Difficult stories: Public discourse and narrative identity in Eastern Germany

✍ Scribed by Gallinat, Anselma

• Book ID: 126618309
• Publisher: Taylor and Francis Group
• Year: 2006
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 440 KB
• Volume: 71
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0014-1844
• DOI: 10.1080/00141840600902695

✦ Synopsis

Whilst former political prisoners of the socialist state are considered to be important witnesses of the past socialist rule by governmental authorities, able to testify about the 'regime', the eastern German public seems rather uninviting to their telling their life-stories. At the interstices of a demand for talking and a refusal of being listened to, the creation of narratives which would serve to portray one's experiences is difficult. Following scholarship, narratives are furthermore intertwined with individual identity. The article explores how in this situation of tension a group of former prisoners work together at constructing metaphors and narrative structures for the telling of individual stories, which will both communicate experiences well to a public, and be flexible enough for habitable individual identities.