Literature and Film of the German Democratic Republic

6 two-hour sessions • Available by request

Two Germanys developed after World War II, each with its own literature and culture, separated by internal and external walls between 1961 and 1989. What were the literary idiosyncrasies of the socialist German Democratic Republic (GDR), the “place of wondrous things,” as author Irmtraud Morgner put it so eloquently? Literature and film in the GDR presented itself as dynamic, magical, marginal, social critical, and realistic, including subversive processes, in which texts can be read at multiple levels. In this interactive seminar, we’ll explore popular GDR literature and film of the 1960s and ‘70s. A course reader will be provided.