Christa Wolf: DIVIDED HEAVEN

Another truly fantastic session!

An unusually long, detailed, and interesting discussion of DIVIDED HEAVEN seemed to demonstrate that (1) it IS possible to work with a limited number of available copies, advance notice and cooperation provided; (2) additional material supplied before the session, such as Maren's introductory essay and the article raising translation issues, really add substance to our sessions. I believe Maren has a proposal on this very subject …

At any rate, here are just a few of the issues discussed. Please add and comment, I know I missed a lot of the back and forth!

• The setting – which was far more than a setting – of the GDR as the wall went up: the newness of this subject and viewpoint to most of the book group. Questions as to why someone studying to be a teacher would be assigned to a factory – the proletariat as "ruling class" – the aftermath of fascism and the war.

• Women's relative freedom and equality in the GDR – was this contradicted/undermined by Rita's breakdown?

• The characters – were they flat? Stereotypical? Determined by their environment in a way we're not used to (with the exception of Zolaesque naturalism)?

• The shifting perspective, from "one" to "Rita" to "we" (elided in the English translation) – a collective mentality?

• Manfred's parents – seen by some as the most rounded, developed characters in the book, by others as a stereotype of the bourgeoisie.

• Manfred and Rita's situation vis-à-vis his parents – living and sleeping in their home, but causing a minor domestic scandal by holding hands under the diningroom table. An interesting discussion of the boyfriend/girlfriend/parents relationship in different cultures.
  
• The faulty English translation (Emma-Jane supplied alternative translations of passages cited in the article, which seemed reassuringly closer to the French translation).

Phoebe

Divided Heaven

The June session is dedicated to Christa Wolf. As introduction, "reading help" and preparation for our meeting here some words, why I came to this selection:

Christa Wolf sets a story about coming of age in the German Democratic Republic of the late fifties and very early sixties, a time when the difficulties and contradictions of the 10-year-old GDR were becoming more and more apparent. Rita, a young girl raised in a protected rural environment, discovers life in the city, industrial production, and love, all at the same time. The Berlin Wall has not yet been built, but the conflicts which lead to this event are already present in Rita’s life. Why choose this book for a reading club? There are several reasons.

1. The author died in December 2011. Christa Wolf was well known in Germany, both East and West. But although acknowledged as a writer, her greatest impact on Germany seemed to come from her political activity during the post-Wall period, when Germany was still separated and the path to the future was to be found. Her death was reason enough for me to want to get to know her literary work at least a little bit and I went to the library without thinking of making this a book club selection. What I then discovered left me to wanting to discuss it with people coming from a different background than mine.

2. DIVIDED HEAVEN was a “spare-time read” which was immediately followed by the STONE CARVERS. The difference of style struck me immediately. To transmit an idea, it might well be more commercially appealing and comforting for the reader to chose a pleasant and easy style, but the "dry" approach of Christa Wolf corresponds to the subject, independently of the fact that at this time and in this political context it was wished and fashionable to submit to a realistic, untempered (objective?) view and presentation of reality. Does this translate also to an Anglo-Saxon reader? Is it allowed to tell a love story in such a cold/harsh manner? Was there any kind of (neo-?)realistic writing movement also ongoing in the Western world in the sixties?

3. Reading the book, I was touched in a way I had never experienced before. It felt like returning back to childhood and the smell, feel, and taste of things and situations I had forgotten about a long time ago. Although I did not myself live at that specific period, it marked strongly the minds of people and appeared in school books in various ways. The spirit of this moment was always present in the collective memory. Whether it came up in discussion or was remained silent about, the Wall was palpable in everybody’s life, without any question. My own growing up was thus strongly influenced by this period, consciously or not. In this sense I'm very interested to know whether Christa Wolf succeeded or not in translating by literary means the values of that time. Can it be understood, by anybody and independently of the background of the reader, why and how people took decisions; what led to the motivation of a Meternagel to continue and Manfred to leave? Are these topics that can be understood universally? How does the shop floor smell for you; can you understand the events there?

4. Finally, I have to admit, that DIVIDED HEAVEN is surely not the most fun book I ever read. Nevertheless I got hooked up – and started to think about what makes a book good for me: that I understand or even identify with the characters? That I get distraction or new views on the world? Am entertained, have fun, or live big emotions? … What do you need in a book to call it a good one?  

Maren

PS: Thanks to Phoebe for her editing and proof reading!