Christa Wolf: Nachdenken über Christa T [The Quest for Christa T. ] (3083 words)

Sonja Klocke (University of Wisconsin)

Ed. by Jill E. Twark, East Carolina University
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.4.1: German-language Writing and Culture: Germany, 500-present.
Vol. editors: Gerhard P. Knapp (University of Utah), Jennifer Marston William (Purdue University), Jill E. Twark (East Carolina University )

Dates

First Circulation/Publication: 1968

Places

Germany (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Novel

Context

Christa Wolf’s short novel Nachdenken über Christa T. (1968), translated into English by Christopher Middleton as The Quest for Christa T. (1970), is still considered a landmark text of East German literature and one of the author’s most important works of fiction. Following her debut with Moskauer Novelle (Moscow Novella, 1961) and her 1963 novel Der geteilte Himmel (translated as The Divided Heaven by Joan Becker, 1965), which allegedly follows the tradition of Ankunftsliteratur (literature of arrival), Nachdenken über Christa T. is said to be Wolf’s first book to break with this tradition. It is often considered a literary breakthrough (Sabine Wilke terms it a “D…

Citation:
Klocke, Sonja. "Nachdenken über Christa T". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 06 April 2016
[https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=22571, accessed 17 January 2019.]

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