Stefan Heym: The Perpetual Dissident

by Peter Hutchinson

Overview

Stefan Heym was Hitler's youngest literary exile. This book, the first full-length study of Heym to appear in English, outlines his exciting career, which culminated in his becoming the major dissident of the German Democratic Republic. It focuses primarily on his journalism and his novels, some of which have been translated into over twenty languages, but also discusses his earliest, almost unknown, poetry and drama. Peter Hutchinson pays special attention to the way in which Heym's defiance of a repressive regime inspired others and paved the way for the new Eastern European literature.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521025645
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	04/20/2006
Series:	Cambridge Studies in German
Edition description:	Revised ed.
Pages:	284
Product dimensions:	5.47(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.63(d)

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments; 1. Introduction; 2. The early years: revolt and exile; 3. First novels: the Nazi enemy; 4. Writing for causes: unpopular political statements; 5. Return to Germany: the struggles of the fifties; 6. The uses of history: methods of the sixties; 7. The uses of literature: Defoe, and the Bible; 8. Centre of controversy again: Honecker's first period; 9. An easier struggle: the eighties; 10. The achievement; Notes; Bibliography; Index.

Editorial Reviews

"This monograph on Stefan Heym's life and work is an important addition to Heym scholarship..." Monatshefte

"Hutchinson's representation of Heym is thorough and well argued. The insights into Heym's fictional works receive substantial support from Heym's own biographical details....Peter Hutchinson is to be commended for his thorough research. In addition to the detailed interpretation of Heym's novels and political activities, Hutchinson provides extensive supplemental materials in his notes and a 21-page bibliography....I would recommend this book to any scholar interested in Stefan Heym or writers living under different German regimes, spanning the period from the Weimar Republic to united Germany." Carol Anne Costabile-Heming

From the Publisher