'Whose Story?' : Continuities in Contemporary German-Language Literature

These essays by British, German and Austrian scholars explore the salient features of a literature reviving after a period of destabilization which was at once political and aesthetic. german unity coincided with generational changes among writers, reappraisals of the role of literature in an era of "post-modern" challenges, and reassessments of the historical roles of Austria and Switzerland. While writers from the former GDR are shown to be preoccupied with that past and women writers with women's status in patriarchal societies, the essays reveal a sophisticated literature of the 1990s which harnesses the aesthetic forces of post-modernism in powerful statements of moral and human commitment. Many of the essays address works which have not previously been the subject of scholarly analysis.