Dr. Georgina Paul,St Hilda's CollegeEmail: georgina.paul@st-hildas.ox.ac.uk

Poetry: three generations

1940s/1950s: the generation of exiles and teachers

Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956)Returned from exile (in Denmark, Sweden, Finland, United States, Switzerland) to East Berlin in 1949 in response to theoffer of his own theatre, the Berliner Ensemble. A long-term Communist but also by nature a non-conformist, he foundworking under the very circumscribed conditions in the GDR difficult. He completed little dramatic work in these years,though directed some historically important productions of his own and others' works. The 'Buckower Elegien' was hismost important cycle of poems in his final years in the GDR.

Johannes R. Becher (1891-1958)Active as a poet in the 191 0s and 20s (identified as Expressionist) but also increasingly involved in pre-war leffistpolitics, becoming the first chairman of the KPD-aligned Bund proletarisch-revolutionurer Schriftsteller in 1928. Stoodfor the Reichstag as a KPD candidate in 1932 and was blacklisted by the Nazis after the Reichstag fire in February 1933.Spent most of the war in exile in the Soviet Union. Member of the ZK (Zentralkomitee) of the SED from 1946, memberof the GDR Volkskammer (parliament) from its founding on 7 0ctober 1949, GDR Minister for Culture 1954 to 1958.Generally regarded as having compromised himself as a poet in order to fulfil his representative position (he was not theonly poet to write hymns to Stalin). Author of the lyrics of the GDR national anthem, 'Auferstanden aus Ruinen'.

GeorgMaurer (1907-1971)A soldier during the war, he became a socialist in Soviet PoW camp. Focus of his GDR poetry is the workplace andworking people. His most significant contribution to GDR literary history was as teacher and later professor at theLeipziger Institut fiir Literatur "Johannes R. Becher" where he furthered the talents of some of the young writers whocame to the fore in the 1960s: Volker Braun, Adolf Endler, Heinz Czechowski, Sarah and Rainer Kirsch, Karl Micke).

Stephan Hermlin (1915-1997)Despite privileged middle-class background, joined a communist youth organisation in 1931 (see his autobiographicaltext Abendlicht (1979)). Left Germany in 1936, spending the war in Palestine, France (where he fought in the resistance)and Switzerland. Moved to East Berlin in 1 947 and became an important cultural figurehead and - despite the quitetraditionalist nature of his own poetry (cf. his Balladen der groBen Studte of the 1 950s) - a patron to younger generationwriters such as Wolf Bierrnann in the l 960s.

Other poets to look at: Peter Huchel, Johannes Bobrowski

1960s/1970s: Die 'snchsische Dichterschule' and others

A niu'nber of poets born in the mid-1 930s who all come from Sachsen come to the fore in the l 960s, grouped around therather older Adolf Endler (1930-2009): Volker Braun, Heinz Czechowski, Karl Mickel, B. K. Tragelehn, RichardLeising, Rainer Kirsch, Reiner Kunze, Bernd Jentzsch, and the one woman in the circle, Sarah Kirsch. Endler dubs themthe 's!ichsische Dichterschule' (by analogy with the 'schwubische Dichterschule' of 1805-1808 in Ttibingen). Theydevelop what S. Kirsch called a 'Teamwork-Attitude', spurring each other on and often communicating with each otherthrough poems.

Volker Braun (1939- )Author of drama and prose works as well as poetry, became one of the leading reformist socialist writers in the GDR.Important collections include: Provokation far mich (1965), Wir und nicht sie (1970), Training des aufrechten Gangs(1979)

Wolf Biermann (1936- )Singer-songwriter and one of the most provocative poets of the GDR. As with his great forebear Heine, his workcombines political commitment and sensuality (the pleasures of sex and eating) and his poems have a very strongidiosyncratic voice. Was banned from performing in public already in 1965 and was never able to publish in the GDR.Important collections (publ. in FRG only) include: Die Drahtharfe (1965), Mit Marx- und Engelszungen (1968), Farmeine Genossen (1972). He was expatriated from the GDR in November 1976, during a concert tour in West Gerrnany.

2

Sarah Kirsch (l 935- )Less obviously political in her writing, more insistently personal in her subject-matter; 'Much of her verse closelyreflects the emotions and crises of her own life: the distress of a broken marriage, the strain of a sometimesunsympathetic social environment' (Graves, p. 17). First significant collection Landaufenthalt (196 7) attracted criticismfor its supposed 'Resignation' and 'Passivitnt im VerMltnis zur Wirklichkeit'. But her work is not to be seen asapolitical. Graves writes: 'Hers is a vision that longs for harmony but recognizes discord' (p.20). Other collections ofnote: Zaubersprache (1973), Riickenwind (1976). She left the GDR in l 977.

Reiner Kunze (1933- )Joined SED in 1949 aged 16 and enthusiastic supporter of the GDR at the outset. Between 1955 and 1962 published 3volumes of poetry in accordance with cultural-political guidelines, but became alienated in course of l 960s, finallyresigning his Party membership in 1968 in protest over the suppression of the Prague spring by Warsaw pact troops. Hiswork was rejected in the GDR of the late 1960s for being too individualistic. Published Sensible Wege (1969) in West. Inthe Honecker era, the line against him softened for a while and he published Brief mit blauem Siegel (1973) in the GDR.But his collection of short prose pieces about youth in the GDR, Die wunderbaren Jahre (1976, FRG) got him intotrouble with the regime again and he left the GDR in 1 977, having been hounded by the Stasi (he published his Stasi-fileafter unification under the title Deckname Lyrik ').

Other poets to look at: Gtinter Kunert, Karl Mickel, Wulf Kirsten, Adolf Endler, Elke Erb

1980s: The 'Hineingeborenen' and the 'inoffizielle Szene'The generation of poets born in the 1 950s was dubbed the generation of the 'Hineingeborenen' after a poem by UweKolbe published in 1980. Their attitude was marked by the fact that they were socialised in the GDR and had neverknown anything else. No ideological choice was involved; the GDR was simply the environment into which they wereborn. The generational attitude was one of negation of the ideology of the state. Their poetry of the l 980s is full ofmetaphors of boundaries and enclosure, articulating the sense of suffocation and stagnation that came to characterise theGDR's last decade. But their practice was simultaneously experimental, creative, energetic. This is a generation whichcame to fame afler unification as the so-called 'Prenzlauer-Berg-Connection' (so-called by Adolf Endler); many of thembased in squats and housing communities in the Prenzlauer Berg district of East Berlin, around Kollwitzplatz. But therewere groups working in other cities to, notably in Dresden. Some published in 'official' publication houses, but mostworked under the radar of the state's censorship institutions, publishing in hand-made journals (Ariadnefabrik, Mikado,Schaden, Entwerter/Oder, Liane etc.) and circulating their work amongst their immediate groups of friends andassociates. Notable were associations between different kinds of artists: poets collaborated with graphic artists, withmusicians. There were readings and music evenings in cafes or in church meeting rooms. After unification when the Stasiarchives were opened it became apparent that the Stasi had had a major presence among this apparently autonomous'scene', with two of the most active leaders of the scene, Sascha Anderson and Rainer Schedlinski, being revealed ashaving worked for the Stasi since the mid-l 970s. Was the 'inoffizielle Szene' then just a product of the Stasi?

UweKolbe(1957-)Comes from the Prenzlauer Berg quarter of Berlin, which became synonymous with the 'inoffizielle Szene' of the l 980s.Studied at the Leipziger Literaturinstitut Johannes R. Becher from 1980-81, between 1982 and 1987 was editor of theillegal magazine Mikado, though he also published in 'official' journals. Left the GDR for Hamburg in 1987. Collectionsincl. : Hineingeboren (1980), Bornholm II (1986). Ed. with Lothar Trolle and Bernd Wagner, Mikado oder Der Kaiser istnackt. Selbstverlegte Literatur in der DDR (1988).

Barbara K6hler (1 959- )Comes from Chemnitz (Karl-Marx-Stadt in the GDR period) and writes frequently about Dresden and Sachsen in herpoems of the l 980s. Only loosely connected to the Berlin scene. Studied at the Leipziger Literaturinstitut Johannes R.Becher 1985-88. Published in 'unofficial' journals (inoffzielle Zeitschriften) in the second half of the 1980s. Was signedup by Suhrkamp at unification, publishing her first collection, Deutsches Roulette, in 1991.

Stefan rM3ring (l 954- )

BertPapenfufl-Gorek (1956-)

Bibliography

Anthologies:Uwe Berger and Gtinther Deicke (eds), Lyrik der DDR (Berlin: Aufbau, 1984)

3

Michael Hamburger (ed.), East German Poetry.' An anthology (Oxford: Carcanet, 1972)Peter Graves (ed.), Three Contemporary German Poets: Wolf Biermann, Sarah Kirsch, Reiner Kunze (Leicester:LeicesterUP, 1985)

Secondary reading:Wolfgang Emmerich, Kleine Literaturgeschichte der DDR (Leipzig: Gustav Kiepenheuer, 1996)Birgit Lermen and Matthias Loewen, Lyrik aus der DDR: Exemplarische Analysen (Paderbom: Sch5ningh, 1987)Carsten Gansel (ed.), Der gespaltene Dichter: Johannes R. Becher. Gedichte, Briefe, Dokumente 1945-1958 (Berlin:Aufbau, 1991)

The literature of the younger generation / unofficial scene:Elke Erb, Sascha Anderson (eds), Berfihrung ist nur eine Randerscheinung ; neue Literatur aus der DDR (K51n :

Kiepenheuer & Witsch, 1985) - important anthology which displayed the work of the generation working in the1980s

Egmont Hesse, Sprache & Antwort .' Stimmen und Texte einer anderen Literatur aus der DDR (Frankfurt am Main : S.Fischer, 1988) - anthology

Uwe Kolbe, Lothar Trolle and Bernd Wagner (eds), Mikado, oder, Der Kaiser ist nackt .' selbstverlegte Literatur in derDDR (Darrnstadt : Luchterhand Literaturverlag, 1988) - anthology

Andreas Koziol und Rainer Schedlinski, Abriss der Ariadnefabrik (Berlin : Galrev, 1990)Heinz Ludwig Arnold and Gerhard Wolf (eds), Die andere Sprache : neue DDR-Literatur der 80er Jahre (Munchen :

Edition Text + Kritik, 1990) - anthology

Peter B5thig and Klaus Michael (eds), MachtSpiele .' Literatur und Staatssicherheit im Fokus Prenzlauer Berg (Leipzig :Reclam, 1993)

Philip Brady and Ian Wallace (eds), Prenzlauer Berg : Bohemia in East Berlin?, German Monitor 35 (Amsterdam :Rodopi, 1995)

Christine Cosentino, 'Gedanken zur jnngsten DDR-Lyrik: Uwe Kolbe, Sascha Anderson, Lutz Rathenow', GermanicReview 3 (1985), pp.82-90

Christine Cosentino, Wolfgang Ertl und Gerd Labroisse (eds), DDR-Lyrik im Kontext (Amsterdam : Rodopi, 1988)Birgit Dahlke, ' "Die Chancen haben sich verschanzt": Die inoffizielle Literatur-Szene der DDR', in Rainer Bohn, Knut

Hickethier, Eggo Mfiller (eds), Mauer-Show ; das Ende der DDR, die deutsche Einheit und die Medien (Berlin :Ed. Sigma, 1992)

-, Papierboot. Autorinnen aus der DDR - inoffiziel publiziert (Wnrzburg, 1997)Michael Gratz, 'Was sollte sich daran nndern? Anmerkung zur Debatte urn DDR-Literatur und "Underground-Kultur"',

Neue Deutsche Literatur 4 (1992), pp. 159-63Martin Kane, 'From Oobliadooh to Prenzlauer Berg: Literature, Alternative Lifestyle and Identity in the GDR', in Axel

Goodbody and Dennis Tate (eds), Geist und Macht .a writers and the state in the GDR (Amsterdam : Rodopi,i 992), pp.90-103

Karen Leeder, Breaking Boundaries. A New Generation of Poets in the GDR (Oxford, 1996)