{"html":"\t\n\t\u003C!-- Advertisement Script --\u003E\n\t\u003Cscript \u003E\n\t\t\n\t\tvar key = [];\n\t\tvar values = [];\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\tkey.push(\u0022tn_keyword\u0022);\n\t\t\t\tvalues.push(\u0022\u0027germany\u0027\u0022);\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tkey.push(\u0022tn_author\u0022);\n\t\t\t\tvalues.push(\u0022\u0027becca-r\u0027\u0022);\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\u003C\/script\u003E\n\t\t\t\n\t\u003Cdiv class=\u0022postid-273219 scrolltrace textContainer_Truncate\u0022 articlelisttitle=\u0022Christa Wolf\u2019s Life Under Surveillance\u0022 articlelistlinks=\u0022https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/article\/christa-wolfs-life-under-surveillance\/\u0022 article-post-id=\u0022273219\u0022 article-keyword=\u0022\u0027germany\u0027\u0022 article-subject=\u0022\u0027autobiogra\u0027, \u0027covert-ops\u0027, \u0027europe\u0027\u0022 article-authors=\u0022\u0027becca-r\u0027\u0022\u003E\n\t\n\t\t\u003Carticle id=\u0022url-title\u0022\u003E\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\u003Cdiv id=\u0022tn_pixel_273219_1\u0022 style=\u0027height:0px; width:0px;\u0027\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\t\t\t\u003Cdiv id=\u0022tn_pixel_273219_2\u0022 style=\u0027height:0px; width:0px;\u0027\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\u003Cheader class=\u0022article-header\u0022\u003E\t\n\t\u003Cdiv class=\u0022article-header-content\u0022\u003E\t\t\n\t\t\u003Cul class=\u0022article-info\u0022\u003E\u003Cli class=\u0022subcategory\u0022\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/admin-taxonomy\/books-and-the-arts\/\u0022\u003EBooks & the Arts\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli class=\u0022issue\u0022\u003E\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\u003Ca href=\u0022javascript:void(0);\u0022\u003EMarch 19-26, 2018, Issue\u003C\/a\u003E\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\u003C\/li\u003E\u003C\/ul\u003E\u003Ch1 class=\u0022article_title hide\u0022\u003EChrista Wolf\u2019s Life Under Surveillance\u003C\/h1\u003E\u003Ch1 class=\u0022title\u0022\u003EA Day at a Time\u003C\/h1\u003E\u003Ch2 class=\u0027subtitle\u0027\u003EChrista Wolf\u2019s life under surveillance.\u003C\/h2\u003E\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\u003Cdiv class=\u0022byline\u0022\u003E\n\t\t\t\u003Ch2 class=\u0022author_name\u0022\u003EBy \u003Ca class=\u0022author\u0022 href=\u0022https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/authors\/becca-rothfeld\/\u0022\u003EBecca Rothfeld\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/h2\u003E\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\u003Ch4 class=\u0022time is-today article_pub_time\u0022\u003E\n\t\t\t\t\t\tToday 7:00 am\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\u003C\/h4\u003E\n\t\t\t\t\t\u003C\/div\u003E\n\t\t\n\t\t\u003C!--\u003Cul class=\u0022article-share\u0022\u003E\n\t\t\t\u003Cli\u003E\u003Ca class=\u0022social-share fb\u0022 href=\u0022javascript:void(0)\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EFacebook\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\n\t\t\t\u003Cli\u003E\u003Ca class=\u0022social-share tw\u0022 href=\u0022javascript:void(0)\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan\u003ETwitter\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\n\t\t\t\u003Cli\u003E\u003Ca class=\u0022social-share email\u0022 href=\u0022javascript:void(0)\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EEmail\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\n\t\t\t\u003Cli\u003E\u003Ca class=\u0022social-share tn_print\u0022 href=\u0022javascript:void(0)\u0022 onclick=\u0022tn_print_fn()\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EPrint\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\n\t\t\u003C\/ul\u003E--\u003E\n\t\t\n\t\t\u003Cul class=\u0022article-share\u0022\u003E\n\t\t\t\u003Cli\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022javascript:void(0)\u0022 class=\u0022social-share fb\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan\u003Efb\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\n\t\t\t\u003Cli\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022javascript:void(0)\u0022 class=\u0022social-share tw\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan\u003Etw\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\n\t\t\t\u003Cli\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022javascript:void(0)\u0022 class=\u0022social-share mail email\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan\u003Email\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\n\t\t\t\u003Cli\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022javascript:void(0)\u0022 class=\u0022social-share tn_print\u0022 onclick=\u0022tn_print_fn()\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EPrint\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\n\t\t\t\u003Cli\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022javascript:void(0)\u0022 class=\u0022social-share msg\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan\u003Emsg\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\n\t\t\t\u003Cli\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022javascript:void(0)\u0022 class=\u0022social-share wa\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan\u003Ewa\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\n\t\t\t\u003Cli\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022javascript:void(0)\u0022 class=\u0022social-share sms\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan\u003Esms\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\n\t\t\u003C\/ul\u003E\n\t\t\n\t\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003C\/header\u003E\n\n\u003Csection class=\u0022article-body  abody-273219 keep-reading\u0022\u003E\n\t\u003Cdiv class=\u0022article-body-inner\u0022\u003E\n\t\u003Caside class=\u0022left full-width-mobile image wide indent\u0022\u003E\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\u003Ca class=\u0022gallery imgHover\u0022 href=\u0022https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/Christa-Wolf_getty_img.jpg\u0022 title=\u0022Christa Wolf in 1980. (Barbara K\u00f6ppe \/ Getty)\u0022\u003E\u003Cimg src=\u0022https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/Christa-Wolf_getty_img.jpg?scale=896&compress=80\u0022 alt=\u0022Christa-Wolf_getty_img\u0022\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\u003Cp class=\u0022caption\u0022\u003EChrista Wolf in 1980. \u003Cspan class=\u0022credits\u0022\u003E(Barbara K\u00f6ppe \/ Getty)\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\u003C\/aside\u003E\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\u003Cdiv style=\u0022clear:both\u0022\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E \u003Cp\u003EThere are many mechanisms of expression more private than a diary. Thinking is invisible, and talking is impermanent. A diary, however, has public aspirations: All writing is to some degree expectant of an audience. The preface to \u003Cem\u003EOne Day a Year\u003C\/em\u003E, the meticulous yearly record that the East German writer Christa Wolf maintained from 1960 until 2011, concedes this point. At first, Wolf claims that her notes represent \u201cpure, authentic\u201d life with \u201cno artistic intentions.\u201d But only a few lines later, she admits that \u201cthe need to be known, including one\u2019s problematic characteristics, one\u2019s mistakes and flaws, is the basis of all literature and is also one of the motives behind this book.\u201d We amass days, Wolf suggests, in the secret hope that someone else will witness and redeem them. The price we pay for our exhibitionism is a life conducted under observation.\u003Cspan class=\u0022paranum hidden\u0022\u003E1\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Caside class=\u0022ad right most-popular-plus-ad grey_back\u0022\u003E\n\t\t\t\t\u003Cdiv id=\u0022ad-halfpage-273219-0\u0022 class=\u0022sailthru_class_form\u0022\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\t\t\t\t\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.thenation.com\/advertising-policy\u0022 class=\u0022ad-policy\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EAd Policy\u003C\/a\u003E\n\t\t\t\u003C\/aside\u003E\t\t\u003Cscript \u003E\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\tfunction load_article_ads(){\n\t\t\t\tif( jQuery(\u0022#ad-halfpage-273219-0\u0022).is(\u0022:empty\u0022) ){call_ad_new(\u0027halfpage\u0027,\u0027tn_article\u0027,\u0027ad-halfpage-273219-0\u0027,\u0027rectangle_1\u0027,{\u0022tn_author\u0022:\u0022\u0027becca-r\u0027\u0022,\u0022tn_articleid\u0022:273219,\u0022tn_ptype\u0022:\u0022article\u0022,\u0022tn_keyword\u0022:\u0022\u0027germany\u0027\u0022,\u0022tn_subject\u0022:\u0022\u0027autobiogra\u0027, \u0027covert-ops\u0027, \u0027europe\u0027\u0022,\u0022tn_slp\u0022:\u0022\u0022});}\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t}\t\n\t\n\t\t\tjQuery(\u0027#expand-reduce-273219\u0027).click(function(){\n\t\t\t\tif( isMobile.any() ){\n\t\t\t\t\tcall_ad_new(\u0027halfpage\u0027,\u0027tn_article\u0027,\u0027ad-halfpage-273219-0\u0027,\u0027rectangle_1\u0027,{\u0022tn_author\u0022:\u0022\u0027becca-r\u0027\u0022,\u0022tn_articleid\u0022:273219,\u0022tn_ptype\u0022:\u0022article\u0022,\u0022tn_keyword\u0022:\u0022\u0027germany\u0027\u0022,\u0022tn_subject\u0022:\u0022\u0027autobiogra\u0027, \u0027covert-ops\u0027, \u0027europe\u0027\u0022,\u0022tn_slp\u0022:\u0022\u0022});\t\n\t\t\t\t}\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t});\t\n\t\t\u003C\/script\u003E \n\t\t\t\u003Caside class=\u0022left indent indents related-newarticle author-modules book-module\u0022\u003E\t\n\t\t\u003Ch4\u003EReviewed\u003C\/h4\u003E\t\t\n\t\t\t\u003Cdiv class=\u0022newrelated-blocks\u0022\u003E\t\n\t\t\t\t\u003Ch5\u003EOne Day a Year: 2001\u20132011\u003C\/h5\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022author\u0022\u003EBy Christa Wolf; Katy Derbyshire, trans.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022author\u0022\u003E\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.powells.com\/partner\/36604\/biblio\/9780857424273?p_isbn\u0022\u003EBuy this book\u003C\/a\u003E\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\u003C\/p\u003E\t\t\t\u003C\/div\u003E\n\t\t\t\n\t\u003C\/aside\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EOne Day a Year\u003C\/em\u003E was inspired by \u201cOne Day in the World,\u201d a project devised by the socialist-realist writer Maxim Gorky. At the First Congress of Soviet Writers, Gorky proposed that authors from around the world contribute descriptions of an ordinary day, collectively capturing a richly heterogeneous moment in global history. His suggestion resulted in \u003Cem\u003EOne Day in China\u003C\/em\u003E, compiled in 1936, and \u003Cem\u003EOne Day in the World\u003C\/em\u003E, published in Russian in 1937. But Wolf\u2019s take on the project was much more personal. Her efforts chart not many lives at a single moment but a single life at many moments, memorializing not a shared world but a viciously divided country that was, by turns, ferociously nationalistic, war-torn, optimistic, disillusioned, and, finally, uneasily unified. Her chosen day was September 27, and she faithfully observed her annual ritual for more than five decades, mapping her ascent to literary prominence with the 1968 publication of her best-known work, \u003Cem\u003EThe Quest for Christa T.\u003C\/em\u003E, and the 1983 publication of her daring novel-cum-essay \u003Cem\u003ECassandra\u003C\/em\u003E, a feminist reimagining of the story of Helen of Troy that doubled as a critique of East Germany (officially the German Democratic Republic).\u003Cspan class=\u0022paranum hidden\u0022\u003E2\u003C\/span\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThroughout, Wolf\u2019s journals bear moving witness to the personal and political landmarks that constitute the bulk of her life: her struggle to come to terms with communism\u2019s quick devolution; her despair over the gender inequalities that belied the GDR\u2019s promise of egalitarianism; the marriages of her daughters, Annette and Katrin (\u201cTinka\u201d); her tenderness for her husband, Gerhard (\u201cGerd\u201d), who was her most devoted reader and so her harshest critic; and the shocking revelation, in 1993, that she\u2019d served as an informant for the Stasi, the East German secret police, from 1959 to 1962\u2014a collusion that she claimed she\u2019d forgotten or suppressed.\u003Cspan class=\u0022paranum hidden\u0022\u003E3\u003C\/span\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003ELong before the publication of \u003Cem\u003EOne Day a Year\u003C\/em\u003E\u2019s first volume, Wolf predicted that her tendency toward self-observation would warp her private life. \u201cThis entire observed day falls under the Heisenberg uncertainty principle. It is deformed by my constant viewing of it,\u201d she worried as early as the late 1970s. Even in her diaries, Wolf was induced to spy on herself.\u003Cspan class=\u0022paranum hidden\u0022\u003E4\u003C\/span\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022wpsdc-drop-cap\u0022\u003EW\u003C\/span\u003Eolf grew up under surveillance. She was born in 1929, in the then-German city of Landsberg an der Warthe, and her youth was carefully standardized. Her father joined the Nazi Party, and Wolf became a member of the Bund Deutscher M\u00e4del, the League of German Girls, in her early youth. The title of her lightly fictionalized memoir \u003Cem\u003EKindheitsmuster\u003C\/em\u003E (1976) emphasizes the violent regimentation that defined her infancy. \u003Cem\u003EMuster\u003C\/em\u003E means \u201cpattern,\u201d as in the pattern for a dress, a template that prohibits deviation or difference. \u003Cem\u003EKindheitsmuster\u003C\/em\u003E presents just such a model: It describes the brutal homogenization that Germans faced under the Nazis and Wolf\u2019s subsequent struggle to recover the individuality she\u2019d forfeited. \u201cStatistics are too coarse for your purpose,\u201d she writes of herself in the second person. \u201cEven in the face of exact figures, you\u2019d still want more information, and it\u2019s unobtainable in this world.\u201d\u003Cspan class=\u0022paranum hidden\u0022\u003E5\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Caside class=\u0022right hidden-on-mobile most-popular-plus-ad\u0022\u003E\u003Cdiv class=\u0022most-popular hover_b_remove\u0022\u003E\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\u003Ch3\u003EMost Popular\u003C\/h3\u003E\u003Cdiv class=\u0022popular-article\u0022\u003E\u003Ch4\u003E1\u003C\/h4\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/article\/postal-service-workers-are-shouldering-the-burden-for-amazon\/\u0022 onclick=\u0022ga(\u0027send\u0027, \u0027event\u0027, \u0027Most Popular\u0027, \u0027Click Most Popular\u0027, \u0027Postal-Service Workers Are Shouldering the Burden for Amazon\u0027,\u00270\u0027)\u0022\u003EPostal-Service Workers Are Shouldering the Burden for Amazon\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv class=\u0022popular-article\u0022\u003E\u003Ch4\u003E2\u003C\/h4\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/article\/photos-since-standing-rock-56-bills-have-been-introduced-in-30-states-to-restrict-protests\/\u0022 onclick=\u0022ga(\u0027send\u0027, \u0027event\u0027, \u0027Most Popular\u0027, \u0027Click Most Popular\u0027, \u0027PHOTOS: Since Standing Rock, 56 Bills Have Been Introduced in 30 States to Restrict Protests\u0027,\u00270\u0027)\u0022\u003EPHOTOS: Since Standing Rock, 56 Bills Have Been Introduced in 30 States to Restrict Protests\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv class=\u0022popular-article\u0022\u003E\u003Ch4\u003E3\u003C\/h4\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/article\/support-young-people-taking-action-to-end-gun-violence\/\u0022 onclick=\u0022ga(\u0027send\u0027, \u0027event\u0027, \u0027Most Popular\u0027, \u0027Click Most Popular\u0027, \u0027Support Young People Taking Action to End Gun Violence\u0027,\u00270\u0027)\u0022\u003ESupport Young People Taking Action to End Gun Violence\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv class=\u0022popular-article\u0022\u003E\u003Ch4\u003E4\u003C\/h4\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/article\/a-kentucky-district-that-backed-trump-72-23-just-backed-a-democratic-woman-68-32\/\u0022 onclick=\u0022ga(\u0027send\u0027, \u0027event\u0027, \u0027Most Popular\u0027, \u0027Click Most Popular\u0027, \u0027A Kentucky District That Backed Trump 72-23 Just Backed a Democratic Woman 68-32\u0027,\u00270\u0027)\u0022\u003EA Kentucky District That Backed Trump 72-23 Just Backed a Democratic Woman 68-32\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv class=\u0022popular-article\u0022\u003E\u003Ch4\u003E5\u003C\/h4\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/article\/special-investigation-the-dirty-secret-behind-warren-buffetts-billions\/\u0022 onclick=\u0022ga(\u0027send\u0027, \u0027event\u0027, \u0027Most Popular\u0027, \u0027Click Most Popular\u0027, \u0027Special Investigation: The Dirty Secret Behind Warren Buffett\u2019s Billions\u0027,\u00270\u0027)\u0022\u003ESpecial Investigation: The Dirty Secret Behind Warren Buffett\u2019s Billions\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/aside\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThe information that Wolf sought was unavailable in part because Landsberg an der Warthe, the site of her childhood recollections, no longer existed; it had become the Polish city of Gorz\u00f3w Wielkopolski. What remained of Germany was scarcely more recognizable. Wolf and her family fled the Red Army and found themselves in Mecklenburg, a province in what would shortly become East Germany. In \u003Cem\u003EKindheitsmuster\u003C\/em\u003E, the narrator\u2019s daughter recoils from understanding \u201chow one could be there and not there at the same time, the ghastly secret of human beings in this century.\u201d It was a secret that colored much of Wolf\u2019s life as she passed from one authoritarian regime to the next, shuttling from one country to another without ever settling into a more situated self.\u003Cspan class=\u0022paranum hidden\u0022\u003E6\u003C\/span\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EWolf wrote to locate herself more completely, but she rarely succeeded. What emerged instead were ill-fated efforts to extricate a single person from the tangle of an intrusively collective world. \u003Cem\u003EThe Quest for Christa T.\u003C\/em\u003E, an experimental work about the precariousness of identity under fascism, examines Wolf\u2019s desperation to lay claim to the word \u201cI.\u201d The book\u2019s bereaved narrator is devastated by the premature death of Christa T., a character roughly modeled on Wolf\u2019s childhood friend Christa Tabbert. Christa resists posthumous recovery because she failed to recover herself, and the narrator rifles through her friend\u2019s journals and writings to no avail. \u201cAmong her papers are various fragments written in the third person,\u201d the narrator complains. But she sympathizes with Christa\u2019s confusion, in which she recognizes echoes of herself: \u201cI understand the secret of the third person, who is there without being tangible and who, when circumstances favor her, can bring down more reality upon herself than the first person: I.\u201d She continues in a broken staccato, as if gasping or stuttering, \u201cThe difficulty of saying \u2018I.\u2019\u201d\u003Cspan class=\u0022paranum hidden\u0022\u003E7\u003C\/span\u003E\t\t\u003Caside class=\u0022left indent indents current-issue\u0022\u003E\n\t\t\t\u003Ch4\u003ECurrent Issue\u003C\/h4\u003E\u003Cdiv class=\u0022current-blocks\u0022\u003E\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/issue\/march-12-2018-issue\/\u0022 class=\u0022no-target-blank\u0022\u003E\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\u003Cimg src=\u0022https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/cover0312.jpg\u0022 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is_user_logged_in != null ){\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\tmagazine_text_273219 = \u0027\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan id=\u0022\\\u0022\\\\\u0022\\\\\\\\\u0022socialHighlighted\\\\\\\\\u0022\\\\\u0022\\\u0022\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan id=\u0022\\\u0022\\\\\u0022\\\\\\\\\u0022tweetButton\\\\\\\\\u0022\\\\\u0022\\\u0022\u0022 class=\u0022\\\u0022\\\\\u0022\\\\\\\\\u0022socialButtonHighlight\\\\\u0022\\\u0022\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022\\\u0022\\\\\u0022\\\\\\\\\u0022clickheresocial\\\\\\\\\u0022\\\\\u0022\\\u0022\u0022\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E \u003Cspan id=\u0022\\\u0022\\\\\u0022\\\\\\\\\u0022emailButton\\\\\\\\\u0022\\\\\u0022\\\u0022\u0022 class=\u0022\\\u0022\\\\\u0022\\\\\\\\\u0022socialButtonHighlight\\\\\u0022\\\u0022\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022\\\u0022\\\\\u0022\\\\\\\\\u0022clickheresocial\\\\\\\\\u0022\\\\\u0022\\\u0022\u0022\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003EIf you like this article, please give today to help fund \u003Cem\u003EThe Nation\u003C\/em\u003E\u2019s work.\u003C\/p\u003E\u0027;\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tmagazine_button_text_273219 = \u0027\u003Ca href=\u0022javascript:void(0)\u0022\u003E\u003Cinput type=\u0022button\u0022 class=\u0022btn btn_ffcf0d\u0022 name=\u0022submit_sailthru\u0022 value=\u0022Donate\u0022\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u0027;\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tmagazine_button_url_273219 = \u0027https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/email-signup-module-donate\/\u0027;\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tmagazine_button_bg_color_273219 = \u0027#ffcf0d\u0027;\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t}else{\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\tmagazine_text_273219 = \u0027\u003Cp\u003ESubscribe today and Save up to $129.\u003C\/p\u003E\u0027;\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tmagazine_button_text_273219 = \u0027\u003Ca href=\u0022javascript:void(0)\u0022\u003E\u003Cinput type=\u0022button\u0022 class=\u0022btn btn_d41d00\u0022 name=\u0022submit_sailthru\u0022 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input\u0022).css(\u0022background\u0022,magazine_button_bg_color_273219);\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\u003C\/script\u003E\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022wpsdc-drop-cap\u0022\u003EA\u003C\/span\u003E troubling, garbled homage, \u003Cem\u003EThe Quest for Christa T.\u003C\/em\u003E was initially banned in East Germany: The government denounced it as an illicit \u201cattempt to replace Marx with Freud,\u201d but later reluctantly allowed it to be published in a limited edition. Matters intensified beyond endurance for Wolf in the fall of 1976, when the singer Wolf Biermann was expatriated and the Wolfs joined a group of prominent East German writers to pen an open letter opposing his exile. \u201cBearing in mind Marx\u2019s \u003Cem\u003EEighteenth Brumaire\u003C\/em\u003E, according to which the proletarian revolution is constantly self-critical,\u201d it reads, \u201cour socialist state should, in contrast to anachronistic social forms, be able to tolerate such discomfort in a calm contemplative way.\u201d Shortly thereafter, Gerhard was expelled from the Socialist Party. Wolf, who was reprimanded but allowed to remain a member, was compelled to resign from the executive committee of the Writers\u2019 Association.\u003Cspan class=\u0022paranum hidden\u0022\u003E8\u003C\/span\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EIn the aftermath of the incident, Wolf became a symbol of dissent. In the West, she was a hero; in East Germany, she was a threat. Her difficult, theoretical books, more like fictional essays than essayistic fiction, were a formal rebuke to the GDR\u2019s insistence on conformism\u2014and their content was just as disruptive, often explicitly. In \u003Cem\u003ECassandra\u003C\/em\u003E, the book\u2019s namesake and narrator bemoans the \u201clanguage war,\u201d a Trojan campaign that alludes to authoritarian censorship no less than the systematic silencing of women.\u003Cspan class=\u0022paranum hidden\u0022\u003E9\u003C\/span\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EWolf openly criticized the GDR\u2019s sanitized legalese and resented the rampant sexism that the government tolerated and abetted. In \u003Cem\u003EOne Day a Year\u003C\/em\u003E, she complains that she is \u201conce again\u201d the only female speaker at event after event. But despite her typically veiled and occasionally overt criticisms of East German policy, she made no effort to leave the country that so chronically disappointed her. Even when her life there became unbearable, she refused to disavow her socialist convictions, for she remained hopeful that the flawed regime could be salvaged, that true equality would prevail.\u003Cspan class=\u0022paranum hidden\u0022\u003E10\u003C\/span\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EHer loyalty was a feat in the wake of the Biermann affair, when Wolf and her husband were subjected to continuing surveillance. In the 1977 entry for \u003Cem\u003EOne Day a Year\u003C\/em\u003E, Wolf writes of her longing \u201cfor a corner in which they would simply let me live, without suspicion, without revilement, without the compulsion to protect myself constantly from others\u201d\u2014a corner that \u201cdoes not \u003Cem\u003Eexist\u003C\/em\u003E.\u201d She had never been at home in herself, in the \u201cI,\u201d which was infiltrated by totalitarian logic from the first. Now she was no longer at home in her physical house: \u201cThe Berlin apartment has not yet lost its eeriness for me since it was monitored, since they forced their way into it.\u201d\u003Cspan class=\u0022paranum hidden\u0022\u003E11\u003C\/span\u003E\t\t\u003Caside id=\u0022inline_cta_1_module_273219\u0022 class=\u0022inline-cta-1\u0022\u003E\n\t\t\t\u003Cdiv class=\u0022inline-cta-blocks\u0022 id=\u0022inline_cta_273219\u0022\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\t\t\t\u003Cdiv class=\u0022cta\u0022 id=\u0022inline_cta_btn_273219\u0022\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\t\t\u003C\/aside\u003E\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\u003Cscript \u003E\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tvar inline_cta_text_273219            = \u0027\u0027;\n\t\t\tvar inline_cta_button_text_273219     = \u0027\u0027;\n\t\t\tvar inline_cta_url_273219             = \u0027\u0027;\n\t\t\tvar inline_cta_bg_color_273219        = \u0027\u0027;\n\t\t\tvar inline_cta_font_color_273219      = \u0027\u0027;\n\t\t\tvar cta_1_check_273219  = false;  \n\t\t\tvar is_user_logged_in = getCookie(\u0027SESSname\u0027);\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tif( is_user_logged_in != null ){\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\tinline_cta_text_273219 = \u0027\u003Ch4\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ESupport Progressive Journalism\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h4\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIf you like this article, please give today to help fund \u003Cem\u003EThe Nation\u003C\/em\u003E\u2019s work.\u003C\/p\u003E\u0027;\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tinline_cta_font_color_273219 = \u0027#000000\u0027;\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\tinline_cta_button_text_273219 = \u0027\u003Ca href=\u0022javascript:void(0)\u0022\u003E\u003Cinput type=\u0022button\u0022 class=\u0022btn btn_ffcf0d\u0022 name=\u0022submit_sailthru\u0022 value=\u0022Donate\u0022\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u0027;\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\tinline_cta_url_273219 = \u0027https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/inline-module-donate\/\u0027;\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\tinline_cta_bg_color_273219 = \u0027#ffcf0d\u0027;\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t}else{\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\tinline_cta_text_273219 = \u0027\u003Ch4\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ESupport Progressive Journalism\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h4\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIf you like this article, please give today to help fund \u003Cem\u003EThe Nation\u003C\/em\u003E\u2019s work.\u003C\/p\u003E\u0027;\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tinline_cta_font_color_273219 = \u0027#000000\u0027;\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\tinline_cta_button_text_273219 = \u0027\u003Ca href=\u0022javascript:void(0)\u0022\u003E\u003Cinput type=\u0022button\u0022 class=\u0022btn\u0022 name=\u0022submit_sailthru\u0022 value=\u0022Donate\u0022\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u0027;\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\tinline_cta_url_273219 = \u0027https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/inline-module-donate\/\u0027;\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\tinline_cta_bg_color_273219 = \u0027#ffcf0d\u0027;\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\tif( inline_cta_text_273219 !=\u0027\u0027 ){\n\t\t\t\tjQuery(\u0022#inline_cta_273219\u0022).html(inline_cta_text_273219);\n\t\t\t\tcta_1_check_273219 = true;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tif( inline_cta_button_text_273219 !=\u0027\u0027 ){\n\t\t\t\tjQuery(\u0022#inline_cta_btn_273219\u0022).html(inline_cta_button_text_273219);\n\t\t\t\tcta_1_check_273219 = true;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tif( inline_cta_url_273219 !=\u0027\u0027 ){\n\t\t\t\tjQuery(\u0022#inline_cta_btn_273219 a\u0022).attr(\u0022href\u0022,inline_cta_url_273219);\n\t\t\t\tcta_1_check_273219 = true;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tif( inline_cta_bg_color_273219 !=\u0027\u0027 ){\n\t\t\t\tjQuery(\u0022#inline_cta_btn_273219 a input\u0022).css(\u0022background\u0022,inline_cta_bg_color_273219);\n\t\t\t\tcta_1_check_273219 = true;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tif( inline_cta_font_color_273219 !=\u0027\u0027 ){\n\t\t\t\tjQuery(\u0022#inline_cta_btn_273219 a input\u0022).css(\u0022color\u0022,inline_cta_font_color_273219);\n\t\t\t\tcta_1_check_273219 = true;\n\t\t\t}\n\n\t\t\tif( cta_1_check_273219 ){\n\t\t\t\tjQuery(\u0022#inline_cta_1_module_273219\u0022).addClass(\u0022inline-cta-module\u0022);\n\t\t\t}\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\u003C\/script\u003E\n\t\n\u003Cp\u003EWolf continued to work during these years, but many of her texts went unpublished, and she found it more and more difficult to write without anticipating the reaction of the censors. In \u003Cem\u003EWhat Remains\u003C\/em\u003E, a novella that she had written in 1979 but refrained from publishing until 1990, Wolf describes a day under Stasi surveillance. Through her window, she identifies the car where the officers keep tabs on her. She laughs for the benefit of the presumed listener during a phone call with a friend. \u201cBut what if no one was listening in? What if all our hubris and preening were directed at emptiness?\u201d she wonders. She concludes that \u201cit wouldn\u2019t make the slightest difference,\u201d for she has forgotten how to speak without imagining that she is being overheard. \u201cDon\u2019t panic,\u201d the narrator of \u003Cem\u003EWhat Remains\u003C\/em\u003E tells herself. \u201cOne day I will even talk about it in that other language which, as of yet, is in my ear but not on my tongue. Today I knew would still be too soon. But would I know when the time was right? Would I ever find my language?\u201d\u003Cspan class=\u0022paranum hidden\u0022\u003E12\u003C\/span\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022wpsdc-drop-cap\u0022\u003EF\u003C\/span\u003Eor years, Wolf lacked her language and the privacy in which she might have developed it. Instead, she turned to documentation\u2014the language devised for her by her cruelest spectators, the Stasi. \u201cHow does life come about?\u201d begins her preface to \u003Cem\u003EOne Day a Year\u003C\/em\u003E. While we are living, Wolf hypothesizes, we are too absorbed by the experiences of life to witness them. We can reconstruct them afterward, but \u201cwe can never catch [life] in the act.\u201d The stated purpose of Wolf\u2019s yearly record is therefore evidentiary, and Gerd goes so far as to include facsimiles of his wife\u2019s handwritten notes at the end of the most recent volume. These images are proof of the past, additional insurance against forgetfulness. But it\u2019s not clear whether they challenge the official record or internalize it\u2014whether she policed the words she wrote in her journal the way she policed the words she spoke on the phone.\u003Cspan class=\u0022paranum hidden\u0022\u003E13\u003C\/span\u003E\t\u003Caside class=\u0022ad-300\u0022\u003E\n\t\t\u003Cdiv class=\u0022ad full-width-mobile inline_ad_300x250_273219\u0022 id=\u0022inline_ad_300x250_273219\u0022\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\t\u003C\/aside\u003E\n\t\n\t\u003Cscript \u003E\n\t\t\/*\n\t\t * Article Inline Ads Calling\n\t\t *\/\n\t\tfunction inline_ad( articlePostId ){\n\t\t\tif( jQuery(\u0027#inline_ad_300x250_\u0027+articlePostId+\u0027\u0027).is(\u0027:empty\u0027) ){\n\t\t\t\tvar targetingArray              = new Array();\n\t\t\t\ttargetingArray[\u0027tn_author\u0027]     = [\u0027becca-r\u0027];\n\t\t\t\ttargetingArray[\u0027tn_articleid\u0027]  = [273219];\n\t\t\t\ttargetingArray[\u0027tn_ptype\u0027]      = [\u0027article\u0027];\n\t\t\t\ttargetingArray[\u0027tn_keyword\u0027]    = [\u0027germany\u0027];\n\t\t\t\ttargetingArray[\u0027tn_subject\u0027]    = [\u0027autobiogra\u0027, \u0027covert-ops\u0027, \u0027europe\u0027];\n\t\t\t\ttargetingArray[\u0027tn_slp\u0027]        = []; \n\t\t\t\tcall_ad_new(\u0027halfpage250\u0027,\u0027tn_article\u0027,\u0027inline_ad_300x250_\u0027+articlePostId+\u0027\u0027,\u0027rectangle_4\u0027,targetingArray);\t\t\n\t\t\t}\t\t\t\n\t\t} \t\t\n\t\u003C\/script\u003E\n\t\n\u003Cp\u003EIt\u2019s clear enough that documenting can displace doing, and reading \u003Cem\u003EOne Day a Year\u003C\/em\u003E, one can easily get the sense that Wolf lived solely in service to assembling material to write about. What began as evidentiary quickly became distortive, and Wolf often worries that she is sacrificing life to its chronicle. On September 27, 1993, she admits:\u003Cspan class=\u0022paranum hidden\u0022\u003E14\u003C\/span\u003E\n\u003Cblockquote\u003E\u003Cp\u003EI know that at the very moment when I, at eleven in the morning, begin to describe this day, the question will arise as to whether this text will swallow up the day, whether it determines its course, whether the day is lived for the sake of the text and the text is written for the sake of the day. In brief, whether self-observation leads to falsification.\u003Cspan class=\u0022paranum hidden\u0022\u003E15\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EAt times, Wolf openly confesses to having written the book\u2019s various entries whole days or weeks after the 27th. But she usually writes in the present tense, necessarily disingenuously: How can she be eating or cooking or showering if she\u2019s writing? Wolf\u2019s day-to-day life always capitulates to art and artifice. As she explains in an entry about a rainy trip to Bulgaria in 1970, she was \u201csaved\u2026by the idea that I ought to pay close attention to all external conditions, to remember them and note them down\u2026. The only interesting thing in life is writing, I said. Gerd does not like to hear that.\u201d Whatever Gerd would have preferred to hear, the parts of Wolf\u2019s life that did not make it into her writing were negligible to her. \u201cYou forget what you did three days ago if you don\u2019t make an obedient note of it every day,\u201d she wrote in 2005.\u003Cspan class=\u0022paranum hidden\u0022\u003E16\u003C\/span\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EWolf must have had an exceptionally shoddy memory for her own behavior: The most devastating fact of all slipped her recollection for years. In 1993, while perusing the 42 volumes of surveillance files that the Stasi had assembled about her, she discovered a \u201cPerpetrator File\u201d revealing that she had worked as an unofficial collaborator\u2014in Stasi parlance, an \u201cI.M.,\u201d or \u003Cem\u003Einoffizielle Mitarbeiter\u003C\/em\u003E\u2014from 1959 to 1962. Wolf insisted that she had repressed all memory of her complicity. \u201cIt horrifies me that there is a language in these files, a sort of Stasi language, that I myself was speaking, and that I can no longer identify with at all,\u201d she said in a 1993 interview with \u003Cem\u003EThe New York Times\u003C\/em\u003E. Perhaps she forgot about her betrayal because she didn\u2019t write it down. No mention of her activities as an informant appears in \u003Cem\u003EOne Day a Year\u003C\/em\u003E\u2014so Wolf had to learn what she had done from the more thorough recordkeepers.\u003Cspan class=\u0022paranum hidden\u0022\u003E17\u003C\/span\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EBut what she could not redeem politically, even in her writing, she could sometimes salvage interpersonally with family and friends. For all its faults, her life proved rich in love. September 27 is the day before her younger daughter\u2019s birthday, and it always involves careful preparations. The household is forever doting on its tomcat, Maxel, and Wolf and Gerd often enjoy a nap together in the afternoon.\u003Cspan class=\u0022paranum hidden\u0022\u003E18\u003C\/span\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EStill, Wolf hoped to subordinate her life to her writing. Her fiction remained her foremost preoccupation, and she was consistently self-punishing about its quality. In her 1961 entry, she wrote that she had produced a single typewritten page that day\u2014\u201ca meager result, I tell myself almost every day while I walk to the nursery school to pick up Tinka.\u201d In 1976, she opines with breathtaking severity that \u201cwhat I write is\u2026ot very good, I believe.\u201d It was not until the end of her life, when she was recuperating after a 2008 knee surgery, that she found more charitable words for herself. She read her books \u201cas if for the first time, couldn\u2019t remember having written them, and to my amazement I found them \u2018not bad.\u2019\u201d\u003Cspan class=\u0022paranum hidden\u0022\u003E19\u003C\/span\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EHer marriage, at least, was better than \u201cnot bad,\u201d and \u003Cem\u003EOne Day a Year\u003C\/em\u003E is worth reading for its account of Gerd and Wolf\u2019s 51-year conversation alone. The couple never stopped arguing about books, and Wolf always notes what Gerd is reading and what he thinks of it. For his part, Gerd continued commenting on Wolf\u2019s manuscripts for the rest of their days together. In 2005, six years before her death, Wolf became grudgingly sentimental: She stopped Gerd in the kitchen after he served her some homemade soup and said, \u201cShall I tell you something? I love you.\u201d \u201cThe feeling\u2019s mutual\u201d was \u201chis dry response.\u201d In 2010, Wolf wrote with sharp sweetness:\u003Cspan class=\u0022paranum hidden\u0022\u003E20\u003C\/span\u003E\t\t\n\t\t\u003Caside id=\u0022inline_cta_2_module_273219\u0022 class=\u0022inline-cta-2\u0022\u003E\n\t\t\t\u003Cdiv class=\u0022inline-cta-blocks\u0022 id=\u0022inline_cta_2_273219\u0022\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\t\t\t\u003Cdiv class=\u0022cta\u0022 id=\u0022inline_cta_2_btn_273219\u0022\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\t\t\u003C\/aside\u003E\n\t\t\n\t\t\u003Cscript \u003E\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tvar inline_cta_2_text_273219            = \u0027\u0027;\n\t\t\tvar inline_cta_2_button_text_273219     = \u0027\u0027;\n\t\t\tvar inline_cta_2_url_273219             = \u0027\u0027;\n\t\t\tvar inline_cta_2_bg_color_273219        = \u0027\u0027;\n\t\t\tvar inline_cta_2_font_color_273219      = \u0027\u0027;\n\t\t\tvar cta_2_check_273219  = false;  \n\t\t\tvar is_user_logged_in = getCookie(\u0027SESSname\u0027);\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tif( is_user_logged_in != null ){\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\tinline_cta_2_text_273219 = \u0027\u003Ch4\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EGive a gift subscription today!\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h4\u003E\u003Cp\u003EKnow someone who would like \u003Cem\u003EThe Nation\u003C\/em\u003E?\u003C\/p\u003E\u0027;\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tinline_cta_2_font_color_273219 = \u0027#ffffff\u0027;\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\tinline_cta_2_button_text_273219 = \u0027\u003Ca href=\u0022javascript:void(0)\u0022\u003E\u003Cinput type=\u0022button\u0022 class=\u0022btn\u0022 name=\u0022submit_sailthru\u0022 value=\u0022GIVE A GIFT\u0022\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u0027;\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\tinline_cta_2_url_273219 = \u0027https:\/\/ssl.palmcoastd.com\/06601\/apps\/GFTOPTION1LANDING?ikey=I**GF2\u0027;\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\tinline_cta_2_bg_color_273219 = \u0027#cc0e0e\u0027;\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t}else{\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\tinline_cta_2_text_273219 = \u0027\u003Ch4\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ESubscribe to \u003Cem\u003EThe Nation\u003C\/em\u003E\u00a0 for $2 a month.\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h4\u003E\u003Cp\u003EGet unlimited digital access to the best independent news and analysis.\u003C\/p\u003E\u0027;\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tinline_cta_2_font_color_273219 = \u0027#ffffff\u0027;\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\tinline_cta_2_button_text_273219 = \u0027\u003Ca href=\u0022javascript:void(0)\u0022\u003E\u003Cinput type=\u0022button\u0022 class=\u0022btn btn_ffcf0d\u0022 name=\u0022submit_sailthru\u0022 value=\u0022Subscribe\u0022\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u0027;\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\tinline_cta_2_url_273219 = \u0027https:\/\/tna.pcdfusion.com\/pcd\/Order?iKey=I**GAC\u0027;\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\tinline_cta_2_bg_color_273219 = \u0027#cc0e0e\u0027;\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\tif( inline_cta_2_text_273219 !=\u0027\u0027 ){\n\t\t\t\tjQuery(\u0022#inline_cta_2_273219\u0022).html(inline_cta_2_text_273219);\n\t\t\t\tcta_2_check_273219 = true;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tif( inline_cta_2_button_text_273219 !=\u0027\u0027 ){\n\t\t\t\tjQuery(\u0022#inline_cta_2_btn_273219\u0022).html(inline_cta_2_button_text_273219);\n\t\t\t\tcta_2_check_273219 = true;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tif( inline_cta_2_url_273219 !=\u0027\u0027 ){\n\t\t\t\tjQuery(\u0022#inline_cta_2_btn_273219 a\u0022).attr(\u0022href\u0022,inline_cta_2_url_273219);\n\t\t\t\tcta_2_check_273219 = true;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tif( inline_cta_2_bg_color_273219 !=\u0027\u0027 ){\n\t\t\t\tjQuery(\u0022#inline_cta_2_btn_273219 a input\u0022).css(\u0022background\u0022,inline_cta_2_bg_color_273219);\n\t\t\t\tcta_2_check_273219 = true;\n\t\t\t}\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tif( inline_cta_2_font_color_273219 !=\u0027\u0027 ){\n\t\t\t\tjQuery(\u0022#inline_cta_2_btn_273219 a input\u0022).css(\u0022color\u0022,inline_cta_2_font_color_273219);\n\t\t\t\tcta_2_check_273219 = true;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tif( cta_2_check_273219 ){\n\t\t\t\tjQuery(\u0022#inline_cta_2_module_273219\u0022).addClass(\u0022inline-cta-module\u0022);\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\u003C\/script\u003E\n\t\t\n\t\n\u003Cblockquote\u003E\u003Cp\u003EMany times a day I look at Gerd, what he\u2019s doing, his facial expression, his posture, how he says something. The way he brings in a surprising dish for dinner, sometimes triumphant. I listen for the sound of his breathing. I can\u2019t very well wake him to tell him how much I love him.\u003Cspan class=\u0022paranum hidden\u0022\u003E21\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EShe died a little over a year later. In her diaries more than her fiction, Wolf emerges as exquisitely human, exquisitely tentative. She never quite manages to carve herself out from her circumstances, never quite pieces her own motivations together. The last entry of \u003Cem\u003EOne Day a Year\u003C\/em\u003E breaks off in mid-sentence. Like every effort to become an \u201cI,\u201dit remains grossly incomplete.\u003Cspan class=\u0022paranum hidden\u0022\u003E22\u003C\/span\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022wpsdc-drop-cap\u0022\u003EI\u003C\/span\u003En a 1993 article in the \u003Cem\u003EBerliner Zeitung\u003C\/em\u003E, Wolf wrote that she had \u201cabsolutely no hope, in view of the hysteria that is unleashed by the two magical letters I.M.,\u201d that she could explain \u201cthe real relationship of this file to my life. I had to fear being reduced to these two letters.\u201d She faced a perverse punishment\u2014one that committed the crimes she\u2019d committed against her in turn. In her writing, she tried and failed to spare her characters the cruelties of generality, to attest to their absolute specificity. But she received a public shaming that dispensed with nuance in its haste to turn her into an example, an effacement that only reiterated the spirit of her offense.\u003Cspan class=\u0022paranum hidden\u0022\u003E23\u003C\/span\u003E\t\u003Caside class=\u0022left indent indents related-oneup\u0022\u003E\n\t\t\u003Ch4\u003ERelated Article\u003C\/h4\u003E\t\t\n\t\t\u003Cdiv class=\u0022oneup-blocks\u0022\u003E  \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\u003Cdiv class=\u0022oneup-block-img\u0022\u003E\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/article\/feminist-living\/\u0022\u003E\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\u003Cimg src=\u0022https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Lynne-Segal_crop_img.jpg?scale=228&compress=80\u0022 alt=\u0022The Nation\u0022\/\u003E\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\u003C\/a\u003E\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\u003C\/div\u003E\n\t\t\t\t\t\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/article\/feminist-living\/\u0022 class=\u0022related-oneup-click\u0022\u003E\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\u003Ch5\u003EFeminist Living: Lynne Segal\u003C\/h5\u003E\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022author\u0022\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/authors\/charlotte-shane\/\u0022\u003ECharlotte Shane\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\u003C\/div\u003E\n\t\u003C\/aside\u003E\n\t\t\n \n \n \n\u003Cp\u003ESometimes \u003Cem\u003EOne Day a Year\u003C\/em\u003E works against her. It is often curiously impersonal. Wolf listened to the radio obsessively and read multiple daily newspapers, and she includes reliably bleak catalogs of current events in her entries. In 1988, for instance, \u201cin Teltow a new kind of rabbit plague has appeared. One third of the citizens of Schwerin are too heavy. Consumption of alcohol and abuse of medicines are continually increasing.\u201d\u003Cspan class=\u0022paranum hidden\u0022\u003E24\u003C\/span\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EOften, however, Wolf displays a harrowing honesty about her doomed efforts to describe the world as she experienced it, or even to access experiences that truly belong to her. \u201cIt is very difficult, perhaps impossible, to write in a way that in the process you do not think of an audience. That you only write \u2018for yourself.\u2019 That would be the right way to write,\u201d she concluded in 1964. She failed at the task she set for herself, at least by her own lights, for the simple reason that she was too afraid. In the year 1969, she buckled under the pressures of Stasi surveillance and debated whether to ask her therapist, \u201cDo you have something for fear?\u201d\u003Cspan class=\u0022paranum hidden\u0022\u003E25\u003C\/span\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EIn \u003Cem\u003ECassandra\u003C\/em\u003E, Wolf writes from the perspective of the famous prophetess. The myth has it that Cassandra promised to sleep with Apollo in exchange for the gift of foresight. When she failed to uphold her end of the bargain, she was cursed to speak the truth without being believed. For Wolf, Cassandra is indeed prophetic: She is one of the earliest women on record to resist male violence and find herself dually dismissed, first by the violence itself and second by an audience unwilling to believe her testimony. For all her outsize and frequently overblown eloquence, she was relegated to the role of impotent observer. Like Cassandra, Wolf was a consummate watcher; like Cassandra, she was doomed to a borrowed lexicon, one bestowed on her by the very figure she set out to resist. But if Wolf never found a voice that wasn\u2019t secondhand, her writings nonetheless help us to restore her violated life. We can read her journals not as the sum of her worst lapses and most public mistakes, not as a political symbol or a work of history, but as a testament to her haltingly singular self.\u003Cspan class=\u0022paranum hidden\u0022\u003E26\u003C\/span\u003E\n\t\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003C\/section\u003E\n\n\u003Csection class=\u0022aside-wrap\u0022\u003E\u003C\/section\u003E\n\u003Cfooter class=\u0022article-footer narrow new-article-footer\u0022 id=\u0022article-footer-273219\u0022\u003E\n\n\t\u003Cdiv class=\u0022footer-module narrow author-bio\u0022\u003E\n\t\t\n\t\t\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/authors\/becca-rothfeld\/\u0022\u003E Becca Rothfeld\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/span\u003EBecca Rothfeld is a critic living in Somerville, Massachusetts.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\t\t\n\t\u003C\/div\u003E\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\u003Cdiv class=\u0022footer-module narrow contact-us\u0022\u003E\n\t\t\t\t\t\u003Cp\u003E\n\t\t\t\t\t\tTo submit a correction for our 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