One Day A Year

"The rewards of reading Christa Wolf can be very considerable."-The Times Literary Supplement

In 1960, East German writer Christa Wolf received a phone call from a Moscow newspaper asking if she would describe her experiences on a single day, September 27, "as precisely as possible." She was intrigued by the request and has continued recording her thoughts and feelings on that day ever since. This book collects forty of these intimate essays, written between 1960 and 2000. Wolf, one of the most important authors of the twentieth century, writes about the demands and rewards of being a wife and mother and contemplates national and global events during the course of that one day a year.

"The rewards of reading Christa Wolf can be very considerable."-The Times Literary Supplement

In 1960, East German writer Christa Wolf received a phone call from a Moscow newspaper asking if she would describe her experiences on a single day, September 27, "as precisely as possible." She was intrigued by the request and has continued recording her thoughts and feelings on that day ever since. This book collects forty of these intimate essays, written between 1960 and 2000. Wolf, one of the most important authors of the twentieth century, writes about the demands and rewards of being a wife and mother and contemplates national and global events during the course of that one day a year.

Joyce Sparrow - Library Journal

September 27 is in some ways a less-than-eventful day in history: it marks the release of the Warren Commission Report, the anniversary of the birth of Samuel Adams, and the premier of The Tonight Show. But to award-winning German literary critic, essayist, and novelist Wolf (The Quest for Christa T.), September 27 of each year is when she pauses to write a journal entry describing that day. The project began in 1960, when the Soviet government newspaper Izvestiyaextended an invitation to writers to portray "as precisely as possible" the day of September 27. Wolf's entries, created between 1960 and 2000, provide a look into her politics, feminist principles, and family life. They also outline the collapse of the German Democratic Republic and include a domestic component--the annual planning for Wolfe's daughter's birthday celebration on the following day. Some have been previously published, and all are accompanied by extensive footnotes provided by Wolf's husband, Gerhard Wolf, and translator Bangerter. Recommended for literary collections in academic libraries.

Christa Wolf is the best-known writer to emerge from East Germany. Her first major success came in 1963 with Divided Heaven. Other works include: The Quest for Christa T. and Cassandra. She received the Heinrich Mann Prize (1963) and the Schiller Memorial Prize (1983). She lives in Germany.