 |
 |
------- Forwarded message follows ------- From: "Reinout van der Horst" <[log in to unmask]> CHRISTOPH HEIN IN PERSPECTIVE. JACKMAN, Graham (Ed.) Amsterdam/Atlanta, GA, 2000 306 pp. Hb: 90-420-1492-X Hfl. 150 / US$ 64 Pb: 90-420-1482-2 Hfl. 50 / US$ 21 Series: German Monitor 51 Unlike many writers from the former GDR, Christoph Hein's reputation and standing - and his creativity - have remained intact despite the demise of the GDR in 1989-90. Christoph Hein in Perspective brings together essays by both established and younger scholars from Britain, Germany and the USA which together cover a wide spectrum of his work, from the early writings of the 1970s to the play In Acht und Bann of 1999 and including his speeches and essays as well as all his major prose works. There is a marked emphasis in the volume on Hein's post-Wende output, with about half the contributions focusing primarily on this period. Another feature is the diversity of perspectives from which the works are examined: historical and political viewpoints are complemented by formal and comparative studies as well as by gender-based perspectives. The volume includes additionally the first published English translation of what is for many Hein's most successful work for the stage, Die wahre Geschichte des Ah Q of 1983 (‘The True Story of Ah Q'). The volume as a whole should be of interest to scholars concerned with the GDR and with contemporary German culture, to undergraduate and postgraduate students, and also the others interested in the history and culture of Germany since 1945. Six of the essays are in English and six in German. Table of Contents: Graham JACKMAN: Introduction. Detlef GWOSC: ‘...unstrittig ist die Schädlichkeit der Literatur und des Lesens'. Der Publizist und Redner Christoph Hein. David CLARKE: ‘Himmel auf Erden'? Christoph Hein, Capitalism and the ‘Wende'. Phil McKNIGHT: History and GDR Literature. Reflections on the Mid- 1950s: Mankurt, Horn and Horns Ende. Owen EVANS: Hope for the Future? Günter de Bruyn's Neue Herrlichkeit and Christoph Hein's Der Tangospieler. Hilary MIMPRISS: ‘Ohne Hoffnung können wir nicht leben' Christoph Hein's Use of Religious Motifs as an Expression of Resignation and Hope. Ursula ELSNER: Stark, sinnlich, gut - Frauengestalten bei Christoph Hein. Helen L. JONES: ‘Real Existing Socialism' and its Misogynistic Consequences. The Male Protagonist in Literary Works by Christoph Hein, Milan Kundera and Richard Wagner. Terry ALBRECHT: Der kalkulierte Zufall als Provokation gegen Recht und Erinnerung in Christoph Heins Roman Das Napoleon- Spiel. Bernd FISCHER: Christoph Heins kleine Prosa. Von Allem Anfang an und Exekution eines Kalbes. Graham JACKMAN: Von Allem Anfang an A ‘Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man'? Silke FLEGEL: Vor der Tafelrunde. Christoph Hein als Theaterdichter. Bill NIVEN: Christoph Heins In Acht und Bann oder Die Unverbesserlichen. Christoph HEIN: The True Story of Ah Q. After Lu Xun. Introduction: Seán Allan. Translation: Seán Allan and Ralph Manheim. Notes on Contributors.