Science Fiction Literature in East Germany

Front Cover
Peter Lang, 2006 - Literary Criticism - 333 pages
East German science fiction enabled its authors to create a subversive space in another time and place. One of the country's most popular genres, it outlined futures that often went beyond the party's official version. Many utopian stories provided a corrective vision, intended to preserve and improve upon East German communism. This study is an introduction to East German science fiction. The book begins with a chapter on German science fiction before 1949. It then spans the entire existence of the country (1949-1990) and outlines key topics essential to understanding the genre: popular literature, socialist realism, censorship, fandom, and international science fiction. An in-depth discussion addresses notions of high and low literature, elements of the fantastic and utopia as critical narrative strategies, ideology and realism in East German literature, gender, and the relation between literature and science. Through a close textual analysis of three science fiction novels, the author expands East German literary history to include science fiction as a valuable source for developing a multi-faceted understanding of the country's short history. Finally, an epilogue notes new titles and developments since the fall of the Berlin Wall.
 

Contents

Acknowledgements
9
Chapter
25
German Science Fiction before 1949
39
Chapter Three Reconciling Science Fiction with Socialist
67
Chapter Four Fantasy Idea Realization 19611970
103
Chapter Five
131
Chapter
163
Chapter Seven Ambiguous Utopia Johanna and Günter
195
Chapter Eight UtopianDystopian Resurgence in
217
Karlheinz Steinmüllers The Dream Master
237
Chapter
277
Works Cited
289
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About the author (2006)

The Author: Sonja Fritzsche received her B.A. from Indiana University in both History and German. In 1995 she received an M.A. in Modern European History from UCLA and, in 2001, a Ph.D. in Germanic Studies from the University of Minnesota. Currently, she is an Assistant Professor in German and Eastern European Studies at Illinois Wesleyan University. She has published articles on East German science fiction film, fandom, and literature.