Spanning the past three decades, these essays focus on the roles of the writer and literature today. In the first half of this series of witty, probing essays on reading and writing, Wolf examines the individual's, in particular the writer's, relationship to society. The final sections, "On War and Peace and Politics" and "The End of the German Democratic Republic," demonstrate the ways in which Wolf's political thinking has evolved and cast light on the political situation in East Germany prior to reunification. "An important publication, ably served by the editing of Alexander Stephan; the knowledgeable translation by Jan Van Heurck; and Grace Paley's sisterly introduction, which . . . claims at least the later Christa Wolf for a pacifist feminism."—Peter Demetz, New York Times

The Author's Dimension: Selected Essays

Literature & Fiction

WOLF, CHRISTA

Essays & Correspondence

University of Chicago Press

What Remains collects Christa Wolf's short fiction, from early work in the sixties to the widely debated title story, first published in Germany in 1990. Addressing a wide range of topics, from sexual politics to the nature of memory, these powerful and often very personal stories offer a fascinating introduction to Wolf's work. What Remains and Other Stories . . . is clear and farsighted. The eight heartfelt stories in the book show why she has been respected as a serious author since her 1968 novel, The Quest for Christa T. . . . Wolf uses her own experiences and observations to create universal themes about the controls upon human freedom.—Herbert Mitgang, New York Times Christa Wolf has set herself nothing less than the task of exploring what it is to be a conscious human being alive in a moment of history.—Mary Gordon, New York Times Book Review The simultaneous publication of these two volumes offers readers here a generous sampling of the short fiction, speeches and essays that Wolf has produced over the last three decades.—Mark Harman, Boston Globe

What Remains and Other Stories

Parting from Phantoms: Selected Writings, 1990-1994

Parting from Phantoms is a window into the soul of the most prominent writer of the German Democratic Republic and its most famous export, Christa Wolf. The essays, diary entries, and letters in this book document four agonizing years in Wolf's personal history and paint a vivid portrait of the cultural and political situation in the former German Democratic Republic. This collection stands as an important testimony to the personal and cultural costs of German reunification. "The works in this book constitute an essential document of the history of reunified Germany, and this alone recommends it to scholars and those interested in current European events."— Publishers Weekly "Christa Wolf was arguably the most influential writer of a nation that no longer exists. . . . Parting from Phantoms traces the fever chart of her anguish. . . . In some ways, the rawness of the present volume is its greatest contribution, and its bona fides—testifying to the human cost of deception and self-deception."—Todd Gitlin, Nation "A thrilling display of ideological soul-searching."—Ilan Stavans, Newsday, Favorite Books of 1997

History

Parting from Phantoms is a window into the soul of the most prominent writer of the German Democratic Republic and its most famous export, Christa Wolf. The essays, diary entries, and letters in this book document four agonizing years in Wolf's personal history and paint a vivid portrait of the cultural and political situation in the former German Democratic Republic. This collection stands as an important testimony to the personal and cultural costs of German reunification. "The works in this book constitute an essential document of the history of reunified Germany, and this alone recommends it to scholars and those interested in current European events."— Publishers Weekly "Christa Wolf was arguably the most influential writer of a nation that no longer exists. . . . Parting from Phantoms traces the fever chart of her anguish. . . . In some ways, the rawness of the present volume is its greatest contribution, and its bona fides—testifying to the human cost of deception and self-deception."—Todd Gitlin, Nation "A thrilling display of ideological soul-searching."—Ilan Stavans, Newsday, Favorite Books of 1997

An East German writer, awaiting a call from the hospital where her brother is undergoing brain surgery, instead receives news of a massive nuclear accident at Chernobyl, one thousand miles away. In the space of a single day, in a potent, lyrical stream of thought, the narrator confronts both mortality and life and above all, the import of each moment lived-open, as Wolf reveals, to infinite analysis.

Accident: A Day's News: A Novel (Phoenix Fiction)

Contemporary

The Author's Dimension finally makes Christa Wolf's critical writing available in English. Readers of her fiction will recognize her elegant and demanding prose and the passion with which she continually examines the individual's, in particular the writer's, relationship to his or her society. But this collection also reveals the way in which Wolf approaches her art. Spanning the past three decades, the essays focus primarily on the role of the writer and literature today. Wolf interviews herself on the development of The Quest for Christa T. In a witty and probing essay on reading, she imagines her life without books and removes each layer of literary influence, from Snow White to All Quiet on the Western Front. There are perceptive essays about other writers, including Thomas Mann, Karoline von Gunderrode, Max Frisch, and Ingeborg Bachmann. Finally, the sections "On War and Peace and Politics" and "The End of the German Democratic Republic" demonstrate the ways in which Wolf's political thinking has evolved and cast light on the political situation in East Germany prior to German reunification. With its impassioned celebration of literature, this collection will interest not just those already familiar with Wolf's work but anyone engaged in the acts of writing and reading today.

Farrar. Straus & Giroux

This is a courageous book that breaks taboos and, as we have come to expect from Christa Wolf, it is infused with an integrity and a deep moral concern that raise it far above the narrow and self-conscious partisanship of much GDR literature.  It speaks equally to East and West Germany - itself a daring accomplishment for an East German author - but also, with its atmospheric depiction of a fateful era and its patent and compelling truthfulness, to wider audiences beyond.

A model childhood

World Literature

Farrar. Straus and Giroux

Dramatizes a hypothetical meeting between two early-nineteenth-century German poets, who later both committed suicide

No Place on Earth (English and German Edition)

Christa is a young girl in Hitler's Germany; she survives to embrace the new order but her idealism withers as crass materialists corrode its dream. Her story is the story of a whole generation, and a celebration of the unique value of each human being and all human life.

The quest for Christa T

Genre Fiction

The stunning final novel from East Germany's most acclaimed writer Three years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the writer Christa Wolf was granted access to her newly declassified Stasi files. Known for her defiance and outspokenness, Wolf was not especially surprised to discover forty-two volumes of documents produced by the East German secret police. But what was surprising was a thin green folder whose contents told an unfamiliar―and disturbing―story: in the early 1960s, Wolf herself had been an informant for the Communist government. And yet, thirty years on, she had absolutely no recollection of it. Wolf's extraordinary autobiographical final novel is an account of what it was like to reckon with such a shocking discovery. Based on the year she spent in Los Angeles after these explosive revelations, City of Angels is at once a powerful examination of memory and a surprisingly funny and touching exploration of L.A., a city strikingly different from any Wolf had ever visited. Even as she reflects on the burdens of twentieth-century history, Wolf describes the pleasures of driving a Geo Metro down Wilshire Boulevard and watching episodes of Star Trek late at night. Rich with philosophical insights, personal revelations, and vivid descriptions of a diverse city and its citizens, City of Angels is a profoundly humane and disarmingly honest novel―and a powerful conclusion to a remarkable career in letters.

City of Angels or The Overcoat of Dr. Freud

Literary

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Books by WOLF, CHRISTA

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by WOLF, CHRISTA. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

The Author's Dimension: Selected Essays

What Remains and Other Stories

Parting from Phantoms: Selected Writings, 1990-1994

Parting from Phantoms: Selected Writings, 1990-1994

Accident: A Day's News: A Novel (Phoenix Fiction)

The Author's Dimension: Selected Essays

A model childhood

No Place on Earth (English and German Edition)

The quest for Christa T

City of Angels or The Overcoat of Dr. Freud