This book offers a thorough examination of the novels of Irmtraud Morgner (1933-1990), one of the most talented, compelling and overlooked writers within East German feminist and avant-garde circles. Using a combination of theoretical approaches – including Adorno’s aesthetic theories and Bakhtinian analyses of dialogism and the carnivalesque – the author traces Morgner’s engagement with postmodernist aesthetic strategies back to her efforts, beginning in the early 1970s, to pose questions about effective political practices. Morgner’s work sheds new light on the fraught relationship between GDR intellectuals and the state, a hotly debated topic that marks most recent attempts to understand literary culture in the German Democratic Republic. Situating Morgner’s fiction at the intersection of postmodern and feminist theory, this study also offers new evidence for viewing literature from the GDR as significantly more complex and aesthetically interesting than has been previously assumed.

The Author: Silke von der Emde is associate professor in the Department of German Studies at Vassar College. She has published articles on GDR literature, feminist theory, and German film. In addition to her cultural studies research, her interests in the intersection of teaching, learning, and computer technology have led to several publications in leading journals in the field.