[
Simple Stories, 1998] is Ingo Schulze’s first novel-length, fictional response to the 1989 East German revolution. Like the novel
Helden wie wir(1995) by Schulze’s contemporary Thomas Brussig,
Simple Storysbecame an instant bestseller when it was published in 1998 and was similarly hailed by newspaper critics as the definitive
Wenderoman(unification novel).
In that same year,
New Yorkermagazine featured Schulze (b. 1962) as a member of a new group of promising, young European writers (Buford and Treisman; see also Cosentino).
The 29 loosely connected stories in Simple Storys are numbered like chapters and focus on the thoughts and interactions of over 30 characters from the small Thuringian town of Altenburg in reunified eastern Germany. Each chapter jumps from one
1657 words
Citation: Twark, Jill E.. "Simple Storys: Ein Roman aus der ostdeutschen Provinz". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 19 July 2010 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=25876, accessed 23 November 2024.]
