Originally published in 1986, this book is an interpretative survey of the development of political writing in the former Federal Republic of Germany. It illustrates how intertwined writing is with politics, whether by the political commitment of writers like Grass or the analysis of Böll, by the exclusion of writers from political debate under Adenauer or their insistence on involvement in the years of the SPD. So many themes central to German life are themselves political – the division of the German state, the interpretation of the German character, the Green Movement. This wide-ranging and thorough study discusses a central issue of European politics and culture.
Part 1: Causes 1. Many Call But None Are Chosen – The Post-War Years 2. Restoration Tragedy – The 1950s 3. Party Talk – The 1960s 4. To Your Marx, Get Set, Go – Writers and Students 5. Retrenchment Warfare – The 1970s 6. How Green Are Our Writers? – The 1980s Part 2: Case Studies 7. Günter Grass – The Campaigner 8. Heinrich Böll – The Good Catholic 9. Hans Magnus Enzensberger – The Will o’ the Wisp 10. Martin Walser – The View from the Lake Part 3: Conclusion Forty Years on.
Biography
K. Stuart Parkes was Senior Lecturer in German at the former Sheffield City Polytechnic.
