The Quest for Christa T. [Paperback]

Christa Wolf (Author), Christopher Middleton (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 1979

When The Quest for Christa T. was first published in East Germany ten years ago, there was an immediate storm: bookshops in East Berlin were given instructions to sell it only to well-known customers professionally involved in literary matters; at the annual meeting of East German Writers Conference, Mrs Wolf's new book was condemmed. Yet the novel has nothing eplicity to do with politics.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"On the surface we have merely the story of a sensitive woman as recalled by her friend. On this level Christa T. was a good citizen who did as she was told and lived a seemingly unexceptional life. But between the lines lies the real story of Christa T. -- the story of an individual crushed by the presures of uniformity. If you bear in mind it is the first novel of any consequence to emerge from Ulbricht's East Germany, then it becomes something of a literary landmark." -- John Barkman, New York Post

"The contours of silence and the outline of things articulately left unsaid loom large in the muted brilliance of this novel." -- Ernst Pawek, The New York Review of Books

"It is a courageous boot that breaks taboos and, as we have come to expect from Christa Wolf, it is infused with an integrity and a deep moral concern. . . " --The (London) Times Literary Supplement

Language Notes

Text: English, German (translation) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 185 pages
• Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (November 1, 1979)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0374515344
• ISBN-13: 978-0374515348
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 6.5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #52,291 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A woman who does not fit in, November 1, 2000

By 

Manuel Haas - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Quest for Christa T. (Paperback)

Christa T. is the story of a woman growing up in post-war East-Germany - under Communist rule. She is not openly hostile to the regime, but she is a woman who does not fit in, a dreamer and a romantic. Her life is not outwardly dramatic: She reads literature at university, works as a teacher, marries a vet and lives far away from the big city, but this intensely private life was in itself an act of rebellion in a country which wanted fervent supporters of Communist doctrine, and which expected writers to celebrate tough workmen. Christa T. is also the story of a woman trying to find the words to write about another woman's life, and this is "The Quest for Christa T." - Christa Wolf ranks among the best authors now writing in German, and the quiet tragedy of Christa T. is one of her most moving books.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book is as wonderful as it is significant., February 13, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: The Quest for Christa T. (Paperback)

Christa Wolf brilliantly succeeds in creating a new literary space, one that surfaces during the interplay and transition between subjectivity and objectivity. Through the course of her novel she writes somewhere between the "I" and the "you"; in this shifting, elliptical state we begin to understand that the self is neither wholly interior nor exterior, and that the quest for self-knowledge can be as lyrical, as immediate, and as maddeningly unreachable as her prose. An incredible book

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Heartbreaking, April 14, 2002

By 

Ms Diva "cycworker" (Nanaimo, B.C. Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Quest for Christa T. Pb (Virago Modern Classics) (Paperback)

This is a difficult book to describe. The author is writing about the life of a woman she knew who is destroyed by life under the communist regime in East Germany. It speaks to the reader about the dangers of totalitarianism, the freedom and beauty of the human spirit, and about relationships. The relationship between the author and the title character is in itself interesting. She is trying to keep the memory of Christa alive, and yet the author seems to say at times that she doesn't know if she even really knew Christa. As usual, this novel has alot of Wolf's brilliant examinations of the nature of memory -- memory is a recurring theme in all her novels. Wolf's gifts for language, imagery, and insight are stunning. The translation is well done. This is one of the best books I've ever read. I highly reccommend it.