Writing the Border between Socialist Self and State: Christa Wolf's East German Autofiction

This thesis considers the life and work of Christa Wolf in order to examine her role in East Germany as a “loyal dissident.” Wolf was born in the German Third Reich in 1929, and the German Democratic Republic was founded in 1949 just as she entered adulthood. Also in 1949, Wolf joined the East German socialist party and dedicated herself to the socialist project. Through an exploration of the publication, contents, and translations of four of her major works (Moscow Novella, Divided Heaven, The Quest for Christa T., and Patterns of Childhood), I examine how Wolf navigated East German political boundaries and guidelines in order to contribute to the creation of a new East German national literary identity. I draw on material from Wolf’s essays, diary entries, and lectures in order to examine how she balanced her personal and private life. I also analyze the translations of her work into English and Russian as a case study of Cold War cultural attitudes and policy in both the United States and the Soviet Union.