What Remains

Arguably the most important—and influential—German woman writer of the last century, Christa Wolf was long heralded as "die gesamtdeutsche Autorin," an author for all of Germany; but, after 1989 in unified Germany, Wolf found herself suddenly embroiled in controversies that challenged her integrity and consigned her to an ideologically suspect identity as "DDR Schriftstellerin” (GDR writer) or “Staatsdichterin” (state poet). What Remains: Responses to the Legacy of Christa Wolf asks the question of what truly remains of her legacy in the annals of contemporary German culture and history. Unlike most of what appeared in the wake of Wolf’s death, however, the contributions to this international volume seek neither to monumentalize her nor to dismantle her stature, but to employ a range of methodologies—comparative, intertextual, psychoanalytic, historical, transcultural—to offer sensitive assessments of Wolf’s major literary texts, as well as of her lesser known work in genres such as film and essay.

Gerald Fetz is Dean and Professor Emeritus, University of Montana. He has published books and articles on several German-Language writers, including Martin Walser, Thomas Bernhard, Lilian Faschinger, Franz Innerhofer, Franz Kakfa, W.G. Sebald, as well as on German historical drama and literature of the Wende. He currently serves on the Board of the German Studies Association and is the chief editor at the University of Montana Press.