Contemporary German Fiction Writing in the Berlin Republic

The profound political and social changes Germany has undergone since 1989 have been reflected in an extraordinarily rich range of contemporary writing. Contemporary German Fiction focuses on the debates that have shaped the politics and culture of the new Germany that has emerged from the second half of the 1990s onwards and offers the first comprehensive account of key developments in German literary fiction within their social and historical context. Each chapter begins with an overview of a central theme, such as East German writing, West German writing, writing on the Nazi past, writing by women and writing by ethnic minorities. The authors discussed include Günter Grass, Ingo Schulze, Judith Hermann, Christa Wolf, Christian Kracht and Zafer Senocak. These informative and accessible readings build up a clear picture of the central themes and stylistic concerns of the best writers working in Germany today.

1. Introduction Stuart Taberner; 2. Literary debates and the literary market since Unification Frank Finlay; 3. Berlin as the literary capital of German Reunification Stephen Brockmann; 4. 'GDR literature' in the Berlin Republic Paul Cooke; 5. 'West German writing' in the Berlin Republic Stuart Taberner; 6. Literary reflections on '68 Ingo Cornils; 7. Pop literature in the Berlin Republic Sabine von Dirke; 8. Representations of the Nazi past I: 'perpetrators' Bill Niven; 9. Representations of the Nazi past II: 'German wartime suffering' Helmut Schmitz; 10. German literature in the Berlin Republic - writing by women Lyn Marven; 11. Cultural memory and identity formation in the Berlin Republic Margaret Littler; 12. Turkish-German fiction since the mid-1990s Moray McGowan; 13. German-language writing from Eastern and Central Europe Brigid Haines; 14. Writing by Germany's Jewish minority Erin McGlothlin.

The profound political and social changes Germany has undergone since 1989 have been reflected in an extraordinarily rich range of contemporary writing. These informative and accessible readings build up a clear picture of the central themes and stylistic concerns of the best writers working in Germany today.