John Griffith Urang examines the narrative of love as it appeared in East German popular culture. Since East Germany is largely absent from popular culture in the West, this is a compelling premise on two levels. Firstly, it reminds us that East Germany had a popular culture of its own, in contrast to the gray, undefined impression that we may have of the country; and secondly, it reveals that in that culture there was space for the romantic narratives generally associated with freer expression than that granted under communist rule. Urang's range of examples is admirably broad... and his argument, that the romantic discourse was used to negotiate a wide range of issues from within East Germany, including the socialist attitude to labor, and the secret police, is both convincing and compelling. However, his treatment of the individual examples is perhaps the great strength of this book. Particularly fascinating are the magical realist novels of Irmtraud Morgner, whose unfinished Salman trilogy considers multiple permutations of gender and sexuality in a fantastical backdrop, and within the socialist context of the GDR.(PopMatters) This book is important not only for the new perspective it offers (East German socialist society analyzed through its love stories), but also for the clarity of Urang's presentation. Many recent books on the former GDR are dense and nearly unreadable; by contrast, this study is uniformly precise and enlightening... Summing Up: Highly recommended.(Choice)
