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Podcast: New Books in German Studies
Episode: Stephen Brockmann, āThe Writersā State: Constructing East German Literature, 1945-1959ā (Camden House, 2015)
Description: Stephen Brockmannās The Writersā State: Constructing East German Literature, 1945-1959 (Camden House, 2015) introduces readers to a specific atmosphereāpolitical, cultural, and historicalāthat accompanied the emergence of East German literature from 1945-1959. Covering almost fifteen years, the research presents insightful observations of the literary process that happened to be intricately connected with the political turbulence.
As Stephen Brockmann puts it, literature in East Germany was never about ājustā literature: āIt was always also about collective identity and the path toward a better futureāhowever imaginary and illusive that future may be (7).ā In the post-war Germany that happened to go thr...