We are bisected. Discovering the GDR in West German Literature before 1989

West German literature has turned its back to the existence of the second German state until the 1980s. Only a few years before the fall of the Berlin wall, three writers started to make the GDR a subject of narration or poetry: Botho Strauß, Peter Schneider and Martin Walser. In different ways, yet unanimously, they complain about the division of Germany dealing with its impact on everyday life and private feelings.West German literature has turned its back to the existence of the second German state until the 1980s. Only a few years before the fall of the Berlin wall, three writers started to make the GDR a subject of narration or poetry: Botho Strauß, Peter Schneider and Martin Walser. In different ways, yet unanimously, they complain about the division of Germany dealing with its impact on everyday life and private feelings