What Remains (novella)
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''What Remains'' (german: Was Bleibt) is a novella written by
Christa Wolf Christa Wolf (; née Ihlenfeld; 18 March 1929 – 1 December 2011) was a German novelist and essayist.
Barbara Gard ...
. It was written in 1979 but was not published until 1990, after the
Berlin Wall The Berlin Wall (german: Berliner Mauer, ) was a guarded concrete barrier that encircled West Berlin from 1961 to 1989, separating it from East Berlin and East Germany (GDR). Construction of the Berlin Wall was commenced by the government ...
fell.


Summary

It is the story of a day in the life of a nameless
East German East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...
woman whose apartment and occupational activity are openly watched by the
Stasi The Ministry for State Security, commonly known as the (),An abbreviation of . was the Intelligence agency, state security service of the East Germany from 1950 to 1990. The Stasi's function was similar to the KGB, serving as a means of maint ...
. The story raises the subject of surveillance, particularly the feeling of paranoia, self-doubt, and the disturbances it causes in everyday life; symptoms of fear and nervousness, such as unrest, sleeplessness, weight-loss, and hair-loss. Her daily routine is shaped around this surveillance. She trusts no one and suspects everyone. No conversation can be held within her apartment without the telephone jack being pulled to prevent calls from having unwanted listeners. Telephone calls are a façade, where only code words and petty banter take place. She becomes obsessed with her observers. Who are they? Who sent them? Do they have normal lives? Are they normal people outside their jobs? As a first-person narrative, the reader is transported into the author's inner monologue and introspection. By the end of the story she is very much influenced by the guests at her manuscript reading, young adults by whom the establishment feels threatened and remove by force. The main character realizes that the youth are watching and writing everything down. There is hope and one day she will be able to speak of this time and her experiences freely. And she realizes that perhaps "they" are right in distrusting her. 1990 German novels Novels set during the Cold War East German novels Novels by Christa Wolf Works about the Stasi {{ColdWar-novel-stub