buesch-2000FocusSample-001.tif


18 [vc/ts on Litemlllr 

Socialism and Adventure, 
Politics and Entertainment: 

Martine Monod's N ovels in the GDR 

Ina Pfitzner 

Studies co ncerni ng the role of IiteraLUre in the German Democratic 
Republic have often focussed on the manner in which au thors ex­

pressed th emselves within the strictu res of genre, fo rm and contents 
imposed, whi le little atten tion has beel1 paid to the actual rC:Jdi nf, pref­
ercllces o f East German readers. Just as th e po pular discourse d id nOl 
always correspond to the official discourse, readers did l 'J o t always read 
what they were supposed 1.0 read, and i f they did, they did not always 
do so for th e "right" reasons. The success of French :luth or M:ucine 
Mona d (192 1-85) in th e G OR in tile 1950's and I%O's demonstrates 
that her works, incorpo l~l l itig the familiar, c mo lllcal tmclilions of 
Critical and Socialist Realisms, also met the desire for clllcrtai nmenl 
and fo r Ihe "depayscmcJ1 l '" to glamou rous, sometimes historical, for­
eign worlds th rough read ing. This interesti ng comb ination a CCOUlllS 

for the popu la rity of Monod's novels :Hnong a wide public but also 
explains why this aut hor was publ ished in the G DR and pro moted as 
;1 literary figure. 

As almost eve ry aspect of li fe. iitcr:.ltu re in the GDR was regu­
lated by party programs and official resolutions. ' rile "!-I;mptverw:lltung 
Verlage und I~uchhandel" (Administration fo r Publish ing I louses and 
Book Tmde) of the Min ist ry or C ulture contro lled publishing houses.l 

Deciding what was acceptable for publi cat ion and consum ption, th is 
admin istrat ion established a canon of iileralU re for thc G O!\.. TIllS 
canon included authors from di fferent t ime periods and countries who 
were linked to a hum:ln ist and realist tradition culminating in the offi­
Cial doct rine of Socialist RC:llism. School curricula and hook reviews 
in the press also propagated what and how thc govern mcllt wanted its 
citi zens to read .l O ftenlimes, forewords and afterwords silu,lled for-

Ff}C1I5 Oil UUI"tIIUI" Volume 7 (2000) 

18 [vc/ts on Litemlllr 

Socialism and Adventure, 
Politics and Entertainment: 

Martine Monod's N ovels in the GDR 

Ina Pfitzner 

Studies co ncerni ng the role of IiteraLUre in the German Democratic 
Republic have often focussed on the manner in which au thors ex­

pressed th emselves within the strictu res of genre, fo rm and contents 
imposed, whi le little atten tion has beel1 paid to the actual rC:Jdi nf, pref­
ercllces o f East German readers. Just as th e po pular discourse d id nOl 
always correspond to the official discourse, readers did l 'J o t always read 
what they were supposed 1.0 read, and i f they did, they did not always 
do so for th e "right" reasons. The success of French :luth or M:ucine 
Mona d (192 1-85) in th e G OR in tile 1950's and I%O's demonstrates 
that her works, incorpo l~l l itig the familiar, c mo lllcal tmclilions of 
Critical and Socialist Realisms, also met the desire for clllcrtai nmenl 
and fo r Ihe "depayscmcJ1 l '" to glamou rous, sometimes historical, for­
eign worlds th rough read ing. This interesti ng comb ination a CCOUlllS 

for the popu la rity of Monod's novels :Hnong a wide public but also 
explains why this aut hor was publ ished in the G DR and pro moted as 
;1 literary figure. 

As almost eve ry aspect of li fe. iitcr:.ltu re in the GDR was regu­
lated by party programs and official resolutions. ' rile "!-I;mptverw:lltung 
Verlage und I~uchhandel" (Administration fo r Publish ing I louses and 
Book Tmde) of the Min ist ry or C ulture contro lled publishing houses.l 

Deciding what was acceptable for publi cat ion and consum ption, th is 
admin istrat ion established a canon of iileralU re for thc G O!\.. TIllS 
canon included authors from di fferent t ime periods and countries who 
were linked to a hum:ln ist and realist tradition culminating in the offi­
Cial doct rine of Socialist RC:llism. School curricula and hook reviews 
in the press also propagated what and how thc govern mcllt wanted its 
citi zens to read .l O ftenlimes, forewords and afterwords silu,lled for-

Ff}C1I5 Oil UUI"tIIUI" Volume 7 (2000) 



20 Pocus 011 LiteralllY 

elgl. works i1l their historical <l nd poli~ic:11 contexts and prov ided an 
ill terpretatio n [o r the reader. I lowevcr, It W:1S up to r~adcrs tI.l c /llsclv~s 
to choose frolillhe variety of genres, authors, :lnd lime periods ~\V.\.1 1 -
able, alld significan li y, to choose what nOl lO reac\. l'rcqllclltly, ~ea l l sl 
novels were a popuhr choice, correspondin g to the dcm:lll.d. for ill1car, 
traditional narration and thereby an accessible :'Ind [alm!.:tr W'J.y of 
wnt1l1g. . 

Martine Monad was onc of these realist authors, whose popu-
larity in th e GDR as well as in other Eastern European count ries

4 
was 

to due to the rotCl that her novels were acceptable for publication but 
also pabtable for th e average reader. As a Commun ist writ~r ~rolll a 
capitalist country, Monod val idated the ex istence of the socl.allst sys-
tem in her novels and later condo ned the contempora ry politics of the 
G DR governlllen t explicidy ill person:,l interviews. Espousing so n~c 

I 

I 

of the principles of Socialist Realism in her nove l~, sh~ was rooted III 
lite humanist, Crilicial Realist tradition of canolllca l J-t'cnch authors 
from the 19th centu ry. Combined with historical and adventuro~l s 
ploLS, this made her works acccssible to a variety of readers from dlf­
ferellt educational backgrounds. Monad's novels also responded to the 
East German reader's desi re for entertain ment, fo r "depaysell1el1l:" I 
Iler "exotic" characters and sets take the rcader fa r away from their 
own wo rld , far away from "Politinformatioll," "Kampfgrupp~," 
"Wandzeitunge n," :\nd other realit ies which structured ~veryday I, fc 
for most East Genmllls. Monad created human worlds WIth out dwell-
ing on violence and misery :\s Illany early Soviet nov.cls did . , 

Book rcviews illustrate reviewers feared t ll:\t III Monad s nov­
els enten:\inmellt might prev:\il ove r the politicallllessagc. Criticizing 
her writ ings for lacking litel"3ry quality, they indi rectl y scolded ~hc 
East Gerlllan reader for re:\ding for thc wrong reasons. If the saylllg 
goes that every people has the government it deservcs, the GD R gov­
ern ment did not have the people they desired. T h e avcrage reader rea~ 
for leisure and retreated to a less politicized space apart from t~le offi­
cial doctrine, a space in which social ism and its ideas of ~quallty all~ 
peace had thei r pbce without being dD?ma. ~ust as Marlll1~ ~onod s 
books proposed many East Germans believed l.Il a bener, SOCIalist world 
:'Ind werc at thc S:\I11C time intrigued by adventure) gbmour and ro- I 
Inance. This discrepancy between official and popular disc~u~es co n­
stitutes a St:llement in itself. Illlplicid y this is say ing nwu' slIld das 

Monad' s Novels in the GDR 21 

Volk," whi ch lIluch later during tlte fall of 1989 became the most 
pointcd slogall. "Wit' sind cb s Volk, and we t lterdore citoosc ourselves 
what we like to read." East German readers had their ow n vcrsio n o f 
socialism, o ne that itlciUlled d lcm as active participan ts wltile resisting 
indoct rination and coercion ("G:ingcl ung") in thei r private li ves. 
Monad's novels ami, to a lesser extent, her perso na conformed to the 
special , privatc brand of social ism that East German reade rs had crc­
ated for themselves. Atthc same tillie, her vita as resistance fighter :lncl 
Communist made her the idcal proponent of a positi vc, affirmative 
image of the socialist cause and of the G OR itself. 

Coming from a midd le-class background, Martine Monod 
carned a licence in English fro m the Sorbonnc in Pari s. In 1941 , she 
joined the French resistance movement where she met her futll re hus­
band , FF.llll;ois Monad, Communist poet and editor of th c publishing 
house Editeurs Fr:mp is Reunis. After Wodd War II , shc hL'Camc ;1 
t'ncmi>cr of thc French Communist Party. In 1948, her first novel 
Malacerl(/ was se ri,llizcd in the newspaper Ce Soir by Loll is Amgo tl 
and published by Editeurs Franpis Reunis in 1950. Colllinurng to 
work as a film critic an d journalist, Monad was activc in the Union 
des Femmes Frnm;.aises, a Communist women 's organi zati on, and th e 
Comitc National des Ec rivains, which unitcd ex-Resistance writers. 
She transl:\led novels from English and wo rked fo r newspapers like 
LibeYlllion and Les /..etl res FTanraues, again under Ar.1go n's direction. 
In 1954, she completed hcr novel U! Whuky de la Reine (The Qlleen's 
Whisky), for wh ich she received th e Prix Feneon. In 1955. Ed itcurs 
Reunis published Irer following sha n novel Le Nuage (The ClolU~. fo l­
lowed by Normandie·Niem ell in 1960. Fl'Om 196 1 on, MOllod wo rked 
for /-/umanile, tbe newspaper of the French Communist Pany. where 
she latcr headed the polit ical depanmcnt of the Sunday edition. In 
1968, she published Israel lei qlleje I'ai vu (lsmel As I Saw It), in wh ich 
she condemns the politics and warfare of lsrael. Her repon Deux 011 
lrou choses qlte je 5(11S de [,Union suvihiquc (T'WO Or Three 77Jmgs/ KlIow 
About the Suviel U'lioll)~ (1973) is an enthusiastic and melodramatic 
accoun t of hCt' visit to the Soviet Un ion. G lo rifying the existing sys­
tem and not offering any critical insight, the book is difficult to read 
and suggests that she truly kncw littl e about the reality there. 

MOllod belonged to a group of writcrs and journ:,lisLS oper:lt­
illg apart from the French literary establishment and from attempLS at 

20 Pocus 011 LiteralllY 

elgl. works i1l their historical <l nd poli~ic:11 contexts and prov ided an 
ill terpretatio n [o r the reader. I lowevcr, It W:1S up to r~adcrs tI.l c /llsclv~s 
to choose frolillhe variety of genres, authors, :lnd lime periods ~\V.\.1 1 -
able, alld significan li y, to choose what nOl lO reac\. l'rcqllclltly, ~ea l l sl 
novels were a popuhr choice, correspondin g to the dcm:lll.d. for ill1car, 
traditional narration and thereby an accessible :'Ind [alm!.:tr W'J.y of 
wnt1l1g. . 

Martine Monad was onc of these realist authors, whose popu-
larity in th e GDR as well as in other Eastern European count ries

4 
was 

to due to the rotCl that her novels were acceptable for publication but 
also pabtable for th e average reader. As a Commun ist writ~r ~rolll a 
capitalist country, Monod val idated the ex istence of the socl.allst sys-
tem in her novels and later condo ned the contempora ry politics of the 
G DR governlllen t explicidy ill person:,l interviews. Espousing so n~c 

I 

I 

of the principles of Socialist Realism in her nove l~, sh~ was rooted III 
lite humanist, Crilicial Realist tradition of canolllca l J-t'cnch authors 
from the 19th centu ry. Combined with historical and adventuro~l s 
ploLS, this made her works acccssible to a variety of readers from dlf­
ferellt educational backgrounds. Monad's novels also responded to the 
East German reader's desi re for entertain ment, fo r "depaysell1el1l:" I 
Iler "exotic" characters and sets take the rcader fa r away from their 
own wo rld , far away from "Politinformatioll," "Kampfgrupp~," 
"Wandzeitunge n," :\nd other realit ies which structured ~veryday I, fc 
for most East Genmllls. Monad created human worlds WIth out dwell-
ing on violence and misery :\s Illany early Soviet nov.cls did . , 

Book rcviews illustrate reviewers feared t ll:\t III Monad s nov­
els enten:\inmellt might prev:\il ove r the politicallllessagc. Criticizing 
her writ ings for lacking litel"3ry quality, they indi rectl y scolded ~hc 
East Gerlllan reader for re:\ding for thc wrong reasons. If the saylllg 
goes that every people has the government it deservcs, the GD R gov­
ern ment did not have the people they desired. T h e avcrage reader rea~ 
for leisure and retreated to a less politicized space apart from t~le offi­
cial doctrine, a space in which social ism and its ideas of ~quallty all~ 
peace had thei r pbce without being dD?ma. ~ust as Marlll1~ ~onod s 
books proposed many East Germans believed l.Il a bener, SOCIalist world 
:'Ind werc at thc S:\I11C time intrigued by adventure) gbmour and ro- I 
Inance. This discrepancy between official and popular disc~u~es co n­
stitutes a St:llement in itself. Illlplicid y this is say ing nwu' slIld das 

Monad' s Novels in the GDR 21 

Volk," whi ch lIluch later during tlte fall of 1989 became the most 
pointcd slogall. "Wit' sind cb s Volk, and we t lterdore citoosc ourselves 
what we like to read." East German readers had their ow n vcrsio n o f 
socialism, o ne that itlciUlled d lcm as active participan ts wltile resisting 
indoct rination and coercion ("G:ingcl ung") in thei r private li ves. 
Monad's novels ami, to a lesser extent, her perso na conformed to the 
special , privatc brand of social ism that East German reade rs had crc­
ated for themselves. Atthc same tillie, her vita as resistance fighter :lncl 
Communist made her the idcal proponent of a positi vc, affirmative 
image of the socialist cause and of the G OR itself. 

Coming from a midd le-class background, Martine Monod 
carned a licence in English fro m the Sorbonnc in Pari s. In 1941 , she 
joined the French resistance movement where she met her futll re hus­
band , FF.llll;ois Monad, Communist poet and editor of th c publishing 
house Editeurs Fr:mp is Reunis. After Wodd War II , shc hL'Camc ;1 
t'ncmi>cr of thc French Communist Party. In 1948, her first novel 
Malacerl(/ was se ri,llizcd in the newspaper Ce Soir by Loll is Amgo tl 
and published by Editeurs Franpis Reunis in 1950. Colllinurng to 
work as a film critic an d journalist, Monad was activc in the Union 
des Femmes Frnm;.aises, a Communist women 's organi zati on, and th e 
Comitc National des Ec rivains, which unitcd ex-Resistance writers. 
She transl:\led novels from English and wo rked fo r newspapers like 
LibeYlllion and Les /..etl res FTanraues, again under Ar.1go n's direction. 
In 1954, she completed hcr novel U! Whuky de la Reine (The Qlleen's 
Whisky), for wh ich she received th e Prix Feneon. In 1955. Ed itcurs 
Reunis published Irer following sha n novel Le Nuage (The ClolU~. fo l­
lowed by Normandie·Niem ell in 1960. Fl'Om 196 1 on, MOllod wo rked 
for /-/umanile, tbe newspaper of the French Communist Pany. where 
she latcr headed the polit ical depanmcnt of the Sunday edition. In 
1968, she published Israel lei qlleje I'ai vu (lsmel As I Saw It), in wh ich 
she condemns the politics and warfare of lsrael. Her repon Deux 011 
lrou choses qlte je 5(11S de [,Union suvihiquc (T'WO Or Three 77Jmgs/ KlIow 
About the Suviel U'lioll)~ (1973) is an enthusiastic and melodramatic 
accoun t of hCt' visit to the Soviet Un ion. G lo rifying the existing sys­
tem and not offering any critical insight, the book is difficult to read 
and suggests that she truly kncw littl e about the reality there. 

MOllod belonged to a group of writcrs and journ:,lisLS oper:lt­
illg apart from the French literary establishment and from attempLS at 



22 rTJCIIS on LileralJlr 

:l.V:ml-gardc. At a lime, where literature ill Fromee was do minated by 
ex istentialist thinking, where litcrat"y magaz.incs su ch as 7e/ Quel (\960) 
:md L'EpiJcmere (1971-73), the writers of the NOllVCffU Roman and t he 
playwrights of the 1MnlYe de l'Absllyde proposed !lew esthetics and 
where the "College de Ia Pataphysiquc" ridicul ed the self.importance 
of the literary csl:lblishmelll , the writers around Les LeI/res Franraises 
had;J, mo re positi vistic :lpproach to literature. A ll "'e ngaged " aud lO r in 
the manner of the ex islclllialisLS, Moned 's life ami her works were 
in fo rmed by her Resistance ex perience and her p o liti c:l1 activity as a 
Communist. The publishing houses, the journals, and the political 
org:l ni z.ati o ns she wo rked for shared this background. Loui s Aragon, 
ex-surrea list, novelist, and director of Ce Soir and Les Lellres r.,.ancaises 
was the most success fu l of this group of writers. Also a member of the 
Communist Party, he applied the principles of Socialist Realism ill his 
bter wo rks, whi ch suggests that Manine Monod may howe been b ­
mi liar with this doctrine as well. Through intcllcXlUal refcrences as 
well as her at times imitati ve style and plOl, the author positions her­
self d early in the tradition of French literatu re, cert:l.! lll y tOO much sO 
to establi sh her ow n voice among a pletho ra of innovative writers in 
her ow n cOlllllry. Therefo re, her works and those of colleagues C harles 
Spaak , A Tl(lre Wurmser and othe rs, with their stra ight-forward, pas­
sionate stOry-telling, left no more than an ephemeral imprint on French 
literature. 

Forgotten in France, Martine Monod is not mentioned in his­
tories of French li terature, and none of her books appear in th e co llec­
tions of the Bibliolhequc Nationale in Paris. Only the Lexiko,l der 
ftd11zosiscben LilCralllr (VEB Bibliogr·aph isches Institut Le ipzig 1987), 
an encyclopedia acclaimed by Ro mance slUd ies scholars in the C DR, 
devoted a 24-line entry to Martine Monad, citing, her alongside fa­
mous aut hors such as philosop her and essayist Michel MOlltaigne. 
Written in r rench fo r a French audience, ber novels were quicldy trans· 
lated into German and immediately achieved a remarkable success. 
However, so me thirty years later, it is imposs ible La retrace wlto ex­
acdy decided to publish MOllod's novels and why. No critica l works 
on Mo nod 3re available, no records evidence how and why her works 
found their way to the G DR; her translators were impossible to lo­
cate.' O nl y her books and the memory thereof ill people's minds as 
an 1IIIo ffi ciai canon test ify to her past celebrity. Articles ill CDR news-

• 

I 

Monad's Novels in the G DR 
23 

papers. reponed. 011 Monod's visits to Berli n and highlighted her role as 
a llIc(lIa :lUthonty. 

When Marline Monad visited the CDR twice 111 1961 three 
of her works had already csl:l.b lished her there as a " I. - · l~ II' " I . . . lK.""S sc er au-
t lor. As IS obvlo.us from th e articles, she received much attention, not 
~o much ~1S a wntcr but:"ls an "institution," a famil iar role for writers 
HI both !' rance and the CDR.' Due to her background, Monod lent 
h erse~f as a commelll:llOr all the social and political situation . She also 
fUll ctloned as.a sort of "ambassador," who upon return 
wa nted to enl igh ten the French public: 

So wie sic in der "Wolke" in litcr:lrisch vollendeter 
ga nz unkon ventionell er Forlll cin Gru ndprob ! en~ 
lIns~rer ' I ~ge! dell Kampf gegen dcn Atoliltod :1Ufgrei ft, 
so sleh~ S IC lit .der Finladu ng ullsercs M:lgistraLS vor 
aHcm dLe MogiLchkcit, d ie f ..... m~osisch e o rrclltlichkcit 
tiher Berlin riclu ig zu inforrn ieren.1 

"Berlin" h~rc refers to the the crecti o!! of the Berlin Wall, whi ch she 
seems to view as a legitimate attempt 1O protect the existing system. 
M~~ove:, her statements promulg:llcd in the newspapers backed the 
offiCial diSCOUrse: 

Sie weilte in beiden Teilcn del" St:ldt und verglich die 
Ruhe lind Beso nnenheit im demokr:l.lischcn Berlin mit 
der H ys teri c und Sensa ti o nsL1l:lche jense ils des 
Bran denbu rger Ta res. DaR ihr am er ika nische 
Journal isten damals allen Ernsles glaubc n machen 
wollten , di e K:llnpfgnlp pen mii nner u nd Vo lks­
polizisten seien verk lcidete Russell, liifltsie so nebenbei 
als Anekdote einnieRen.' 

I ndi~·ect~y slIppo.ning the GDR governmcnt in their decision 1O build 
the 3ntlfaschlstlschcr Schlltzwa ll ," she evaluates the situation as calm 
an~ prudent, ~hile it W:l.S certainly induced by intimidation and con­
fus l o~ . F~lIowLng the party line, Monod's renLarks may have justified 
the SltuaUon for some, but they probably alienated those who were 
adversely affected by t he evcnt . When she parti cipated in Lhe festivi-

22 rTJCIIS on LileralJlr 

:l.V:ml-gardc. At a lime, where literature ill Fromee was do minated by 
ex istentialist thinking, where litcrat"y magaz.incs su ch as 7e/ Quel (\960) 
:md L'EpiJcmere (1971-73), the writers of the NOllVCffU Roman and t he 
playwrights of the 1MnlYe de l'Absllyde proposed !lew esthetics and 
where the "College de Ia Pataphysiquc" ridicul ed the self.importance 
of the literary csl:lblishmelll , the writers around Les LeI/res Franraises 
had;J, mo re positi vistic :lpproach to literature. A ll "'e ngaged " aud lO r in 
the manner of the ex islclllialisLS, Moned 's life ami her works were 
in fo rmed by her Resistance ex perience and her p o liti c:l1 activity as a 
Communist. The publishing houses, the journals, and the political 
org:l ni z.ati o ns she wo rked for shared this background. Loui s Aragon, 
ex-surrea list, novelist, and director of Ce Soir and Les Lellres r.,.ancaises 
was the most success fu l of this group of writers. Also a member of the 
Communist Party, he applied the principles of Socialist Realism ill his 
bter wo rks, whi ch suggests that Manine Monod may howe been b ­
mi liar with this doctrine as well. Through intcllcXlUal refcrences as 
well as her at times imitati ve style and plOl, the author positions her­
self d early in the tradition of French literatu re, cert:l.! lll y tOO much sO 
to establi sh her ow n voice among a pletho ra of innovative writers in 
her ow n cOlllllry. Therefo re, her works and those of colleagues C harles 
Spaak , A Tl(lre Wurmser and othe rs, with their stra ight-forward, pas­
sionate stOry-telling, left no more than an ephemeral imprint on French 
literature. 

Forgotten in France, Martine Monod is not mentioned in his­
tories of French li terature, and none of her books appear in th e co llec­
tions of the Bibliolhequc Nationale in Paris. Only the Lexiko,l der 
ftd11zosiscben LilCralllr (VEB Bibliogr·aph isches Institut Le ipzig 1987), 
an encyclopedia acclaimed by Ro mance slUd ies scholars in the C DR, 
devoted a 24-line entry to Martine Monad, citing, her alongside fa­
mous aut hors such as philosop her and essayist Michel MOlltaigne. 
Written in r rench fo r a French audience, ber novels were quicldy trans· 
lated into German and immediately achieved a remarkable success. 
However, so me thirty years later, it is imposs ible La retrace wlto ex­
acdy decided to publish MOllod's novels and why. No critica l works 
on Mo nod 3re available, no records evidence how and why her works 
found their way to the G DR; her translators were impossible to lo­
cate.' O nl y her books and the memory thereof ill people's minds as 
an 1IIIo ffi ciai canon test ify to her past celebrity. Articles ill CDR news-

• 

I 

Monad's Novels in the G DR 
23 

papers. reponed. 011 Monod's visits to Berli n and highlighted her role as 
a llIc(lIa :lUthonty. 

When Marline Monad visited the CDR twice 111 1961 three 
of her works had already csl:l.b lished her there as a " I. - · l~ II' " I . . . lK.""S sc er au-
t lor. As IS obvlo.us from th e articles, she received much attention, not 
~o much ~1S a wntcr but:"ls an "institution," a famil iar role for writers 
HI both !' rance and the CDR.' Due to her background, Monod lent 
h erse~f as a commelll:llOr all the social and political situation . She also 
fUll ctloned as.a sort of "ambassador," who upon return 
wa nted to enl igh ten the French public: 

So wie sic in der "Wolke" in litcr:lrisch vollendeter 
ga nz unkon ventionell er Forlll cin Gru ndprob ! en~ 
lIns~rer ' I ~ge! dell Kampf gegen dcn Atoliltod :1Ufgrei ft, 
so sleh~ S IC lit .der Finladu ng ullsercs M:lgistraLS vor 
aHcm dLe MogiLchkcit, d ie f ..... m~osisch e o rrclltlichkcit 
tiher Berlin riclu ig zu inforrn ieren.1 

"Berlin" h~rc refers to the the crecti o!! of the Berlin Wall, whi ch she 
seems to view as a legitimate attempt 1O protect the existing system. 
M~~ove:, her statements promulg:llcd in the newspapers backed the 
offiCial diSCOUrse: 

Sie weilte in beiden Teilcn del" St:ldt und verglich die 
Ruhe lind Beso nnenheit im demokr:l.lischcn Berlin mit 
der H ys teri c und Sensa ti o nsL1l:lche jense ils des 
Bran denbu rger Ta res. DaR ihr am er ika nische 
Journal isten damals allen Ernsles glaubc n machen 
wollten , di e K:llnpfgnlp pen mii nner u nd Vo lks­
polizisten seien verk lcidete Russell, liifltsie so nebenbei 
als Anekdote einnieRen.' 

I ndi~·ect~y slIppo.ning the GDR governmcnt in their decision 1O build 
the 3ntlfaschlstlschcr Schlltzwa ll ," she evaluates the situation as calm 
an~ prudent, ~hile it W:l.S certainly induced by intimidation and con­
fus l o~ . F~lIowLng the party line, Monod's renLarks may have justified 
the SltuaUon for some, but they probably alienated those who were 
adversely affected by t he evcnt . When she parti cipated in Lhe festivi-



24 r-oClIS 011 Literall//' 

tics for the 12th anniversary of the CDR. she found morc cOllcili :llo ry 
words: 

Wi .. Fr.mzosen schell mit so viel HoffnulIg und so vicl 
Fre ud c auf d ie DDR, we il wir in d iesclll Te il 
Demschlallds cinCH so groBcn Rcspckl vor def Kultur 
und cille so groBc Liebe ZU Ill Frieden findcn. Wir 
Fmnzoscn, innerhalb von vicrL.ig Jahrcn 7;wcimal Opfer 
des dCUlschen Militarismus, sehen in di eselll wah rell 
Delltschland llnsere Schwester, und daruill bin ieh so 
gli.icklich, wenl! leli hier bei Ihnen scin bnn. 1o 

MOll od gives the impression of speaki ng fo r all Prcllch people when 
she praises the GDR as a peace-loving, cultured country. She concedes 
this "true Germany" itS legitimate place among other Il :ni ons, such as 
France, and confirms that it symbol il.c the hope for a better Germany. 
Illlegrated in the official discourse, her words may sound somew hat 
exaggerated. Yet, her presence gave hope alld st rength to people, pro­
duci ng an early '" D ean-Reed-Effekl" 11. With this lerlll I allempt to 
describe the effect c reated by an artist from a Western country (such as 
Dean Reed, Perry Friedman and others) endorsillg tile ex istence of die 
G DR in official statements as we ll as through their public appearance. 
A fo reigner from the West was received with great curiosi ty in the 
East, especially since travel to the West was vinuall y impossible for 
the average GDR citizen. The bet that these artists wel·c rebtively 
unknown at home seClllS to not have diminished their acceptance in 
the GDR. Hans·Dieter Brauer has discussed Reed's reception in the 
USSR and gave th e following ex planation: 

Dean Reed ist fiir die Bi.irger des SowjcLlandes ni cht 
nur eln Kii nstlcr, denn davon gibt es viele, er ist fiir sie 
ein Mensch, ein Freund der SowjelUliio n, der auch in 
se inelll I...t! ben das LUt, wo fii r er in se ine l1 Lieder ll 
eintritl; ein Mensch, der die Menschen liebt und ihr 
wichtigstes Gut, dell Frieden. Er verkorpert das andere, 
das gute Amerika, ein Land mit einel' g,roBen Klliturj 
ein Land, das g,roBe Personlichkeiten hervorgebracht 
hat; ein Land , desscn wissenschaflliche lind Icchnische 

Mon o<l's Novels in the GOR 

Lcistungen in der SowjetunioJl bcwl illden werdcn' cln 
Lan~ , m it dem in Frieden zu leben der Wunsch j~des 
Sowjelbi.irgcrs iSL 11 

25 

Reed's background also expla ins his role in lI ,e GDR. Martine Monoo 
to?, came from a great cu lLure, olle even closer and more connected 
With Germany th rough its lmdition aud history than the US. While 
Reed had the O ld World's fasci nation wi th the United States in his 
favo r, Mono~I 's succes~ m~y also have been due to the deeply engrained, 
mil ,er one-sided a~rn l rat l on Germans have had for Francc and the 
French cul.ture, wluch, as we wi ll sec btcr, also manifests itself in l ire 
preferred Irteratu~e. Furthermore, Monod represented a female, more 
humane perspccll ve, that of the French people rather t han its govern­
ment.; As a wom:m writer sir e was a propo llent of the socialist, "fe­
,~al e nsystem as opp~sed 10 the capitalist, "male" system in wh ich she 
li ved. Hence, MartlllC MOllod was an authority anJ a med ia figure 
con~tructcd and em.bra~ed (or her political message but also (or her 
forelgnn~ss, a com~'~lallon tha~ applied to her most popular books as 
well . While the offlcl~ 1 pro mOllon and the exotic appeal and celebrity 
of al.' author may entIce a reader to pick up a certain book this does 
not rnn uencc the decision to keep on reading or to recom~end it LO 

others. Monod's books found thei r place 0 11 East Germa n bookshelves 
bec.ause they p~vided a blend of differellliitera ry traditions and met a 
variety of readrng preferences. 

. ~a~ine Monod's_ novels compl ied with some stipulations of 
the offiCIal literary doclnne of Socialist Realism in the GDlt Ii AI ­
thou~h her protagonists stem from noble or bourgeois rather th an 
working das~ backgroun~, they experience political insights that make 
them act agalllst oppressIon and injustice. They often take sides with 
the cause of the wo rking class, and could be characterized as . unaware . 
heroes ("unbewuBle l~lelden ") ' s. Maltine Monod clearly di fferentiates 
between good and .evl.1. As a partisan author ("panciische Autorin"), 
she denounces capltalrsm as an exploitati ve and aggressive SySLCm and 
revea ls .her sympathy with th e lower classes. In so doing but also by 
a?dress~ng her readers in a simple language and by choosing tradi­
tlo~la ll.lterary forms such as tire hislo l'icalnovel, she demonstrates her 
sol,darity. w.ith the masses ("Volksverbunden heit"). Monod's novels 
are 1ll0ra llSllc and offer a clear-cut view of society. Although critical, 

24 r-oClIS 011 Literall//' 

tics for the 12th anniversary of the CDR. she found morc cOllcili :llo ry 
words: 

Wi .. Fr.mzosen schell mit so viel HoffnulIg und so vicl 
Fre ud c auf d ie DDR, we il wir in d iesclll Te il 
Demschlallds cinCH so groBcn Rcspckl vor def Kultur 
und cille so groBc Liebe ZU Ill Frieden findcn. Wir 
Fmnzoscn, innerhalb von vicrL.ig Jahrcn 7;wcimal Opfer 
des dCUlschen Militarismus, sehen in di eselll wah rell 
Delltschland llnsere Schwester, und daruill bin ieh so 
gli.icklich, wenl! leli hier bei Ihnen scin bnn. 1o 

MOll od gives the impression of speaki ng fo r all Prcllch people when 
she praises the GDR as a peace-loving, cultured country. She concedes 
this "true Germany" itS legitimate place among other Il :ni ons, such as 
France, and confirms that it symbol il.c the hope for a better Germany. 
Illlegrated in the official discourse, her words may sound somew hat 
exaggerated. Yet, her presence gave hope alld st rength to people, pro­
duci ng an early '" D ean-Reed-Effekl" 11. With this lerlll I allempt to 
describe the effect c reated by an artist from a Western country (such as 
Dean Reed, Perry Friedman and others) endorsillg tile ex istence of die 
G DR in official statements as we ll as through their public appearance. 
A fo reigner from the West was received with great curiosi ty in the 
East, especially since travel to the West was vinuall y impossible for 
the average GDR citizen. The bet that these artists wel·c rebtively 
unknown at home seClllS to not have diminished their acceptance in 
the GDR. Hans·Dieter Brauer has discussed Reed's reception in the 
USSR and gave th e following ex planation: 

Dean Reed ist fiir die Bi.irger des SowjcLlandes ni cht 
nur eln Kii nstlcr, denn davon gibt es viele, er ist fiir sie 
ein Mensch, ein Freund der SowjelUliio n, der auch in 
se inelll I...t! ben das LUt, wo fii r er in se ine l1 Lieder ll 
eintritl; ein Mensch, der die Menschen liebt und ihr 
wichtigstes Gut, dell Frieden. Er verkorpert das andere, 
das gute Amerika, ein Land mit einel' g,roBen Klliturj 
ein Land, das g,roBe Personlichkeiten hervorgebracht 
hat; ein Land , desscn wissenschaflliche lind Icchnische 

Mon o<l's Novels in the GOR 

Lcistungen in der SowjetunioJl bcwl illden werdcn' cln 
Lan~ , m it dem in Frieden zu leben der Wunsch j~des 
Sowjelbi.irgcrs iSL 11 

25 

Reed's background also expla ins his role in lI ,e GDR. Martine Monoo 
to?, came from a great cu lLure, olle even closer and more connected 
With Germany th rough its lmdition aud history than the US. While 
Reed had the O ld World's fasci nation wi th the United States in his 
favo r, Mono~I 's succes~ m~y also have been due to the deeply engrained, 
mil ,er one-sided a~rn l rat l on Germans have had for Francc and the 
French cul.ture, wluch, as we wi ll sec btcr, also manifests itself in l ire 
preferred Irteratu~e. Furthermore, Monod represented a female, more 
humane perspccll ve, that of the French people rather t han its govern­
ment.; As a wom:m writer sir e was a propo llent of the socialist, "fe­
,~al e nsystem as opp~sed 10 the capitalist, "male" system in wh ich she 
li ved. Hence, MartlllC MOllod was an authority anJ a med ia figure 
con~tructcd and em.bra~ed (or her political message but also (or her 
forelgnn~ss, a com~'~lallon tha~ applied to her most popular books as 
well . While the offlcl~ 1 pro mOllon and the exotic appeal and celebrity 
of al.' author may entIce a reader to pick up a certain book this does 
not rnn uencc the decision to keep on reading or to recom~end it LO 

others. Monod's books found thei r place 0 11 East Germa n bookshelves 
bec.ause they p~vided a blend of differellliitera ry traditions and met a 
variety of readrng preferences. 

. ~a~ine Monod's_ novels compl ied with some stipulations of 
the offiCIal literary doclnne of Socialist Realism in the GDlt Ii AI ­
thou~h her protagonists stem from noble or bourgeois rather th an 
working das~ backgroun~, they experience political insights that make 
them act agalllst oppressIon and injustice. They often take sides with 
the cause of the wo rking class, and could be characterized as . unaware . 
heroes ("unbewuBle l~lelden ") ' s. Maltine Monod clearly di fferentiates 
between good and .evl.1. As a partisan author ("panciische Autorin"), 
she denounces capltalrsm as an exploitati ve and aggressive SySLCm and 
revea ls .her sympathy with th e lower classes. In so doing but also by 
a?dress~ng her readers in a simple language and by choosing tradi­
tlo~la ll.lterary forms such as tire hislo l'icalnovel, she demonstrates her 
sol,darity. w.ith the masses ("Volksverbunden heit"). Monod's novels 
are 1ll0ra llSllc and offer a clear-cut view of society. Although critical, 



26 rvcltS on Literalllr 

th ey :Ire o ptimistic and ;ullic ipalc a bright future :1S Soci:llin Rea list 
novels arc su pposed to do. 

Slr:lighdol"ward in sty le and com positioll . Marline MOII IXI 
writes in lI le tradition of the C ritical Realists of t be 19th cCllllIry (sudl 
as Zob , Iblz.'lc, Maupassant) , who were part of a cana l' of liler'awre in 
th e GOR and who were co nsidered predecessors o f Socialist Realist 
liteITILUre." Like these authors, Monod takes an omniscient authori:11 
stance, evaluating w hat is happening for th e reader. Detailed clwraclcr 
descriptions, a solid pl Ol and exact descriptions suggest a scmbbucc of 
greatest possi b le reOcclion of reality. Anticipations and previews al­
low rc:.dcrs to follow and to interpret the plot easily :tccord ing to the 
intentions o f the aud lOrY These chaF.lcteristics put Monad's novels 
in the Context of otlter books publ ished in th e CDR . T hey also m:lke 
her boo ks accessible and easy to read for East Genn:lII readers, who 
arc familiar with the French tradition. While Socialist Realism W;lS 
the o fficial doctrine, it was not the only way books were w ritten in 
the CDR ,!I and it was not necessari ly what people enjoyed reading 
the most. Many East Germa n readers favored adventurous plots in 
historical and exotic environments, romance and glamor. 

Statistics have shown that the GD R was still a COUnll·y o f boo k 
readers ("weiand"), although watching TV was the preferred pasti me." 
In the o ffi cial discourse, the hi storical novel fu lfilled a didactic func­
ti on: bringing the past to life and co nstructing it as a prehistory lead­
ing to th e (socialist) present, instructing the reader about th e ' hi stori­
cal determination' o f the ex istence o f the CDR. Socialist popu lar lit­
erature was to counteract "Schund- und Kitschliler.ltur" from the West,XI 
and the fact that these kinds of texts were scarcely ava ilable in the 
CDR co rnribtllcd to readers satisfying their need s fo r enten :1inmellt 
through liteJ'ature, such as ligh t French [cuil leton literature fronl th e 
mid-1800's. According to a poll from 1955, p rose with histo rical co n­
tent and popular li temture (Unte rhalw ngsliteratur) were of the most 
interest to readers (24% and 32% respectively)?' In 1970, workers and 
clerical workers p referred t mvel books, adventure :lnd my!:i tery books, 
histo rical novels and biographies to contemporary novels. Sllrveys from 
1978179 demonstl':tted that Alexandre Dumas and other French writ­
ers were th e preferred allthors.u Novels about foreign lands and his­
toric times, with adventu res and romantic love stories were mo re ap­
peali ng to many readers than stories 1:>Cltaining to t heir oWl lli ves. Noel 

MOllod's Novels ill the CDR 
27 

Macaillsll noted fo r OIIC advc nture bestseller thal it r.ulkL'{l amOl1 'con-
temporary GDR texts: t 

"One llllcxpecled , incidellla l detail is th:1t, ill 1970, 
~arcliS .C I:1rke·~ For tbe 'limN a/his Nail/rat Life was 
clgh th III th e list o f preferred auth ors, just below 
Alexandre Dumas alld DiCIer No ll, arId just above Erik 
NCULSCh and Il ans Fallada. 111 the 25-30 age group, 
~dveJltl1re novels an! dI e 1110st preferred fo rm of rcad­
~ng, and C larkc's novel scems lO have been pe rceived 
III thaL catcgory."H 

Evcn this ty~c of. adventure novels still illlpli es ;1 relatively cducated 
reader, ch?~sll1g laer.llure of a ccrtain quality for their leisure. Nevcr­
th ~ l ess, tillS IS not Wh:ll M illi ~ le r of C ulture Johanncs R. Becher had in 

1l1ln~ wh en he postulated an educ:rted nalion ("gcbildctc Nation" yi 
~nd It ,:as not the role. the 1ll:I~S were supposed to pby. Wolfgang 
ElI1merlch has summ arized tillS III the followi ng statement: 

"Dic Ar beite rk b sse, di e eigentlich z uni lIeuen 
Ku~tunrager werdcll so llte, vcrhielt s ic h eher 
~lelO bi.i~erl ieh. Man las liehe r Margaret M itchells 
Yom Wmde verwelll ' stall Wi ll i Brcdel... "15 

Willi Bre~e1 st~nds for" Aufbau- und Pmdllktionsliteratur," fo r litera­
tu re deal lllg with everyda.y life in the GDR from a Socialist I'e I· l d. .. ' \. a IS , 
p ropagan IStlC perspective. Jay Rosselini has explained this desire of 

~ast <?erll1a~~ ~ ex.pe~ icnce exotic Ia nd~capes ra ther than bei ng edu­
c.rt~d 111 th~1I lels ule li me as an ex preSS ion o f th eir discornfort with 
d.lelr own life COntexlS.~ Richard Albrecht has viewed th is as see kin g 
distance (r~m. eve.ryday hfe I-:"Ither than its lite J ~lry douhling in contelll ­
po~ry soclahst Iiteraturc ami has observed simii.Jr attitudes for read­
ers 111 the. Fed: ml R: publicY Considering thal most CDR readers 
were reSLnCled III their tmveling, this desire for "Tapclc nwechsel" and 
for .glam~rous or adVentulUlls sets and plots fou nd its expression III 

t1~elr ~holce of texts from WeSlcrn cu ltures, that were physically and 
I lJstorlc~l~y. closer to th eir OWJl than for example the Russian /Soviet 
culture. I lus may accoulll fo r· the Llct "that literary works find ul1ex-

26 rvcltS on Literalllr 

th ey :Ire o ptimistic and ;ullic ipalc a bright future :1S Soci:llin Rea list 
novels arc su pposed to do. 

Slr:lighdol"ward in sty le and com positioll . Marline MOII IXI 
writes in lI le tradition of the C ritical Realists of t be 19th cCllllIry (sudl 
as Zob , Iblz.'lc, Maupassant) , who were part of a cana l' of liler'awre in 
th e GOR and who were co nsidered predecessors o f Socialist Realist 
liteITILUre." Like these authors, Monod takes an omniscient authori:11 
stance, evaluating w hat is happening for th e reader. Detailed clwraclcr 
descriptions, a solid pl Ol and exact descriptions suggest a scmbbucc of 
greatest possi b le reOcclion of reality. Anticipations and previews al­
low rc:.dcrs to follow and to interpret the plot easily :tccord ing to the 
intentions o f the aud lOrY These chaF.lcteristics put Monad's novels 
in the Context of otlter books publ ished in th e CDR . T hey also m:lke 
her boo ks accessible and easy to read for East Genn:lII readers, who 
arc familiar with the French tradition. While Socialist Realism W;lS 
the o fficial doctrine, it was not the only way books were w ritten in 
the CDR ,!I and it was not necessari ly what people enjoyed reading 
the most. Many East Germa n readers favored adventurous plots in 
historical and exotic environments, romance and glamor. 

Statistics have shown that the GD R was still a COUnll·y o f boo k 
readers ("weiand"), although watching TV was the preferred pasti me." 
In the o ffi cial discourse, the hi storical novel fu lfilled a didactic func­
ti on: bringing the past to life and co nstructing it as a prehistory lead­
ing to th e (socialist) present, instructing the reader about th e ' hi stori­
cal determination' o f the ex istence o f the CDR. Socialist popu lar lit­
erature was to counteract "Schund- und Kitschliler.ltur" from the West,XI 
and the fact that these kinds of texts were scarcely ava ilable in the 
CDR co rnribtllcd to readers satisfying their need s fo r enten :1inmellt 
through liteJ'ature, such as ligh t French [cuil leton literature fronl th e 
mid-1800's. According to a poll from 1955, p rose with histo rical co n­
tent and popular li temture (Unte rhalw ngsliteratur) were of the most 
interest to readers (24% and 32% respectively)?' In 1970, workers and 
clerical workers p referred t mvel books, adventure :lnd my!:i tery books, 
histo rical novels and biographies to contemporary novels. Sllrveys from 
1978179 demonstl':tted that Alexandre Dumas and other French writ­
ers were th e preferred allthors.u Novels about foreign lands and his­
toric times, with adventu res and romantic love stories were mo re ap­
peali ng to many readers than stories 1:>Cltaining to t heir oWl lli ves. Noel 

MOllod's Novels ill the CDR 
27 

Macaillsll noted fo r OIIC advc nture bestseller thal it r.ulkL'{l amOl1 'con-
temporary GDR texts: t 

"One llllcxpecled , incidellla l detail is th:1t, ill 1970, 
~arcliS .C I:1rke·~ For tbe 'limN a/his Nail/rat Life was 
clgh th III th e list o f preferred auth ors, just below 
Alexandre Dumas alld DiCIer No ll, arId just above Erik 
NCULSCh and Il ans Fallada. 111 the 25-30 age group, 
~dveJltl1re novels an! dI e 1110st preferred fo rm of rcad­
~ng, and C larkc's novel scems lO have been pe rceived 
III thaL catcgory."H 

Evcn this ty~c of. adventure novels still illlpli es ;1 relatively cducated 
reader, ch?~sll1g laer.llure of a ccrtain quality for their leisure. Nevcr­
th ~ l ess, tillS IS not Wh:ll M illi ~ le r of C ulture Johanncs R. Becher had in 

1l1ln~ wh en he postulated an educ:rted nalion ("gcbildctc Nation" yi 
~nd It ,:as not the role. the 1ll:I~S were supposed to pby. Wolfgang 
ElI1merlch has summ arized tillS III the followi ng statement: 

"Dic Ar beite rk b sse, di e eigentlich z uni lIeuen 
Ku~tunrager werdcll so llte, vcrhielt s ic h eher 
~lelO bi.i~erl ieh. Man las liehe r Margaret M itchells 
Yom Wmde verwelll ' stall Wi ll i Brcdel... "15 

Willi Bre~e1 st~nds for" Aufbau- und Pmdllktionsliteratur," fo r litera­
tu re deal lllg with everyda.y life in the GDR from a Socialist I'e I· l d. .. ' \. a IS , 
p ropagan IStlC perspective. Jay Rosselini has explained this desire of 

~ast <?erll1a~~ ~ ex.pe~ icnce exotic Ia nd~capes ra ther than bei ng edu­
c.rt~d 111 th~1I lels ule li me as an ex preSS ion o f th eir discornfort with 
d.lelr own life COntexlS.~ Richard Albrecht has viewed th is as see kin g 
distance (r~m. eve.ryday hfe I-:"Ither than its lite J ~lry douhling in contelll ­
po~ry soclahst Iiteraturc ami has observed simii.Jr attitudes for read­
ers 111 the. Fed: ml R: publicY Considering thal most CDR readers 
were reSLnCled III their tmveling, this desire for "Tapclc nwechsel" and 
for .glam~rous or adVentulUlls sets and plots fou nd its expression III 

t1~elr ~holce of texts from WeSlcrn cu ltures, that were physically and 
I lJstorlc~l~y. closer to th eir OWJl than for example the Russian /Soviet 
culture. I lus may accoulll fo r· the Llct "that literary works find ul1ex-



28 Focus on LilemlllY 

peeled readers ill unexpeclCd places at unexpected times,"2S such as 
Monad's novels did. Iler books induce a meillal "dcpayscl1lcllt", a 
change of scenery, where readers can leave their ever-present reality to 

U<l veilO strnnge cOllntries, eras, and worlds. While cspcci:1 ll y Monad's 
Mttlttcerlfl :ulli Le Whisky de In Rei,lc may he read as adve nture lIovcl~ 
;H1d for enlertainmelll only, all of her works evoke foreign laml'icapcs. 
Since publishing hOllses in the GDR were speciali7..ed, their different 
progr:uns created certain expectations. Thereby categorizing Monad's 
novels intO different popular gen res, this may have contributed to find· 
ing their rC OIders :I ud therefore to their success . /\ d oser look :It th e 
novels themselves and their reception in the media wiil illustrate how 
they navigated more or less success fu lly between official expectations 
and the individual reading worlds of East German readers. 

T he publishi ng house Rutten & Loelli ng pub lished Monod's 
first novel Malacerla in 1951.2' Ri.itten & Locning bears the he:tding 
"I lislorischc Romane" in ilS logo and was kno,vn for its editions of 
historical novels :tnd of works o f 19t1l century auLilors, Slid, as Dumas, 
Zob o r Balzac. Just like these. Ma/acerLa and Le W}nsky tie la Reme are 
page-LUrners, entertaining and absorbing; they deal with historic:tl 
evenLS and are written in a t raditional , "non-formalist" style. 

Malacerla provides a Iluxture of adventure, romance, and po­
litical issues. The protagon ist. Claudio Malacerta, comes frolll a noble 
halian family. After exubel'3nt erotic and criminal adventures, he jo ins 
the workers in the Paris June ri alS o f 1848. Whi le at first he does this 
only to please his friend Alexandre, and Marianne, a proletarian girl 
who rejected him, he later becomes an al'delll fighter for workers' rights. 
The 1I 0Vel is inOucnced by c:tnonical French authors: irony alld wi t 
recall Voltaire's Candule, turbulent adventures arc reminisce nt of the 
C lo:t k and Dagger novels by Alex:tn<ire Dumas. T hc syrnbo lism is 
somewhat clumsy and overstated: Marianne. the name of M:llacerta's 
love intc rest, is also the Il:lme of the female symbol for the French 
Republic; Stendhal 's novel The Red and tile Black is evoked by the re­
curring themes of the red and the black. Important el emen LS in the 
novel are its humo r as well :l.S sl:l.pstick situations. While describing:l.1l 
interesting historical background, Malacerta is mostly an entertaini ng 
novel wid I frequem intencxtual references to canonical French litera­
ture. 

In his afterword, Wolfgang Richter emphasizes the historical 

I 

Monod's Novels in the CDR 
29 

and political significance of the book which for the (E'Sl) G i . b .. ' .... erman 
reae er ll\ay ecollle secondary to the entertainmellt: 

Die von d~r ~erfass.crin gewahlte Darstellullgsweise 
hl.llll cs IIlIl su.:1t bnngen. dafi dem dClILSchcn Leser 
d~e B~leutllll,g o:ic~ "fmgwcilc ciner Allspielung auf 
Ilisio n sche Erelgmsse lind GestalLCIl ll ich t ohne 
wei teres verst:lnd lich isl.lO 

Richt~r s~ems to be awa.re of the "faulty," superficial readin g the book 
n~ ay I.ccc ive as an amus lil g C loak alld Dagger novel. I Ie cOlltinucs LO 

1~lgh hght the edu~:tliona l clemem and offers the following instruc­
tions as to how to Interpret the text: 

So WUrdCIl ~I i~ Opfer der Junitage nicht vergcLlich 
gebracht. Mlil loncn Mcnschcn ill aller Well sci1arten 
sich ill den folgenden J .. ho.ehntcn um die Fahnc 
cler Ar~ei.terschaft. I leUle ist es die f.esamte 
fonschntthche und fricdliebcnde Mellschheit die 
gemei l1s~m mit den Arbeitcrn ciner pl"Ofitsud ltigell 
und knegslustcrnen Bourgeoisie den Kampf 
angesagt haLl' 

Supplying the historical and poli tic:l! angle from which t he novel should 
be read, he sh?~s how th e book is supposed to relate to tlt e lives of 
CDR readers. I he polemics and the schoo llllasterl y lOlle of Rielner's 
~fterword see~n. unll ecessa l"Y, considering the contents of Malacerla. 
Even a super~lc l a l readillg cannot miss the clear, almost cl iched stan ce 
the pl"OlagolliSt and the Ilarrator take for the cause o f the workillg 
class. 

Monad's second n ovel, Le Whisky de la Reine, is more clabo­
~tc an.d more seri~us in lone than Ma/acerlA. Ri.iuen & Loening pub­
llshc? It as Der Itrhuky der KOlllgm in 1955,u before Yolk lind Welt re­
published the book as an issue of Romallzeitung in 1956. This series 
featured popu lar fiction (often contelllp0l'3 ry cbssics) in a mOlllhly 
brochure .. Due to ItS low cost and its availabability ,11 newspaper stands, 
~omanzelllmg reached a wide and varied readership. The frivolous 
title of die novel .. nd tile 31 illustrations by Paul Rosie in the Ri.inen & 

28 Focus on LilemlllY 

peeled readers ill unexpeclCd places at unexpected times,"2S such as 
Monad's novels did. Iler books induce a meillal "dcpayscl1lcllt", a 
change of scenery, where readers can leave their ever-present reality to 

U<l veilO strnnge cOllntries, eras, and worlds. While cspcci:1 ll y Monad's 
Mttlttcerlfl :ulli Le Whisky de In Rei,lc may he read as adve nture lIovcl~ 
;H1d for enlertainmelll only, all of her works evoke foreign laml'icapcs. 
Since publishing hOllses in the GDR were speciali7..ed, their different 
progr:uns created certain expectations. Thereby categorizing Monad's 
novels intO different popular gen res, this may have contributed to find· 
ing their rC OIders :I ud therefore to their success . /\ d oser look :It th e 
novels themselves and their reception in the media wiil illustrate how 
they navigated more or less success fu lly between official expectations 
and the individual reading worlds of East German readers. 

T he publishi ng house Rutten & Loelli ng pub lished Monod's 
first novel Malacerla in 1951.2' Ri.itten & Locning bears the he:tding 
"I lislorischc Romane" in ilS logo and was kno,vn for its editions of 
historical novels :tnd of works o f 19t1l century auLilors, Slid, as Dumas, 
Zob o r Balzac. Just like these. Ma/acerLa and Le W}nsky tie la Reme are 
page-LUrners, entertaining and absorbing; they deal with historic:tl 
evenLS and are written in a t raditional , "non-formalist" style. 

Malacerla provides a Iluxture of adventure, romance, and po­
litical issues. The protagon ist. Claudio Malacerta, comes frolll a noble 
halian family. After exubel'3nt erotic and criminal adventures, he jo ins 
the workers in the Paris June ri alS o f 1848. Whi le at first he does this 
only to please his friend Alexandre, and Marianne, a proletarian girl 
who rejected him, he later becomes an al'delll fighter for workers' rights. 
The 1I 0Vel is inOucnced by c:tnonical French authors: irony alld wi t 
recall Voltaire's Candule, turbulent adventures arc reminisce nt of the 
C lo:t k and Dagger novels by Alex:tn<ire Dumas. T hc syrnbo lism is 
somewhat clumsy and overstated: Marianne. the name of M:llacerta's 
love intc rest, is also the Il:lme of the female symbol for the French 
Republic; Stendhal 's novel The Red and tile Black is evoked by the re­
curring themes of the red and the black. Important el emen LS in the 
novel are its humo r as well :l.S sl:l.pstick situations. While describing:l.1l 
interesting historical background, Malacerta is mostly an entertaini ng 
novel wid I frequem intencxtual references to canonical French litera­
ture. 

In his afterword, Wolfgang Richter emphasizes the historical 

I 

Monod's Novels in the CDR 
29 

and political significance of the book which for the (E'Sl) G i . b .. ' .... erman 
reae er ll\ay ecollle secondary to the entertainmellt: 

Die von d~r ~erfass.crin gewahlte Darstellullgsweise 
hl.llll cs IIlIl su.:1t bnngen. dafi dem dClILSchcn Leser 
d~e B~leutllll,g o:ic~ "fmgwcilc ciner Allspielung auf 
Ilisio n sche Erelgmsse lind GestalLCIl ll ich t ohne 
wei teres verst:lnd lich isl.lO 

Richt~r s~ems to be awa.re of the "faulty," superficial readin g the book 
n~ ay I.ccc ive as an amus lil g C loak alld Dagger novel. I Ie cOlltinucs LO 

1~lgh hght the edu~:tliona l clemem and offers the following instruc­
tions as to how to Interpret the text: 

So WUrdCIl ~I i~ Opfer der Junitage nicht vergcLlich 
gebracht. Mlil loncn Mcnschcn ill aller Well sci1arten 
sich ill den folgenden J .. ho.ehntcn um die Fahnc 
cler Ar~ei.terschaft. I leUle ist es die f.esamte 
fonschntthche und fricdliebcnde Mellschheit die 
gemei l1s~m mit den Arbeitcrn ciner pl"Ofitsud ltigell 
und knegslustcrnen Bourgeoisie den Kampf 
angesagt haLl' 

Supplying the historical and poli tic:l! angle from which t he novel should 
be read, he sh?~s how th e book is supposed to relate to tlt e lives of 
CDR readers. I he polemics and the schoo llllasterl y lOlle of Rielner's 
~fterword see~n. unll ecessa l"Y, considering the contents of Malacerla. 
Even a super~lc l a l readillg cannot miss the clear, almost cl iched stan ce 
the pl"OlagolliSt and the Ilarrator take for the cause o f the workillg 
class. 

Monad's second n ovel, Le Whisky de la Reine, is more clabo­
~tc an.d more seri~us in lone than Ma/acerlA. Ri.iuen & Loening pub­
llshc? It as Der Itrhuky der KOlllgm in 1955,u before Yolk lind Welt re­
published the book as an issue of Romallzeitung in 1956. This series 
featured popu lar fiction (often contelllp0l'3 ry cbssics) in a mOlllhly 
brochure .. Due to ItS low cost and its availabability ,11 newspaper stands, 
~omanzelllmg reached a wide and varied readership. The frivolous 
title of die novel .. nd tile 31 illustrations by Paul Rosie in the Ri.inen & 



30 rUCIIS 0" Lilemlllr 

Loelling edition sct the tone fo r a light reading experiencc ;md prcp:l.fC 
for a plOl involvillg popular themes, such as I'Q m an l ic love :Hld fi lm. 
YCl. this Ilovel :-also has a very clear politicalmcssagc. Ocr WhISky der 
Kowgin refers to Q ueen Victoria, who despite the puritan morn Is she 
imposed, was purpo rted to have love affairs and LO drink whisky eve ry 
night. It evokes England at the turn of the century, a stuffy, hypocriti­
cal society in which the prolagonist, smart and beautiful Annabel, 
grows lip. I\s a youn g wom:m , Annabel escapes an :lrrnngcd marriage 
with a llluch o lder ma n by fl eeing to the U nited States. Thel(' she 
works in the film business, which Monod depi cts <15 corrupt and full 
o f cOl1lrnd iclions :tnd antagonisms. Annabel and her husb;uHI Stanley, 
however, make documentaries about the life o f the workers. Although 
fro lll an upper-class background, Annabel surrounds herself with or­
dinary, "real " people, workers and house workers. Reluctalltl y, Stan ley 
leaves to fi ght in the Fi rst World War and is killed when he protests 
against the intervention inl() Soviet Russia. A Il11 abei travels LO Europe 
to find a lit the t ruth 3bollt her Imsb3ud's death . 

Although Stanley d ies, th e book ends 01l :lTl optimistic note as 
Socia list Realist novels do; its endin g could be th e beginning of all­
other novel. A new, socialist, society is anticipated , o f wh ich Stanley 
saw the begi nnings in Russia. The composition of the novel h:l.s been 
compared to C harles Dickens' novels, ano ther "Crit ica l Reali st" 
writer.H Like D ickells', Monad's c har:lcters are either good o r evi l; 
acti on dominates over psychological insight. A ltho ugh a member o f 
the upper class, Annabel is show n as someone who strives fo r peace 
and justice, and in so doing, finds personal happin ess. The author 
denounces capital ism, war and violence, contrasting them with the 
power of love. All th ese elements arc embedded in a h istO rica l and 
cultural background that for East German reade rs meant a dou ble 
"dcpaysement": Through the lells o f a French auth o r, they could jour­
ney to different times, and to rwo attractive foreign count ries, England 
alld the Uni ted St:l.les. 

East German c ri tics belittled the novel as purely ente rt;\i lling 
and o f litt le li tcrary value. The reviewer H .F. fo r example sees artistic 
pl"Oblems YCt ;\dmits tll;\t this 'lit tle novel' boasts an interesting plot, a 
description o f the erJ and of the cilaraclCrs and ironical points that 
mostl y hit the mal·k. The novel "ist fur Leser gceignet, d ie auf n icht. 
allzl.l belastellde Weise gut. umerhalten sein wollcn,"}! wh ich is in it- I 

MOll oc.l's Novels in the G DR 
3 1 

self a ~auto l.ogy. 0 " other reviewcr, Dr. Melics, cmphasizes th at t he 
book IS wnUen III "der geist reichen, sprilz.igen Form ci nes Pariser 
~uleva ,~d~ma~ls'" and rcg.mls the plot as a p rctext fo r fr ivolous SCII ­

llInelll~h~ICs wllh subtle. momls.ls Aga in, rcviewe rs disregardcd tllc 
hum:lI1lSt lc messagc of tillS novel, cert.ainl y because, unlike most CO II­
lempomry GDR ~ilemtll re, it comcs in the disgllise o f a sto ry abou t 
love, adVelltu.I"e, IlJSlory and altractive settings. 

~artllle MO~lOd 's 1I1 0St successful novel Le Nuage (The C loud) 
was publi shed by D lctz under the lide Die Wolke. Bet wee n 1957 and 
1962, the boo~ ~aw 12 p r~ nt i ngs with a total of 136,000 copies . In 1957 
alan:, tI;:ce edItions LOtalJI.lg 15,CXXl copies were sold. D ietz was owned 
by SED . and therefo re edlled the so-called "Klassikcr", Marx, Enge ls, 
an.d Lclllll, a~ well as cloculllell LS and prOlocols o f party congresses. 
D~etz occaSIOna ll y al so pub lished war accounts such as OtIS 
Hl~JmelfaIJrl5kom~ntmdo by EC. Weisko pf. Unlike usual Dietz publi. 
cations, the dust Jacket of DIt! UVo~ke features the capti va tin g photo­
graph ?f th e serene b ce o f;1 Ocalluful youn~ wom:lII . This as well as 
the elll~lIla t ic tide (which commonly associates so meth ing pleasant) 
attraCts Illlmediate attention and poi nts to th e "human" content o f die 
Story. Indeed, this novel is o~ l~lo l:e than politic:ll significance. Here, 
Monod draws on an authe ntiC 1I1cJ(lent: fo llowing tests of the Amen­
~an supe~ H . bomb near the Bikin i atoll in 1954, a J apanese fishing 
Junk navigatm g ~t alm ost a hundred miles fro m the indicated s:tfety 
zone was CO IHamlll aled by the explosion. A ll o f the 23 crew members 
sh o~ed tI~e sy mptoms of exposure to rad ioactive radiation as o bserved 
at HlI'Oshlina Jnd N:tgasah One of them died . Whil c the sa fety zone 
was expanded, the tests cam ill UCci . 

J n M~rtinc MOll od 's novel, it is an Amcrica n yacht wllich wit­
n~ses the t:stll~g: Th~ pn:~tagonist Pall'ieia, the eighteen ye;lr-old daugh­
tel of an o J! mil lIOnaI re, IS IllOst severely affected. While her father is 
busy do ing business, her mother Catherine stays by her bedside. A 
romance develo ps bet ween Cath erine and the doclor who was aboard 
the ~acht. This doctor Vincent Ma lvern had become di sillusioned and 
passive due to his experiences in World War II. When Patricia dies a 

slow and pain ful death, Cat.herine is shaken and decides to mobili ze 
people agai nst nuclear arms. 

. • This ~hort and conci.se, !lovel is preceded by a quote frolll 
Racllle s claSSICal tragedy IpJ)lgellle (1671), and Jea nne Stern has n:. 

30 rUCIIS 0" Lilemlllr 

Loelling edition sct the tone fo r a light reading experiencc ;md prcp:l.fC 
for a plOl involvillg popular themes, such as I'Q m an l ic love :Hld fi lm. 
YCl. this Ilovel :-also has a very clear politicalmcssagc. Ocr WhISky der 
Kowgin refers to Q ueen Victoria, who despite the puritan morn Is she 
imposed, was purpo rted to have love affairs and LO drink whisky eve ry 
night. It evokes England at the turn of the century, a stuffy, hypocriti­
cal society in which the prolagonist, smart and beautiful Annabel, 
grows lip. I\s a youn g wom:m , Annabel escapes an :lrrnngcd marriage 
with a llluch o lder ma n by fl eeing to the U nited States. Thel(' she 
works in the film business, which Monod depi cts <15 corrupt and full 
o f cOl1lrnd iclions :tnd antagonisms. Annabel and her husb;uHI Stanley, 
however, make documentaries about the life o f the workers. Although 
fro lll an upper-class background, Annabel surrounds herself with or­
dinary, "real " people, workers and house workers. Reluctalltl y, Stan ley 
leaves to fi ght in the Fi rst World War and is killed when he protests 
against the intervention inl() Soviet Russia. A Il11 abei travels LO Europe 
to find a lit the t ruth 3bollt her Imsb3ud's death . 

Although Stanley d ies, th e book ends 01l :lTl optimistic note as 
Socia list Realist novels do; its endin g could be th e beginning of all­
other novel. A new, socialist, society is anticipated , o f wh ich Stanley 
saw the begi nnings in Russia. The composition of the novel h:l.s been 
compared to C harles Dickens' novels, ano ther "Crit ica l Reali st" 
writer.H Like D ickells', Monad's c har:lcters are either good o r evi l; 
acti on dominates over psychological insight. A ltho ugh a member o f 
the upper class, Annabel is show n as someone who strives fo r peace 
and justice, and in so doing, finds personal happin ess. The author 
denounces capital ism, war and violence, contrasting them with the 
power of love. All th ese elements arc embedded in a h istO rica l and 
cultural background that for East German reade rs meant a dou ble 
"dcpaysement": Through the lells o f a French auth o r, they could jour­
ney to different times, and to rwo attractive foreign count ries, England 
alld the Uni ted St:l.les. 

East German c ri tics belittled the novel as purely ente rt;\i lling 
and o f litt le li tcrary value. The reviewer H .F. fo r example sees artistic 
pl"Oblems YCt ;\dmits tll;\t this 'lit tle novel' boasts an interesting plot, a 
description o f the erJ and of the cilaraclCrs and ironical points that 
mostl y hit the mal·k. The novel "ist fur Leser gceignet, d ie auf n icht. 
allzl.l belastellde Weise gut. umerhalten sein wollcn,"}! wh ich is in it- I 

MOll oc.l's Novels in the G DR 
3 1 

self a ~auto l.ogy. 0 " other reviewcr, Dr. Melics, cmphasizes th at t he 
book IS wnUen III "der geist reichen, sprilz.igen Form ci nes Pariser 
~uleva ,~d~ma~ls'" and rcg.mls the plot as a p rctext fo r fr ivolous SCII ­

llInelll~h~ICs wllh subtle. momls.ls Aga in, rcviewe rs disregardcd tllc 
hum:lI1lSt lc messagc of tillS novel, cert.ainl y because, unlike most CO II­
lempomry GDR ~ilemtll re, it comcs in the disgllise o f a sto ry abou t 
love, adVelltu.I"e, IlJSlory and altractive settings. 

~artllle MO~lOd 's 1I1 0St successful novel Le Nuage (The C loud) 
was publi shed by D lctz under the lide Die Wolke. Bet wee n 1957 and 
1962, the boo~ ~aw 12 p r~ nt i ngs with a total of 136,000 copies . In 1957 
alan:, tI;:ce edItions LOtalJI.lg 15,CXXl copies were sold. D ietz was owned 
by SED . and therefo re edlled the so-called "Klassikcr", Marx, Enge ls, 
an.d Lclllll, a~ well as cloculllell LS and prOlocols o f party congresses. 
D~etz occaSIOna ll y al so pub lished war accounts such as OtIS 
Hl~JmelfaIJrl5kom~ntmdo by EC. Weisko pf. Unlike usual Dietz publi. 
cations, the dust Jacket of DIt! UVo~ke features the capti va tin g photo­
graph ?f th e serene b ce o f;1 Ocalluful youn~ wom:lII . This as well as 
the elll~lIla t ic tide (which commonly associates so meth ing pleasant) 
attraCts Illlmediate attention and poi nts to th e "human" content o f die 
Story. Indeed, this novel is o~ l~lo l:e than politic:ll significance. Here, 
Monod draws on an authe ntiC 1I1cJ(lent: fo llowing tests of the Amen­
~an supe~ H . bomb near the Bikin i atoll in 1954, a J apanese fishing 
Junk navigatm g ~t alm ost a hundred miles fro m the indicated s:tfety 
zone was CO IHamlll aled by the explosion. A ll o f the 23 crew members 
sh o~ed tI~e sy mptoms of exposure to rad ioactive radiation as o bserved 
at HlI'Oshlina Jnd N:tgasah One of them died . Whil c the sa fety zone 
was expanded, the tests cam ill UCci . 

J n M~rtinc MOll od 's novel, it is an Amcrica n yacht wllich wit­
n~ses the t:stll~g: Th~ pn:~tagonist Pall'ieia, the eighteen ye;lr-old daugh­
tel of an o J! mil lIOnaI re, IS IllOst severely affected. While her father is 
busy do ing business, her mother Catherine stays by her bedside. A 
romance develo ps bet ween Cath erine and the doclor who was aboard 
the ~acht. This doctor Vincent Ma lvern had become di sillusioned and 
passive due to his experiences in World War II. When Patricia dies a 

slow and pain ful death, Cat.herine is shaken and decides to mobili ze 
people agai nst nuclear arms. 

. • This ~hort and conci.se, !lovel is preceded by a quote frolll 
Racllle s claSSICal tragedy IpJ)lgellle (1671), and Jea nne Stern has n:. 



32 rucus 011 Lilemlllr 

marked on t he affi nity La R:lcinc's play without v,iv ing fu rther details. 

In/phigen ic, as in the mythology, IpIJi ge nie is the {hw ghter of th e kin g 

and will be sacrificed to the gods, whereas Patricia, t he daugillcr of t he 

o il ill illi onaire in Die Wolke is sacrificed for political inlcreslS. Just as a 

classical French Lrtlgidw is composed of five :tc lS, the stOry develops in 

fi ve c b:-qJtc rs. The reali stic pial complies with t he pr inciple o f 

"vrnisembhncc" (verisimilitude). Ilowevcf, olher principles such as 

the unity of place, plol and time arc not observed. MOllod :lIsa coun­

teracts th e principle of » bic IISe:lIlCC" (decoru m): nOlonl y docs the dying 

take place all stage in /Jie Wolke, th e details of Pat ricia's painful , excru­

ciati ng deat h arc :It the center of attention for mOSt of the novel. The 

co nniet culminates in t he eatasl l'Ophe, Patricia's death , and a cathanic 

moment in the end , when her mOlher decides to alen people lO the 

dan ~ers of lIuciear wea pons. The novel is writ te n in rigid , malter-of­

bet Ia ngtl:lgc. While t hese char'lclcrislics mily indeed evoke Rilcine's 

dl<l l11il , the dcscriptioll s of Patrici a's dy ing arc rem in iscent of FbubeJ t 's 

Madame 80vnry and DUl11 as' La Dame aux camelias. 

Die U70lke adJresses the danger of a nucie:lr conflict, which 

preoccupied many East Germ:Uls at the time. Monod makes this news 

item a human sto ry by turnin g it imo all indi vidll:l l t ragedy. Selling it 

in the upper-class of American society and making a young woman 

from a privileged background th e victim serves several purposes. O pen­

ing with another instance of "depaysement", th is time by pryi ng into 

a lux urious milieu. a d ream world for readers everyw here, lhe shock 

val ue of t he tragedy is enh anced. Pllt in a seemingly closer cuitu r:.I l 

co ntex t (th all th e lives of Japanese fishermen), the incidellt becomes 

more tangible and mo re sympat hetic. Mo nod educates the reader about 

the event on the Biki lli atoll. The novel conveys th e powerful message 

that a nuclea r war willnol spare anyone. 

In their book rev iews, co ntemporary East Ge rman cri t ics de­

nied th at th e book is a novel (as declared on the cover) and call ed it 

on ly a short novella. Hilde Kahlau for example cri t icized the enter­

ta ini ng element, the fact that it is situated in I li gh society, and that it 

cuds wilh romance. The language is denounced as light-weight :lnd 

CJSlI :1 1. She also sees the book addl·cssing masses of ind ifferclll people 

in capitalistic cOllntries." O ther crilics eOlltend th at th e novel docs 

nOt pretend to be a great wo rk of <In an d see it as literall y tendentious 

pl'Ose. Comparing these evaluations with the number of editions of 

Mona d 's Novels ill the GD R 33 

Die Wolke in th e G DR, I.he di screp<lncy bctween o fri t: ial reviewe rs' 

standards <l nd those of the actual readers is {Illite obvious TI . . I "I 
" " " f . l IS lars I 

cntlCls m 0 the novel implies :l c riticism of its success and th ercb of 

the reade r~ who chose it. While the boo k docs not have the Illa~.ia l 
f? ," an al1 -l~m~ cl a~s ic , it a(~d rcssed the fears and desi res of many at t he 

tlmc aud flcllonallzcd an Important humanistic message. 

Mon?~·.~ last n~vc l , No rmandie-NjemclI was pu bli shed by 

Deutscher Mdll.arverlag III 1962 (1 -15,000 copies), and agai n in 1963 

(num bers lluava dable). Deutscher Militarv .. , I, " I, ·· ," M,"I","" I I 
.. . ... 'n.· ..... l arver agc er 

DD.R, WaS cOl1lrol1ed by the MllllStery of National Defense alld had 

for Its goal n to pro mulgate the military lI"aditions of Lhc proletariate as 

~vel l as lO strengthen the combat power of the armed (ol"Ces and to 

Improvc .. lhe defense prep~rcdnes.s.of th e people."JJ The publ ishin g 

housc PJ. III.ted d~uJllenta l"l CS, politIca l studies and espionage stories as 

well as rI CtlOn :I~lzcd acco~lIts of Wo rld War II. such as I larry Thurk's 

Pearl. J-/trrbor. I hese publicatio ns respomled to the preference o f a pre­

dOl1llllantiy male Il!.ade r.;h~p for suspeJlse ami war accounts. Verb g 

Kullllr llnd FortschnuJ~ pnnted the novel as a licensed edition for the 

reader's club "Book of th e Month " in 1964 (ULizellzausgabe fu r <he 

Leserge meinschaft Buch des Monats") . 

. M~ ftil~e ~onod wrote Nonnmu/ie·Njcmcn after an original fillll 

scnpt by Elsa rnolct, C harles Spaak and Konstantin Simonow. The 

::?vel a ls~ d~lIlati7~ a real evellt. In a brief forewo rd , Monod states: 

E:~·y thJll g 11\ here IS a~so l lllely true alld everything is entirel y l1l:lde 

up. In 1942, Frencl. pilo ts, condemned to id leness by the agreement 

of ~onloi r~.41 deserted .fr~I.~l N orth Africa. jo ining :1 Red Anny squad 

~ fI ght ag~ ll1 st.thc NaZIS. I he novel depicts th e everyday li ves of these 

Pl lo~,lhel r dal ly contacts and the developing friendships wid] Sov iet 

s~ld J ers. as well .as the dcstructio ll , the misery allcithe suffering in­

f1~e tcd UpO.1l orcll.lla? people by the waf. This experience unites the 

ptioLS despite th ell· dlffell!m class backgrounds and natio nal ities. Ilere. 

MOllod takes up a th em e developed in Jean Renoir 's fi lm La Grande 

J/luslOn from 1937, though th is ami-war filmlc<lvcs no doubt th at the 

com rade;ie of the war i.s limited to t hat experience only.u Published 

at ~he height of the Cold War, the novel rciterates a trad itio n of fr iend­

s.lui> bet wcclllh~ Fr~nc h :llld the Sovicts and shows t hem in a positi ve 

hght. ':!onnalld,e-Njemen reconfi rms that tlte Sovict UniOll and by 

ex teJISIOn the other Eastern block coullt ries are equal parlllers in th e 

32 rucus 011 Lilemlllr 

marked on t he affi nity La R:lcinc's play without v,iv ing fu rther details. 

In/phigen ic, as in the mythology, IpIJi ge nie is the {hw ghter of th e kin g 

and will be sacrificed to the gods, whereas Patricia, t he daugillcr of t he 

o il ill illi onaire in Die Wolke is sacrificed for political inlcreslS. Just as a 

classical French Lrtlgidw is composed of five :tc lS, the stOry develops in 

fi ve c b:-qJtc rs. The reali stic pial complies with t he pr inciple o f 

"vrnisembhncc" (verisimilitude). Ilowevcf, olher principles such as 

the unity of place, plol and time arc not observed. MOllod :lIsa coun­

teracts th e principle of » bic IISe:lIlCC" (decoru m): nOlonl y docs the dying 

take place all stage in /Jie Wolke, th e details of Pat ricia's painful , excru­

ciati ng deat h arc :It the center of attention for mOSt of the novel. The 

co nniet culminates in t he eatasl l'Ophe, Patricia's death , and a cathanic 

moment in the end , when her mOlher decides to alen people lO the 

dan ~ers of lIuciear wea pons. The novel is writ te n in rigid , malter-of­

bet Ia ngtl:lgc. While t hese char'lclcrislics mily indeed evoke Rilcine's 

dl<l l11il , the dcscriptioll s of Patrici a's dy ing arc rem in iscent of FbubeJ t 's 

Madame 80vnry and DUl11 as' La Dame aux camelias. 

Die U70lke adJresses the danger of a nucie:lr conflict, which 

preoccupied many East Germ:Uls at the time. Monod makes this news 

item a human sto ry by turnin g it imo all indi vidll:l l t ragedy. Selling it 

in the upper-class of American society and making a young woman 

from a privileged background th e victim serves several purposes. O pen­

ing with another instance of "depaysement", th is time by pryi ng into 

a lux urious milieu. a d ream world for readers everyw here, lhe shock 

val ue of t he tragedy is enh anced. Pllt in a seemingly closer cuitu r:.I l 

co ntex t (th all th e lives of Japanese fishermen), the incidellt becomes 

more tangible and mo re sympat hetic. Mo nod educates the reader about 

the event on the Biki lli atoll. The novel conveys th e powerful message 

that a nuclea r war willnol spare anyone. 

In their book rev iews, co ntemporary East Ge rman cri t ics de­

nied th at th e book is a novel (as declared on the cover) and call ed it 

on ly a short novella. Hilde Kahlau for example cri t icized the enter­

ta ini ng element, the fact that it is situated in I li gh society, and that it 

cuds wilh romance. The language is denounced as light-weight :lnd 

CJSlI :1 1. She also sees the book addl·cssing masses of ind ifferclll people 

in capitalistic cOllntries." O ther crilics eOlltend th at th e novel docs 

nOt pretend to be a great wo rk of <In an d see it as literall y tendentious 

pl'Ose. Comparing these evaluations with the number of editions of 

Mona d 's Novels ill the GD R 33 

Die Wolke in th e G DR, I.he di screp<lncy bctween o fri t: ial reviewe rs' 

standards <l nd those of the actual readers is {Illite obvious TI . . I "I 
" " " f . l IS lars I 

cntlCls m 0 the novel implies :l c riticism of its success and th ercb of 

the reade r~ who chose it. While the boo k docs not have the Illa~.ia l 
f? ," an al1 -l~m~ cl a~s ic , it a(~d rcssed the fears and desi res of many at t he 

tlmc aud flcllonallzcd an Important humanistic message. 

Mon?~·.~ last n~vc l , No rmandie-NjemclI was pu bli shed by 

Deutscher Mdll.arverlag III 1962 (1 -15,000 copies), and agai n in 1963 

(num bers lluava dable). Deutscher Militarv .. , I, " I, ·· ," M,"I","" I I 
.. . ... 'n.· ..... l arver agc er 

DD.R, WaS cOl1lrol1ed by the MllllStery of National Defense alld had 

for Its goal n to pro mulgate the military lI"aditions of Lhc proletariate as 

~vel l as lO strengthen the combat power of the armed (ol"Ces and to 

Improvc .. lhe defense prep~rcdnes.s.of th e people."JJ The publ ishin g 

housc PJ. III.ted d~uJllenta l"l CS, politIca l studies and espionage stories as 

well as rI CtlOn :I~lzcd acco~lIts of Wo rld War II. such as I larry Thurk's 

Pearl. J-/trrbor. I hese publicatio ns respomled to the preference o f a pre­

dOl1llllantiy male Il!.ade r.;h~p for suspeJlse ami war accounts. Verb g 

Kullllr llnd FortschnuJ~ pnnted the novel as a licensed edition for the 

reader's club "Book of th e Month " in 1964 (ULizellzausgabe fu r <he 

Leserge meinschaft Buch des Monats") . 

. M~ ftil~e ~onod wrote Nonnmu/ie·Njcmcn after an original fillll 

scnpt by Elsa rnolct, C harles Spaak and Konstantin Simonow. The 

::?vel a ls~ d~lIlati7~ a real evellt. In a brief forewo rd , Monod states: 

E:~·y thJll g 11\ here IS a~so l lllely true alld everything is entirel y l1l:lde 

up. In 1942, Frencl. pilo ts, condemned to id leness by the agreement 

of ~onloi r~.41 deserted .fr~I.~l N orth Africa. jo ining :1 Red Anny squad 

~ fI ght ag~ ll1 st.thc NaZIS. I he novel depicts th e everyday li ves of these 

Pl lo~,lhel r dal ly contacts and the developing friendships wid] Sov iet 

s~ld J ers. as well .as the dcstructio ll , the misery allcithe suffering in­

f1~e tcd UpO.1l orcll.lla? people by the waf. This experience unites the 

ptioLS despite th ell· dlffell!m class backgrounds and natio nal ities. Ilere. 

MOllod takes up a th em e developed in Jean Renoir 's fi lm La Grande 

J/luslOn from 1937, though th is ami-war filmlc<lvcs no doubt th at the 

com rade;ie of the war i.s limited to t hat experience only.u Published 

at ~he height of the Cold War, the novel rciterates a trad itio n of fr iend­

s.lui> bet wcclllh~ Fr~nc h :llld the Sovicts and shows t hem in a positi ve 

hght. ':!onnalld,e-Njemen reconfi rms that tlte Sovict UniOll and by 

ex teJISIOn the other Eastern block coullt ries are equal parlllers in th e 



34 FOCIIS 011 Lilemllll' 

COl ntnullity o f lIati Ol15. 
Further publications by Monad ill the CD R include transb­

li ons of arliclc5 f ro mlltlm(mile and Les LeUrC$ Frtmrnises: "!eh sah den 
AlOIlltod" in Allfbnll 4/ 1958 and "Wie cine SupcrprodukLion Cl ltstdlt" 
in Das Magawl 3/1961. Das Magnzm also r.1II articles of which the 
original French versions could not be found: wilh Henri Quiquere: 
"Bandilleros, 'loreros ulld cin Stier" (1/1966) and " [dand mil £cballtcn 
F:iusten" (10/1970) as well as the short story "Das J~ lugj'..cl1g aus lon­
don" i ll 1960. Monoc:\ cove red a variety of subjects: political cammcn­
l:lry, cultural reports, t ravel accounts, love stories. Das Magazin was 
one of the most popular maga1..ines in the CDR, fC<lturing high-qual­
ity, entertai nin g, :l11d of len erotic articles, short sto ries, poems, and 
one anistic nude photograph per issue. Monod's appearance in this 
magai';ine indicates that she waS regarded as all author of triviallitcra­
LUre with somc serious ambit ions. The choice of the novels and ar­

ticles publish ed in the CDR indicates th:ll those in charge of book 
production knew their reaclers well. Mo nod's last twO po litical reports 
/sraeilel que je I'al 1)11 and Dellx 011 trois choses que Je sais de "Union 
would nol have appealed to a public exposed to polemics and indoctri­

n;!.tion in their (bi ly Ii ves. 
Martine Monad's success in the CDR is due to a combinatio n 

of elements. As a literary perso na, she was acceptable for leaders and 
for readers alike. The author validated the socialist reality and the offi-
cial politics, and recognized the raison d 'etre of the CDR. More o r less 
ski llfully rooted in the familiar French literary tradition, her novels fit 

the official view tll;!.t Critic;!. l Realism be lhe predecessor of worker's 
literature hut also clllulated popular models. Elemen ts o f Social ist 
Realism fused with adventurous plots in h iSlorical and exot ic cnviron­
ments met the reading prefcrences of East Gcrman reade rs. Bridging 
different traditio ns :'Ind doctri nes :'Ind satisfying a variety o f reading 
ex pectations, Mo nad 's novels t! lIlcred this private sphere o f East Ger- I 
man living, o f which socialist ideals were one com po nenl among oth-
ers. But mOSl imponantly, besides providing adventure and a view of 
othcr worlds that endorsed living in the social ist GDR, Martine 
Monad's was a "humane" voice, imploring a bCllcr fuwre, visualizing 

a world of love and pcace. 

Louisiana Slafe University 

MOIlO<l' s Novels in the CDR 35 

Notes 

I:l·hc l;rench WOld "dcp.lyscmcm " l!leans fil'St or ,lllll lC movc .IW:lY 

rrol~l .one s OWII e~UlI ll y. one's dispbcemcul, but may :11'\0 havc the 
positive connotatlOIlS or "Tapetenwcchsel". 1 :lIn using the lenn to describc 
a S011. of ~pbce warp'". 

lBetwecn 1951 and 1956 lilis office was called 'Ann fiir Liter'alur 
und Vel"iagswesen.' See Ernmeridl, Wolfgang. K/c;IIe Lllemlllrgeschichieder 
DDR. I?anns.tadl: Ludllerhand, 1981. 29. and Wei~eI, Daisy. fjdd lind 
Cegenbdd. Dlc USA m dey lJe/Jetrislik der DDR. Opladen: Leske + B d . I 
1989 23 D· ., S. , U riC I, . ... I.etnc I IInon las Slated that publishers had a certai n freedom 
In thclr chOICes, although the administrat ion had the final say. So< J b 
P "D. W.I· . ,_" aeo S, 
,ctcr. I: e I. 1St ~CIJl 'c { . Del' Verlag Vol k und Wel l WI rd 50 Jahre :111 _ 

CIIl G,:sprach nlll sClIlem Chef Dietrich Si 1I10n." Ber/lller "l.clllillg. 31 M:I I 
1 JU lie 1997: 23. y 

JWoJrgang Enlilielich 1t:1S hinted :11 this crc:uion of the Clnon 
through the market, the mcdia, school curncub, etc. See Emmerich 
Wolfgang. -Hir cine andelc W.lllrnclllJlUng der DDR-LHeratlLf: Nctl~ 
KOlJtcxt~, neue Par;l(ligmen, ci n nC\lcr Kallon." GelSllll/d Mad,,: Writers 
and the Slale.1II /he CDR. Eds. Axel Goodbody and Dennis Tate. Aillstcr­
dam: Rodopt, 1992. 17. 

. ./1 Nt/age (Die Wol ke) was also published in olher socialist 
co.untfl es, such as Czechoslovakia: Monodova, Marline. Mracno. Trans. 
~ I na N:klanova. Pralu : Svouodnc Siovo Mela nt l·ich, 1956. Witll 
II lustral Ions. 

sThe title pl'IYs on t hat of a pepul.!!" film by Je;IIl-Luc GOOa"-l: 
Deux ou troIS choses que ~ sal! d'ell~ (I;'vo or Three Things 1 Know about 
lIer) from 1967. 

'Contacts with the CDR publishers in 1988/89 anJ with thcir 
sucees~ors ill 1997 did 1I0t provide :my more background. With the 
exception of Ma/a~e~ta (tra nsl:ned by Rudolf Schacht) all novels were 
tr.lIlslal~-d by ~.hnsttlle Hoeppner. Since dte focus of this I)aper is not a 
lrans latl~n. cnuqu~, and since I he translations convey Ihe spi rit and eontCIll 
of the o~'I?mals qUIte accurately, I did not investig:llc this aspect any further. 
Por a cnllca] study o n the reprcsentation of war ill the novels of Manine 
Mon~ see rfitw:r, 111,1. Zlt~ Dantellungdes Kru!gt!S 1111 RomallScha/Jeli Wll 

Marlltll! MOll00. Dlplomarbelt, Scktion Romanistik der i lllillboldl­
Univer.;il;lt zu Berlin: Fall 1989. 

, ' Em,l~le.rich has posited this historical I'l.lce fOl writers in French 
soc.l.ety (19)~. 1.llIS long·standillg traditioll points b.Kk to Voluin.:, Madame de 
Stael, a,:ld Em,l~e Zola :u.ld found.a new impctus ill tbe existe ntialist postU1.1lC 
of the engage (colllllllued) wnter. According to Emmerich, writers in the 

34 FOCIIS 011 Lilemllll' 

COl ntnullity o f lIati Ol15. 
Further publications by Monad ill the CD R include transb­

li ons of arliclc5 f ro mlltlm(mile and Les LeUrC$ Frtmrnises: "!eh sah den 
AlOIlltod" in Allfbnll 4/ 1958 and "Wie cine SupcrprodukLion Cl ltstdlt" 
in Das Magawl 3/1961. Das Magnzm also r.1II articles of which the 
original French versions could not be found: wilh Henri Quiquere: 
"Bandilleros, 'loreros ulld cin Stier" (1/1966) and " [dand mil £cballtcn 
F:iusten" (10/1970) as well as the short story "Das J~ lugj'..cl1g aus lon­
don" i ll 1960. Monoc:\ cove red a variety of subjects: political cammcn­
l:lry, cultural reports, t ravel accounts, love stories. Das Magazin was 
one of the most popular maga1..ines in the CDR, fC<lturing high-qual­
ity, entertai nin g, :l11d of len erotic articles, short sto ries, poems, and 
one anistic nude photograph per issue. Monod's appearance in this 
magai';ine indicates that she waS regarded as all author of triviallitcra­
LUre with somc serious ambit ions. The choice of the novels and ar­

ticles publish ed in the CDR indicates th:ll those in charge of book 
production knew their reaclers well. Mo nod's last twO po litical reports 
/sraeilel que je I'al 1)11 and Dellx 011 trois choses que Je sais de "Union 
would nol have appealed to a public exposed to polemics and indoctri­

n;!.tion in their (bi ly Ii ves. 
Martine Monad's success in the CDR is due to a combinatio n 

of elements. As a literary perso na, she was acceptable for leaders and 
for readers alike. The author validated the socialist reality and the offi-
cial politics, and recognized the raison d 'etre of the CDR. More o r less 
ski llfully rooted in the familiar French literary tradition, her novels fit 

the official view tll;!.t Critic;!. l Realism be lhe predecessor of worker's 
literature hut also clllulated popular models. Elemen ts o f Social ist 
Realism fused with adventurous plots in h iSlorical and exot ic cnviron­
ments met the reading prefcrences of East Gcrman reade rs. Bridging 
different traditio ns :'Ind doctri nes :'Ind satisfying a variety o f reading 
ex pectations, Mo nad 's novels t! lIlcred this private sphere o f East Ger- I 
man living, o f which socialist ideals were one com po nenl among oth-
ers. But mOSl imponantly, besides providing adventure and a view of 
othcr worlds that endorsed living in the social ist GDR, Martine 
Monad's was a "humane" voice, imploring a bCllcr fuwre, visualizing 

a world of love and pcace. 

Louisiana Slafe University 

MOIlO<l' s Novels in the CDR 35 

Notes 

I:l·hc l;rench WOld "dcp.lyscmcm " l!leans fil'St or ,lllll lC movc .IW:lY 

rrol~l .one s OWII e~UlI ll y. one's dispbcemcul, but may :11'\0 havc the 
positive connotatlOIlS or "Tapetenwcchsel". 1 :lIn using the lenn to describc 
a S011. of ~pbce warp'". 

lBetwecn 1951 and 1956 lilis office was called 'Ann fiir Liter'alur 
und Vel"iagswesen.' See Ernmeridl, Wolfgang. K/c;IIe Lllemlllrgeschichieder 
DDR. I?anns.tadl: Ludllerhand, 1981. 29. and Wei~eI, Daisy. fjdd lind 
Cegenbdd. Dlc USA m dey lJe/Jetrislik der DDR. Opladen: Leske + B d . I 
1989 23 D· ., S. , U riC I, . ... I.etnc I IInon las Slated that publishers had a certai n freedom 
In thclr chOICes, although the administrat ion had the final say. So< J b 
P "D. W.I· . ,_" aeo S, 
,ctcr. I: e I. 1St ~CIJl 'c { . Del' Verlag Vol k und Wel l WI rd 50 Jahre :111 _ 

CIIl G,:sprach nlll sClIlem Chef Dietrich Si 1I10n." Ber/lller "l.clllillg. 31 M:I I 
1 JU lie 1997: 23. y 

JWoJrgang Enlilielich 1t:1S hinted :11 this crc:uion of the Clnon 
through the market, the mcdia, school curncub, etc. See Emmerich 
Wolfgang. -Hir cine andelc W.lllrnclllJlUng der DDR-LHeratlLf: Nctl~ 
KOlJtcxt~, neue Par;l(ligmen, ci n nC\lcr Kallon." GelSllll/d Mad,,: Writers 
and the Slale.1II /he CDR. Eds. Axel Goodbody and Dennis Tate. Aillstcr­
dam: Rodopt, 1992. 17. 

. ./1 Nt/age (Die Wol ke) was also published in olher socialist 
co.untfl es, such as Czechoslovakia: Monodova, Marline. Mracno. Trans. 
~ I na N:klanova. Pralu : Svouodnc Siovo Mela nt l·ich, 1956. Witll 
II lustral Ions. 

sThe title pl'IYs on t hat of a pepul.!!" film by Je;IIl-Luc GOOa"-l: 
Deux ou troIS choses que ~ sal! d'ell~ (I;'vo or Three Things 1 Know about 
lIer) from 1967. 

'Contacts with the CDR publishers in 1988/89 anJ with thcir 
sucees~ors ill 1997 did 1I0t provide :my more background. With the 
exception of Ma/a~e~ta (tra nsl:ned by Rudolf Schacht) all novels were 
tr.lIlslal~-d by ~.hnsttlle Hoeppner. Since dte focus of this I)aper is not a 
lrans latl~n. cnuqu~, and since I he translations convey Ihe spi rit and eontCIll 
of the o~'I?mals qUIte accurately, I did not investig:llc this aspect any further. 
Por a cnllca] study o n the reprcsentation of war ill the novels of Manine 
Mon~ see rfitw:r, 111,1. Zlt~ Dantellungdes Kru!gt!S 1111 RomallScha/Jeli Wll 

Marlltll! MOll00. Dlplomarbelt, Scktion Romanistik der i lllillboldl­
Univer.;il;lt zu Berlin: Fall 1989. 

, ' Em,l~le.rich has posited this historical I'l.lce fOl writers in French 
soc.l.ety (19)~. 1.llIS long·standillg traditioll points b.Kk to Voluin.:, Madame de 
Stael, a,:ld Em,l~e Zola :u.ld found.a new impctus ill tbe existe ntialist postU1.1lC 
of the engage (colllllllued) wnter. According to Emmerich, writers in the 



36 Poem on Li/emlw' 

CDR were to assume this rule within the "Li l er:l.turgescllsdl:lrL~ I lowcvcr, 
:l.pan from thisofricial doctrine, writers in the CDR did eslalJlislr themselves 
as authorilies, culminaling in their role during the Wcudc 11\ 1989, and 
explicitly at the demonstrntion in Alexanderplatz in Berlin on November 'I. 
1989. Eti:r.abclh Millman has examined this role of writers as "3 rnolllhpiccc 
of the people" on the example of Christa Wolf. Minll1:lIl, Elizabcll r. "Locating 
a Public Sphere: Some Reflections on Writers and OJJenthchkell ill the CDR," 
\l1ome" ;,1 Genna" }'t:arhook 10. Eds. Jeanette Clausen and Sam Friedrichs­
meyer. University of Nebraska Press: Lincoln tJ!. London, 1995. 19-37. 

'Lupcscu, Valentin. "Meinungcn: Irll1l1cr lIlehr FranzoscnUcgreifen ... Q 

Berli"er Zewmg, 6.10. 196 1, 3. 
Jlbid. Sim;e her words arc given as reponed speech, it is ldtil11:ncly 

im possib le 10 ascerta in what she did and d id not say. 
IOStern, Jeanne. ~ncgegnllng mit Martine Monad: NClles J)cllf.sch· 

land. 1.7. 196 1. 
"Dean Reed, an Amcrican singer, was enormously popular in tbe 

EaStern block and in Sou dl America.llesetded in theGDR where he marri(.,<1 
actor Renate Blumc. l ie di(..J under mysterious circumstances in 1989. Reed, 
Dean. Dean Reed em"" ails seine", Leben. All/geschrieben von 1/ans DICIer 
Brauer. Leipz.ig: Edition Peters, 1984. 1 am using dIe comp:lrison widl De~1I1 
Reed only to illustrate this one aspcct. Reed :IS a movie acto! and singer 
naturally achieved :I different kind of popul:trilY, :llso due 10 his friendly, 
relaxed personality and his good looks. 

Illbid. 68/69. 
uThe fell1ini7~'ll ion of the GDR in conln.st to the PRG has been 

:lrticui;ned in seven.1 recent studies, such as Stein, Mary Beth. "The Banana 
and the Trabanl: Representations of the 'Other' in a United Germany." The 
&rlill \Vall. Representatiom and Perspecll'lJeS. Eds. Ernst Schiirer, Manfred 
Keune and Philip Jenkins. New York: Peter Lang, 1996. 333·346. 342. The 
facl lh:n Christa Wolf was one of the most nOled G DR autho rs accepted bOI h 
by t he government and the people as wel1 as :lblOad may also be due to her 
unique perspective asa woman. Mittman has characteri -t.ed her W()rk and Ihal 
of olhers as providing "access to alternative visions for a socielY beyond bodl 
capitalism and patriarchy." (33) Seen in this light, Christa Wolf did wllal E,'lst 
German readers choosing Martine Monad's books did: they did not question 
the idea of socialism itself and did not ovenly oppose t he state, but they did 
dream of olher worlds and of a p lace where the individual call be just ;an 

individual. 
"The criteria for Socialist Realism uSC(1 here a re Ihose layed Out In 

high schooll itcn.ture textbooks rather than the doctriue as it W"J5 discussed 
and altered over lk-cades. 

'SParigger, Marleen and Std Pix!. "Zur Unterhahullgsfullktion VOl! 

Monod's Novels in lhe CDR 37 

Lileralu r. Ocr Zusammenhang VO Il asthetischer T hcoriebildulig und id· I . 
gischen Pramisse n." DDI<·NomalJ 'md Llleralllrge5cJlJcha/t. Ed5~J:S 
lloosgev:;n a,!d Gcrd Labroisse.AUlstc ,~(~~m: Rodopi, 1981. 61·102. 153. 

Lukacs, Gcorg. Rt!alulfl m our lime. London: 1-la'lX!r 'Iorchbooks, 
1964. 

IISee Gerlach, h~gehol'g. 1)cr schwierlgc Tvrucimlt. GcgenwartStleltllmg 
Jlnd ZlIklm!lJerwarlting 1111 DDR-Roman (Koll igstcin/Ts., 1979), 15. 

IIGerlach, t iS. 

l'See Em meric11, 21. \'(ridl all :Innual publication of about 140 million 
books, the GD R was leading in the world besides the Soviet Union and Ja­
pan. 

:ropa rigger, 148. 

. ll lwsscl ini,Jay. "ZU I" FunkliOllsbeslin1ltlung dcs Ilislo .. ischen Romans 
In de .. DDR-Literatur." DJ)N·Romall 'md I.lIcrrrlllrgcsclhcha/t. Eds. Jos 
lloogeveen and Gem Labl"Oisse. Amsterdam: RodoPJ, 1981. 77. 

nVgI. Albrecht, Ricl l ~rd. "Oas Uediil"fnis nac], edlcn GC5c1lic1lten." 
Jahrbllch ZJlr Literalllr in der DDI<. Ikl. 4. Bonn : Bouvier Vcrlag Ilerbci"\ 
Grundlll:lnn, 1985. 191. 

IJM:lcainsh, Noel. ~L i lcrary Reception III Ii'lst :lnd West Germany" 
QJladralll. :-p~il 1984,44.49; 47. Clarke, Mucus. Lebemlallglich. Trans lat~ 
by Karl l lcmnc11, Nachwort Anselm Schlosser. Berlin: Volk lind Welt, 1962. 
At least four printings. 'I~his novel, set in 1827 tells thc story of an English 
nobleman sentenced for hfe and deported to tile pilson colonies in Austn.1' 

• a 
'See Sc111l~id l , Ulric ~ 1. "A bsc1lied vo n der ' Litel'alurgesellschaft'? 

Anmerkungen ZlL emem Begn ff." Text +KrIIlk. Lilcrall/r III der DDN. Ruck. 
blicke. Ed. I lcinz Ludwig Arnold. MiinchelL: edit io n text + kritik 199 1. 45-g , 

lSElI1ll1erich ,49. 
./GRosselini,75. 
l7Albrecht, Richard. ~'Lcsebnd' ODR oderdas Bedii rfnis nach 'cch­

ten GC5chichten': Versllch liber Le.~everllaltc l l, l..ckLijrcilltcressen unci Lese­
erfab rungen in der DOlt." Ccrmanisl/schc MlIlc,{,mgclI. 26/1986. 15-26. n . 

nMaca insh 47. 

nManine Monod. Mdlacerld. Trans!. Dr. Rudolf Schacht. Berlin: 
Runen & Locll ing, ]952. 

.IORichter, Wolfgang. "Nachwort." Ibid. 249. 
'1 Ibid.254. 

JlMo nod, Martine. Dcr Whuky der Kij,llgm. Trans1. Christine 
Hoeppner. Berlin: Riitten & Loelling, 1955. 

JJWurmser, Andre. "Les dons du ciel." 1.J!S Ltum Fr.w(aISl!S. IJ May 
1954. 

"1 I.E Ole Bllchbesl'reclJll1lg, ]/ 1956, J5-36. 

36 Poem on Li/emlw' 

CDR were to assume this rule within the "Li l er:l.turgescllsdl:lrL~ I lowcvcr, 
:l.pan from thisofricial doctrine, writers in the CDR did eslalJlislr themselves 
as authorilies, culminaling in their role during the Wcudc 11\ 1989, and 
explicitly at the demonstrntion in Alexanderplatz in Berlin on November 'I. 
1989. Eti:r.abclh Millman has examined this role of writers as "3 rnolllhpiccc 
of the people" on the example of Christa Wolf. Minll1:lIl, Elizabcll r. "Locating 
a Public Sphere: Some Reflections on Writers and OJJenthchkell ill the CDR," 
\l1ome" ;,1 Genna" }'t:arhook 10. Eds. Jeanette Clausen and Sam Friedrichs­
meyer. University of Nebraska Press: Lincoln tJ!. London, 1995. 19-37. 

'Lupcscu, Valentin. "Meinungcn: Irll1l1cr lIlehr FranzoscnUcgreifen ... Q 

Berli"er Zewmg, 6.10. 196 1, 3. 
Jlbid. Sim;e her words arc given as reponed speech, it is ldtil11:ncly 

im possib le 10 ascerta in what she did and d id not say. 
IOStern, Jeanne. ~ncgegnllng mit Martine Monad: NClles J)cllf.sch· 

land. 1.7. 196 1. 
"Dean Reed, an Amcrican singer, was enormously popular in tbe 

EaStern block and in Sou dl America.llesetded in theGDR where he marri(.,<1 
actor Renate Blumc. l ie di(..J under mysterious circumstances in 1989. Reed, 
Dean. Dean Reed em"" ails seine", Leben. All/geschrieben von 1/ans DICIer 
Brauer. Leipz.ig: Edition Peters, 1984. 1 am using dIe comp:lrison widl De~1I1 
Reed only to illustrate this one aspcct. Reed :IS a movie acto! and singer 
naturally achieved :I different kind of popul:trilY, :llso due 10 his friendly, 
relaxed personality and his good looks. 

Illbid. 68/69. 
uThe fell1ini7~'ll ion of the GDR in conln.st to the PRG has been 

:lrticui;ned in seven.1 recent studies, such as Stein, Mary Beth. "The Banana 
and the Trabanl: Representations of the 'Other' in a United Germany." The 
&rlill \Vall. Representatiom and Perspecll'lJeS. Eds. Ernst Schiirer, Manfred 
Keune and Philip Jenkins. New York: Peter Lang, 1996. 333·346. 342. The 
facl lh:n Christa Wolf was one of the most nOled G DR autho rs accepted bOI h 
by t he government and the people as wel1 as :lblOad may also be due to her 
unique perspective asa woman. Mittman has characteri -t.ed her W()rk and Ihal 
of olhers as providing "access to alternative visions for a socielY beyond bodl 
capitalism and patriarchy." (33) Seen in this light, Christa Wolf did wllal E,'lst 
German readers choosing Martine Monad's books did: they did not question 
the idea of socialism itself and did not ovenly oppose t he state, but they did 
dream of olher worlds and of a p lace where the individual call be just ;an 

individual. 
"The criteria for Socialist Realism uSC(1 here a re Ihose layed Out In 

high schooll itcn.ture textbooks rather than the doctriue as it W"J5 discussed 
and altered over lk-cades. 

'SParigger, Marleen and Std Pix!. "Zur Unterhahullgsfullktion VOl! 

Monod's Novels in lhe CDR 37 

Lileralu r. Ocr Zusammenhang VO Il asthetischer T hcoriebildulig und id· I . 
gischen Pramisse n." DDI<·NomalJ 'md Llleralllrge5cJlJcha/t. Ed5~J:S 
lloosgev:;n a,!d Gcrd Labroisse.AUlstc ,~(~~m: Rodopi, 1981. 61·102. 153. 

Lukacs, Gcorg. Rt!alulfl m our lime. London: 1-la'lX!r 'Iorchbooks, 
1964. 

IISee Gerlach, h~gehol'g. 1)cr schwierlgc Tvrucimlt. GcgenwartStleltllmg 
Jlnd ZlIklm!lJerwarlting 1111 DDR-Roman (Koll igstcin/Ts., 1979), 15. 

IIGerlach, t iS. 

l'See Em meric11, 21. \'(ridl all :Innual publication of about 140 million 
books, the GD R was leading in the world besides the Soviet Union and Ja­
pan. 

:ropa rigger, 148. 

. ll lwsscl ini,Jay. "ZU I" FunkliOllsbeslin1ltlung dcs Ilislo .. ischen Romans 
In de .. DDR-Literatur." DJ)N·Romall 'md I.lIcrrrlllrgcsclhcha/t. Eds. Jos 
lloogeveen and Gem Labl"Oisse. Amsterdam: RodoPJ, 1981. 77. 

nVgI. Albrecht, Ricl l ~rd. "Oas Uediil"fnis nac], edlcn GC5c1lic1lten." 
Jahrbllch ZJlr Literalllr in der DDI<. Ikl. 4. Bonn : Bouvier Vcrlag Ilerbci"\ 
Grundlll:lnn, 1985. 191. 

IJM:lcainsh, Noel. ~L i lcrary Reception III Ii'lst :lnd West Germany" 
QJladralll. :-p~il 1984,44.49; 47. Clarke, Mucus. Lebemlallglich. Trans lat~ 
by Karl l lcmnc11, Nachwort Anselm Schlosser. Berlin: Volk lind Welt, 1962. 
At least four printings. 'I~his novel, set in 1827 tells thc story of an English 
nobleman sentenced for hfe and deported to tile pilson colonies in Austn.1' 

• a 
'See Sc111l~id l , Ulric ~ 1. "A bsc1lied vo n der ' Litel'alurgesellschaft'? 

Anmerkungen ZlL emem Begn ff." Text +KrIIlk. Lilcrall/r III der DDN. Ruck. 
blicke. Ed. I lcinz Ludwig Arnold. MiinchelL: edit io n text + kritik 199 1. 45-g , 

lSElI1ll1erich ,49. 
./GRosselini,75. 
l7Albrecht, Richard. ~'Lcsebnd' ODR oderdas Bedii rfnis nach 'cch­

ten GC5chichten': Versllch liber Le.~everllaltc l l, l..ckLijrcilltcressen unci Lese­
erfab rungen in der DOlt." Ccrmanisl/schc MlIlc,{,mgclI. 26/1986. 15-26. n . 

nMaca insh 47. 

nManine Monod. Mdlacerld. Trans!. Dr. Rudolf Schacht. Berlin: 
Runen & Locll ing, ]952. 

.IORichter, Wolfgang. "Nachwort." Ibid. 249. 
'1 Ibid.254. 

JlMo nod, Martine. Dcr Whuky der Kij,llgm. Trans1. Christine 
Hoeppner. Berlin: Riitten & Loelling, 1955. 

JJWurmser, Andre. "Les dons du ciel." 1.J!S Ltum Fr.w(aISl!S. IJ May 
1954. 

"1 I.E Ole Bllchbesl'reclJll1lg, ]/ 1956, J5-36. 



38 FOCIIS on L i leratllr 

J~Dr. Melies. nBucher kri tisc h gd escn. Zu Mart ine Monods d el" 
Whisk y ocr KOll igi u .~ \VcllfJiihll/:. 43 (1955): 1375·76. 

){'Fl llmericll,2 1. 

l1Kahlau , I li lde. l1uchbespreclmngcn. Die Wolke. Ocr Bibliolhckar 1 
/ 1958.5 1-52. 

" See D ecker, Bern hard I I. wT hc Wall as Seen T hrougll t he Eyes of 
Border Guards: The HordeI' as a Literary 'Io pos within the Framework of 
Socialist Defense Readiness Educat ion ." 'Ihe Berlin wall. Rcpresctl ca,ions 
and Perspectives. Eds. Ernst Schiirer, Manfred Keune and Philip Jenkins. 
New York: Peter bllg, 1996. 119-125. 120. 

J'Kuitur li nd Fon sch rill , fOllnded in 1947, was owned by the 
Germ an-Soviet Friendship Society (G cscllschaft fUr DClilsch-Sowjet isd lC 
Frcundschaft) before it became part of Yolk li nd Weh . See Jacobs. 

4°Transl:uion m ine. I. 

" The 3gn.-clllcnt between Petain and H itler in October 1940. 
U As an interest ing dctail, C harlcs Spaak, co· writer of the script for 

Normalld ie·Nib m!ll, was also t he scriptwriter o f fA G rallde "blsion. 

WQt·ks C ited 

Monod, Martine. ISMe/ tel que je I'ai V II, Paris: Les Editeurs Fran\"ais 
Reunis, 1968. 

---. i.e Nllage. Paris: Les Edileurs fra m;ais Reunis, 1955. 
---. i.e Whiskydela Reillc. Paris: Les Editeurs Fran~a is RCllllis, 1954. 
---. Malacerta. Paris: Les Ed iteurs Fran~ais Rcu nis, 1950. 
- . Normandie·Njemc fI . Paris: Les J1:1itcu rs Fr.m r;ais Rcu nis, 1960 . 
Stendhal [Maric·H enri Beyle]. U! rouge elle noir. Lausanne: l1:1it10 11s 

Renconue, 1968 . 

"Like a Stone Thrown into Water:" The 
Testimony of Magnus Hirschfeld 

David Prickett 

Introduclory Lectu re to "The First Institute for Sexual Science (1 9 19-
1933), " an ex hibit on loan to the Max Kade German Cullll r:'ll CCl1ler, 
University of C incinnati , OH USA, from the Magnlls-Hirschfeld­
Gesellschaft e.Y., Berl in. The exllibit opened at the row s 011 Literalllr 
4L11 Annual German Grad uale Student Conference, O ClOber 15-16, 
1999. 

I t was in 1895 t hat Magnus Hirschfeld , a Jewish med ical doctor ill 
Magdeburg, published the pamphlet Sappho und Sok rales under ;1 

pseudonym. In the preface to a latcr work, Hi rschfeld expbins to the 
reader that he " . .. was moved to write [Sappho lind SokralCs] by the 
suicide of a young officer, Olle of my patients, who shot himself on the 
ni ght he m:t rried, and left me his confession" (Sex xii). j-jirschfeld de· 
scribes Sappho lind Sokra ces as " . . . a stone th row n il1to water which, 
fall ing, sets up waves that go on spreading" (Sex xii). Hi rschfeld's in­
tention was to move homosexual ity from lhe arena of illness to a nattl­
ral cond ition. The wo rk also serves a sociological function as an at­
tempt by H irschfeld to legiti mize homosexuality to the bourgeois so­
ciety at large. In this paper 1 wish to 'lIla IYl.£ one) what Hirschfeld 
meant to achi eve via hi s writings, two) how he presents his theories, 
and th ree) to what extent his arguments were sllccess ful. '10 this end I 
will examine the writings o f some of H irschfeld's contemporaries. 

Redefini n g tlte "Ur:l11 ian " 

H irschfeld founded his research largel y 0 11 the wo rks of Karl 
Heinrich Ulrichs, a German lawye r. Like Hirschfeld , Ulrichs Was 
ho mosexual, and ti le prejudice that he encoulltered led him Lo analyze 
himself, others like him, and their position ill society. In lhe 1860s, 

rY)Clls 011 L ilera /III" Volume 7 (2000) 

38 FOCIIS on L i leratllr 

J~Dr. Melies. nBucher kri tisc h gd escn. Zu Mart ine Monods d el" 
Whisk y ocr KOll igi u .~ \VcllfJiihll/:. 43 (1955): 1375·76. 

){'Fl llmericll,2 1. 

l1Kahlau , I li lde. l1uchbespreclmngcn. Die Wolke. Ocr Bibliolhckar 1 
/ 1958.5 1-52. 

" See D ecker, Bern hard I I. wT hc Wall as Seen T hrougll t he Eyes of 
Border Guards: The HordeI' as a Literary 'Io pos within the Framework of 
Socialist Defense Readiness Educat ion ." 'Ihe Berlin wall. Rcpresctl ca,ions 
and Perspectives. Eds. Ernst Schiirer, Manfred Keune and Philip Jenkins. 
New York: Peter bllg, 1996. 119-125. 120. 

J'Kuitur li nd Fon sch rill , fOllnded in 1947, was owned by the 
Germ an-Soviet Friendship Society (G cscllschaft fUr DClilsch-Sowjet isd lC 
Frcundschaft) before it became part of Yolk li nd Weh . See Jacobs. 

4°Transl:uion m ine. I. 

" The 3gn.-clllcnt between Petain and H itler in October 1940. 
U As an interest ing dctail, C harlcs Spaak, co· writer of the script for 

Normalld ie·Nib m!ll, was also t he scriptwriter o f fA G rallde "blsion. 

WQt·ks C ited 

Monod, Martine. ISMe/ tel que je I'ai V II, Paris: Les Editeurs Fran\"ais 
Reunis, 1968. 

---. i.e Nllage. Paris: Les Edileurs fra m;ais Reunis, 1955. 
---. i.e Whiskydela Reillc. Paris: Les Editeurs Fran~a is RCllllis, 1954. 
---. Malacerta. Paris: Les Ed iteurs Fran~ais Rcu nis, 1950. 
- . Normandie·Njemc fI . Paris: Les J1:1itcu rs Fr.m r;ais Rcu nis, 1960 . 
Stendhal [Maric·H enri Beyle]. U! rouge elle noir. Lausanne: l1:1it10 11s 

Renconue, 1968 . 

"Like a Stone Thrown into Water:" The 
Testimony of Magnus Hirschfeld 

David Prickett 

Introduclory Lectu re to "The First Institute for Sexual Science (1 9 19-
1933), " an ex hibit on loan to the Max Kade German Cullll r:'ll CCl1ler, 
University of C incinnati , OH USA, from the Magnlls-Hirschfeld­
Gesellschaft e.Y., Berl in. The exllibit opened at the row s 011 Literalllr 
4L11 Annual German Grad uale Student Conference, O ClOber 15-16, 
1999. 

I t was in 1895 t hat Magnus Hirschfeld , a Jewish med ical doctor ill 
Magdeburg, published the pamphlet Sappho und Sok rales under ;1 

pseudonym. In the preface to a latcr work, Hi rschfeld expbins to the 
reader that he " . .. was moved to write [Sappho lind SokralCs] by the 
suicide of a young officer, Olle of my patients, who shot himself on the 
ni ght he m:t rried, and left me his confession" (Sex xii). j-jirschfeld de· 
scribes Sappho lind Sokra ces as " . . . a stone th row n il1to water which, 
fall ing, sets up waves that go on spreading" (Sex xii). Hi rschfeld's in­
tention was to move homosexual ity from lhe arena of illness to a nattl­
ral cond ition. The wo rk also serves a sociological function as an at­
tempt by H irschfeld to legiti mize homosexuality to the bourgeois so­
ciety at large. In this paper 1 wish to 'lIla IYl.£ one) what Hirschfeld 
meant to achi eve via hi s writings, two) how he presents his theories, 
and th ree) to what extent his arguments were sllccess ful. '10 this end I 
will examine the writings o f some of H irschfeld's contemporaries. 

Redefini n g tlte "Ur:l11 ian " 

H irschfeld founded his research largel y 0 11 the wo rks of Karl 
Heinrich Ulrichs, a German lawye r. Like Hirschfeld , Ulrichs Was 
ho mosexual, and ti le prejudice that he encoulltered led him Lo analyze 
himself, others like him, and their position ill society. In lhe 1860s, 

rY)Clls 011 L ilera /III" Volume 7 (2000)