The works produced in the GDR in the 1950s and 1960s were thus largely conformist “construction” literature espousing a philosophy of history marked by a tiresome optimism, literature lacking formal innovation or critical confrontation with the 20th-century avant-garde, who were largely banned (Franz Kafka, James Joyce, Samuel Beckett, Vladimir Nabokov and many others).

Moreover, the fact that reception of nearly all contemporary currents in philosophy - even the thought of Friedrich Nietzsche - was not permitted in the GDR fostered the development of a climate of intellectual mediocrity and ideological uniformity; the only notable exceptions in the field of literature were the works of Heiner Muller (”Die Lohndrucker”, 1956; “Philoktet”, 1958/64; “Germania Tod in Berlin”, 1956/71; “Hamletmaschine”, 1977; “Der Auftrag”, 1979; “Quartett”, 1980) and Christa Wolf (”Divided Heaven”, 1963; “The Quest for Christa T.”, 1968; “Cassandra”, 1 983). Even in the final stage of the GDR, literary criticism by individuals such as Christoph