Book Reviews 167 REINER KUNZE. Am Somzenhang. Tagebl/ch eines Jahres. Frankfurt: Fischer, 1993. 201 pp. OM 32.00. GUNTER DE BRUYN. Zwischenbilanz. Eine jllgflld in Berlin. Frankfurt: Fischer, 1992.377 pp. OM 39.80. Following the collapse of the German Democratic Republic in 1989, discussi ons intensified among Germanists in Europe and NOl1h America abom the role of the writer and the function of lileralUre in the East German context. Accusati ons against C hrista Wolf for acting as a Stasi informant and Stefan Herm's more recem debut in the Ger­ man political arena are just two of many incidents that sparked wide­ spread debates in the German press about the complicity and/or criti­ cal re nection of East German writers before 1989. These debates have been referred to as the LlteralltTSrTt!a (:a term that is undoubtedly based on the wo rd used to describe the German historian's debate, or the HUlorikersrreil, of the mid-1980s). Two recendy published autobio­ graphical works, Reiner Kunze'sAm SOllnenhallg: TagebuchemesJabres, and Gunter de Bruyn's ZWllchellbzJanz: EmeJugend m Berlin, can be read as literary responses to this Llteratursm!H . Together, these teXLS r2ise many interesting issues about history, memory, politics, and contemporary German national identity. Remembering and writing are twO important themes in Kunze's diary and de Bruyn's autobiography. In an entry dated February 21, Kunze informs his readers that his journal gives;1n honest account of his own memories. "Wir konnen unsere Biographie nicht im nach­ hinein korregieren, so ndern miissen mil ihr leben. Aber lIns se lbst konnen wir korregieren. Nur erwartel man nicht immer den offent­ lichen Kniefall. Es gibt SlUmme Scham, die beredter ist als jede Redl!­ und zuweilen ehrlicher." Am Sonnenhang is not .1.0 attempt by Kunze to revise his own biography; ralher, il is a promulgation of his own responses to numerous upheavals-concerning the distant and imme­ diate pasts-that shaped his experiences in 1992. Although de Bru yn's Zwische"bdanz treats a different time period (1926-1950), he addresses the same themes or remembering and writing the past; Focus 0" Lilt:rarur Vol. I, No. 2 (199~) 168 Fows on Literalllr Book Reviews 169 Mit achtz.ig gedenke ich, Bilanz uber mein Leben zu ziehen; There are numerous, sublle criticisms of (he GDR in Am die Zwischenbilanz, die ich mit sechzig beginne, son eine Sonnellhang that are similar to those in Die wunderbare11 jahre. Voriibung sein: ein Training im Ich-Sagen, in Auskunhge­ Throughout the text he problematizes the long-term consequences of ben ohoe Verhi.illung durch Fiktion. Nachdem ich in Ro­ the GOR's isolation from the West. Kunze's critiCisms, however, are maneo und Errihlungen lange urn mein Leben herumge­ not limited in this work to the GDR. III the first hdif of his book, schrieben habe, versuche ich jetzt, es direkt darzustellen, Kunze discusses his own feeling of marginalization as an "unequal" unverschonl, unliberh6ht, unmaskiert. Oer berufsmaBige Lugnef ubI, die Wahrheit zu sagen. Er verspricht, was er member of the West Berlin Akademie der KiinsLe. sagt. ehrlich zu sagen; alles zu sagen, verspricht er nicht. (7) Kunze's sense of marginalization provides a context in Am Sonnenhang for his more implicit problematization of biographical For both authors, the past and present are intertwined. History anJ writing. The personal entries in Kunze's diary are interwoven ,lmong politics are inextricably bound in both texts. Autobiographical writ­ newspaper and journal articles, excerpts from Stasi repons, poems, ing becomes a means through which Kunze and de Bruyn seek to and letters. These additional materials narrate sections of Kunze's di­ grapple with history and the silence surrounding history in the former ary at times when Kunze's own voice remains silent. Kunze's affinity GDR and in the contemporary Federal Republic. Kunz.e and de Sruyn for Marian Nakitsch, a German poet in Zagreb, becomes a Lmdscape both utilize distinct textual strategies to give their memories literary in Am Sonnen hang in which his feeling of margi nal it y-both as a writer forms. The tension between speaking and remaining silent, writing on the periphery of society and as a former East German residing in literature and narrating factual biographies, and bet ween dealing with West Germany-is played our. Throughout his text, he seeks to tell the past while existing in the present emerge as recurrent issues in Am his own life history through the biographies and verse of writers and Sormenhang and Zwischenbi/anz. poets who have experienced exile, such as Michael Hamburger and Kunze's Am Sonnen hang is in the form of a diary that he kept Else Lasker-Schiiler. Kunze's identification wi th these writers con­ from December 1991 until the end of 1992. The title of this hook is a veys a strong sense of his own homelessness. This IS reinforced in the direct reference to his current home in Passau. In the introductory text through short references to landmark dates that remind him of pages, Kunze informs the reader that the first notes for this book we~e various upheavals in his life. The year 1992 witnesses the commemo­ meant for his own memory. As he continued writin g, however, Ills ration of the fifteenth anniversary of his move to West Germany, the journal offered him a forum fo r constructing a judgment (ein. Urteil death of his father, and the tenth anniversary of his move LO zu bilden) about past events. He.. writes that this book contams l?e Sonnen hang. In general terms, Kunze's home in Passau (" Am Sonnen­ "Erlebtes, Erinnertes, Gelesenes, Ubersetz.tes, Gesagtes und Geschwle­ hang") becomes a place that offers him some peace. It provides him genes" of 1992. For Kunze, 1992 was a year of personal to u~ h eava l s ~n~ with a geographical vantage point from which resolve an unsettled battles. The text is framed around the loss of his father; It IS punctu­ past and constnlct his Urtei! about that past. ated with Stasi reports about Kunz.e from his days as a student in tbe While Kunze's text may, at times, be difficult for readers less b.­ 1950s references to the Holocaust, and with his reactions to ethnic miliar with GOR literature, Giinter de Sruyn's dutobiography, clean;ing and rape in Bosnia and to violence against foreig~ler.s in Ge.r­ Zwischenbilanz: Eine jugerui in Berlin, speaks to a broader audience. many. Kunze's Am Sonnen hang is a response to several inCidents ~n This work treats all stations of de Bruyn's life, from his childhood in 1992 that disrupt his contemporary existence. As a former GDR dis­ Serlin during the Weimar Republic to his early adult years in the sident, Kunze's integrity is scrutinized by reporters. References to CDR. In the first three chapters he gives an account of his family Hermann Kant's lawsuit against him and the Fischer Taschenbuch hiswry and of the years preceding his birth. The numerous ch:lpters Verlag in 1992 instigate Kunze's own explor~tion of his past; .the Urlei/ that deal with themes from different periods in his life are arranged he constructs in Am Sormenhang becomes his attempt to achieve some chronologically. This chronology is disrupted time and again by memo­ resolution with this past. ries from his childhood, family stories, and by his reflections on vari- 170 Focus on Literafltr Book Reviews 171 OliS historical eventS. The book's chapters carry descriptive titles that CDR. He rells his readers that the reason for this decision will appear present themes to the reader i.n one or two words: "Geschichtsquellen," in the next volume of his autobiography: "leh war unter den Zutiick­ "Exekutionen," "Polit-Unterricht," etc. Zwischenbdllnz ends in 1950. bleibenden. Das Warum wird den nachsten Band meiner Lebcnsbilanz The Nazi period is covered thoroughly in this book. The author ausfiillen" (376). l ie hints to the reader that his Catholic background, provides his readers with a fascinat ing account of growing up in a experiences during the N .. u period, and influences of friends-all sub­ liberal. Catholic family in the 19305 and 1940s. The Holocaust, anli­ jecls that he touches on in this autobiography-expl:un his ability LO Semitism in Nazi Germany, and the vicissitudes of the Second World witllSland the tribulations of life in the GOR. War are interwoven in this autobiographical work with de Bruyn's Kunze's Am SOllnenballg and de Bruyn's Zwi5Chcflbllalll are two most personal experiences, such as his fim love and familial relation­ important textS in the canon of post-1989 German iLtcrature. These ships. Throughout the text, de Bruyn thematizes his relationship to ewo autobiographical works attest to the fact that the recent Lllera· language and writing. l1mtrelt directly engages some of the most peninem questions about Attaining a Zwischenbilanz for de Bmyn necessarily means thor­ history, memory, and national identity in Ih e contemporary German oughly examining the past through writing. AS:l Gennan, part of this comext. process involves grappling with the Holocaust and the Nazi period. This book explores these issues in a particularly moving and ingenu­ Ulll'Uel"Sity of Ch,cago Douglas D. Haller ous manner. His references to Jews do not follow the dominant trend among GDR authors to pOr1ray Jews as universal victims of hscism, and his memories are not construcled around apologies and philo­ ------------ semitism. References to Jews and the Holocaust:lccompany de Bruyn's ...•.. ------------ own developing sense of political awareness and fear of the furure. A shan chapter is devoted to Dr.