Interview with Elisabeth Alexander: The Mother Courage of German Postwar Literature

The interview with the German author Elisabeth Alexander discusses her controversial role among the generation of women authors in post-war German literature. The author talks about her own personal and intellectual development, the cultural differences between Germany and America, her relationship to Germany's fascist past, her strong but ambivalent involvement with Germany's student movement, feminism, and the Catholic church. A substantial part of the interview focuses on her own work, discussing its recurring themes of sexuality, pornography, gender trouble, men as such, and the role of women, especially mothers, in modern society. (FAL)