This book assesses the achievements of East German writers, placing their work in the context of the vicissitudes of cultural politics and East-West relations. It identifies the major themes of East German literature, such as the search for self-realisation, the questioning of official assumptions on the achievements of 'real socialism', and a concern to view the GDR in the framework of its own past as well as that which it shares with its Western neighbour.

J. H. Reid is a Reader in German at the University of Nottingham.