Irmtraud Morgner ranks as a major East German writer whose highly original montage novels weave together myth, history, German literary tradition, and fantasy with contemporary realism and powerful feminist messages. Her style has been labeled as “fantastic realism” and “socialist magical realism”; her major novels also display aspects of postmodernism. Some of Morgner's books were delayed, limited in distribution, or banned by censors for their criticism of the German Democratic Republic, but her aim was to reform rather than abolish the socialist state. She was honored by the government with various awards, including the prestigious Heinrich Mann Prize in 1975 and the GDR National Prize for Literature in 1978. However, over the years she became increasingly disillusioned with…
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Citation: Saur, Pamela S.. "Irmtraud Morgner". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 03 June 2009 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=12490, accessed 21 November 2024.]
