Christa Wolf, Der geteilte Himmel [Divided Heaven]

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Christa Wolf’s short novel

Der geteilte Himmel

(1963), translated into English first by Joan Becker as

Divided Heaven

(1965) and more recently by Luise von Flotow as

They Divided the Sky

(2013), is today still considered a landmark text of East German literature. Following Wolf’s debut with

Moskauer Novelle

(Moscow Novella, 1961),

Der geteilte Himmel

marks the author’s literary breakthrough as it became a bestseller in the GDR, was awarded the Heinrich Mann Prize in 1963, and contributed to Wolf receiving the National Prize (third class) of the German Democratic Republic in 1964. In July of that same year, the eponymous DEFA film, based on Wolf’s novel and directed by Konrad Wolf (no relation to the author), premiered at the Karlovy Vary international film festival in…

1937 words

Citation: Klocke, Sonja. "Der geteilte Himmel". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 06 April 2016 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=22570, accessed 28 March 2024.]

22570 Der geteilte Himmel 3 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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