: Verlag Neues Leben, 1985. Sylvia Kabus (1952...