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Overview
When The Quest for Christa T. was first published in East Germany ten years ago, there was an immediate storm: bookshops in East Berlin were given instructions to sell it only to well-known customers professionally involved in literary matters; at the annual meeting of East German Writers Conference, Mrs Wolf's new book was condemmed. Yet the novel has nothing eplicity to do with politics.
First published in East Germany in 1968, this novel is, on one level, a story of a sensitive woman as recalled by her friend. On another level, it is the story of an individual crushed by the pressures of uniformity.
Synopsis
When The Quest for Christa T. was first published in East Germany ten years ago, there was an immediate storm: bookshops in East Berlin were given instructions to sell it only to well-known customers professionally involved in literary matters; at the annual meeting of East German Writers Conference, Mrs Wolf's new book was condemmed. Yet the novel has nothing eplicity to do with politics.
John Barkham
"On the surface we have no other story of a sensitive woman to be calmed her friend. On this level Christa T. was a good citizen who did as she was told and lived a seemingly unexceptional life. But between the lines the real story of Christa T. - the story of an individual crushed by the pressures of uniformity. If you dare mind it is the first novel of any consequence to a marriage, Uldricht's East Germany, and it becomes something of a literary landmark." -- The New York Times
Editorials
From the Publisher
"On the surface we have merely the story of a sensitive woman as recalled by her friend. On this level Christa T. was a good citizen who did as she was told and lived a seemingly unexceptional life. But between the lines lies the real story of Christa T. — the story of an individual crushed by the presures of uniformity. If you bear in mind it is the first novel of any consequence to emerge from Ulbricht's East Germany, then it becomes something of a literary landmark." — John Barkman, New York Post"The contours of silence and the outline of things articulately left unsaid loom large in the muted brilliance of this novel." — Ernst Pawek, The New York Review of Books
"It is a courageous boot that breaks taboos and, as we have come to expect from Christa Wolf, it is infused with an integrity and a deep moral concern. . . " —The (London) Times Literary Supplement