Description
Book SynopsisWolfgang Hilbig is a writer who is widely acknowledged as one of the most important to have emerged from the former GDR. In this study, the first in English, Paul Cooke explores the interplay of aesthetic and social ‘taboos’, as defined by the official discourse of the GDR, in a cross-section of Hilbig’s critical writing, poetry and prose. The protagonists in Hilbig’s texts suffer from a profound crisis of identity due to the disparity between the state’s official presentation of life in the East and their own experience. Cooke argues that through their exploration of the ‘taboo’, i.e. that which is excluded from the state’s official discourse, Hilbig’s characters attempt to break through the banal rhetoric of the ruling elite in order to realise an authentic sense of self.
Trade Review"He [Cooke] shows an exemplary knowledge, not only of Hilbig’s work, but also of the relevant secondary literature. … an authoritative piece of scholarship which will undoubtedly be required reading for anyone interested in one of the most original writers to emerge from the GDR." - in: MLR, 97.4 (2002), pp. 1040-1041 "Commendable throughout is the accuracy and sophistication of the textual analysis…" - in: Seminar, Vol. XL, No. 2 (May 2004), pp.184-186
Table of ContentsAcknowledgements. List of Abbreviations for Works by Hilbig. Introduction. 1 Countering ‘Realitätsverlust': The Role of the Writer and the Use of the Unsägliche in Hilbig's Critical Writing. 2 The ‘Taboo' of Modernism in Hilbig's Poetry. 3 Literary Tradition in Hilbig's Prose: the Problem of ‘Objectivity' in ‘Der Brief'. 4 The Pornographer as Historian: Sexual Repression and Vergangenheitsbewältigung in Die Weiber. 5 The Krimi and the Criminal State in Eine Übertragung. 6 No More Taboos? the Stasi, Beckett and the Continuing Search for Identity in »Ich«. Conclusion. Bibliography. Index.
