Literature of the Working World

This study examines the novel of the working world in the GDR from three prespectives: the characterization of the industrial milieu, the characterization of the laborer, and the concept of social change underlying the interaction between individual and society. The analysis of eight representative novels from the years 1951 to 1973 suggests the role of Socialist Realism as a program and the function of literature within this program. As a turning point in cultural policy from a functional concept of content to a role of mediation between literary production and reception, the «Bitterfeld Weg» provides a test case for the success of the socialist cultural revolution. Finally indicating the nature of the most recent literature of the working world challenges claims to an expanding democratization of the cultural sphere.