[Petrushkaukrop]

This is one of Wolf?s most conventional books. It basically traces a nameless narrator?s reminiscences of a woman named Christa T., who has died, at 35, of leukemia. The way this idea is realized in the novel is hinted at by the title, which would be translated as ?Thinking about Christa T.?. It is a quest to find out about that elusive strange woman who died so early, but not in the way that a quest is supposed to work, hence the inappropriateness of Middleton?s choice for a title. The original title is more to the point: the novel traces the narrator?s process of thought. The novel may, on the surface, be about Christa T., and to a large extent, it is, but on a second, just as important level, it is about the narrator figuring out her world as she tries to make sense of Christa T.?s making sense of it. The most significant factor here is that the narrator has little personal memory of Christa T., so she?s not scouting the dark hallways and alleys of her memory: instead she?s thinking by writing. (...) This novel is a marvel. Read it. Second Thoughts: Christa Wolf’s ?Nachdenken ?ber Christa T.? shigekuni.


THis is one of my favorite novels. It's similar to Bachmann's late prose, only younger, if that makes any sense.