Reinig, Christa (Berlin, 1926- ), studied history of art and Christian archaeology in (East) Berlin (1953-7), where she published her first poetry and prose pieces, but as early as 1951 she was banned from publishing in the DDR. In 1963 she obtained permission to travel to West Germany, where her work had appeared, in order to accept the award of the literature prize of the Free City of Bremen. Abandoning her post as a custodian at the (East) Berlin Märkisches Museum, held since 1958, she left the DDR with the intention not to return. In the West she joined for a time a Catholic commission for Bible translations, then turned to full-time writing, eventually settling in Munich. Known for her skill at rhymed verse, she has used a variety of classical forms in order to emphasize the rift between her ideals of a just and humane world, implied in the choice of form, and bitter disillusionment, pervading the ‘inner space’ of her poetry. A master at pointed irony, she objectifies the emotive force of her protest, which she expresses in many variations and in unembroidered language. In her postscript to the edition of her collected poetry, Gesammelte Gedichte (1984 and 1985), she refers to the influence of Rilke's Stunden-Buch while searching for her own style to express the deep scars of the war; ‘ich rufe den menschen, / antworte mir / ich rufe—es schweigt / nichts antwortet mir’ reads the last stanza of ‘Gott schuf die Sonne’. That poem is contained in her first collection, Die Steine von Finisterre (1960), in which the Moritat song ‘Die Ballade vom blutigen Bomme’, the best-known example of her depiction of homeless and socially deprived figures, also appeared. Other volumes include Schwalbe von Olevano (1969), Papantscha—Vielerlei. Exotische Produkte Altindiens (1971), the epigrammatic verse of Müßiggang ist aller Liebe Anfang (1979), and Die Prüfung des Lächlers (1980). In 1968 she received the Hörspielpreis der Kriegsblinden for her radio plays. Her collected stories, Gesammelte Erzählungen, appeared in 1986.

Christa Reinig's autobiographical novel Die himmlische und die irdische Geometrie (1975) consists of episodes and dialogues which, objectifying personal experience, are written in a factual style and with complete disregard of chronology (‘Ich kann meine Geschichten nur so loswerden, daß ich sie objektiviere.’). Both in this novel and in her stories written from the mid-1970s, she explored feminist concerns, which are central to her next novel, Entmannung. Die Geschichte Ottos und seiner vier Frauen (1976). Written with wit and verve, it is one of the best feminist novels of the period, though her satire is also directed against women. This is the subject of her next novel, Die Frau im Brunnen (1984), in which two women representing contrasting attitudes love and torment one another. Following the publication of Gesammelte Erzählungen, she published more collections, including Nobody und andere Geschichten (1989), Glück und Glas (1991), and Ein Wogenzug von wilden Schwänen (1991).

The Oxford Companion to German Literature. Copyright © 1976, 1986, 1997, 2005 by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.