Christa Wolf’s short novel

(1968)

translated into English by Christopher Middleton as

(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

(Moscow Novella, 1961) and her 1963 novel

(translated as

by Joan Becker, 1965), which allegedly follows the tradition of

(literature of arrival),

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…

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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 21 November 2024.]