Christa Wolf, Nachdenken über Christa T [The Quest for Christa T. ]

Download PDF Add to Bookshelf Report an Error

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

TheDivided 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 “Durchbruchserzählung”, literally a “breakthrough narrative” (23)) and “thought of as the first GDR novel…

3083 words

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 28 March 2024.]

22571 Nachdenken über Christa T 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.

Save this article

If you need to create a new bookshelf to save this article in, please make sure that you are logged in, then go to your 'Account' here

Leave Feedback

The Literary Encyclopedia is a living community of scholars. We welcome comments which will help us improve.