Irmtraud Morgner
Irmtraud Morgner was a notable German author born in Chemnitz, East Germany, whose literary journey was sparked by an early encounter with Goethe's "Faust." After completing her studies at the University of Leipzig, she became an influential figure in East Berlin's literary scene. Initially, her works adhered to socialist realism, but her later novel, "Rumba auf einen Herbst," criticized socialist values, particularly regarding women's self-realization, leading to its publication being blocked. Morgner's significant breakthrough came with the 1974 novel "Leben und Abenteuer der Trobadora Beatriz," which combined history and fantasy, earning her acclaim as a pioneer of feminist literature. Over her career, she faced personal and political challenges, including the discovery of her husband's ties to the Stasi and KGB, which influenced her writing. Despite her Marxist identity, her works were often restricted in East Germany due to their provocative content while gaining popularity in West Germany and beyond. Morgner's contributions earned her several prestigious awards, solidifying her legacy as one of the most distinguished women writers of the twentieth century before her passing in 1990.
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Irmtraud Morgner
Writer
- Born: August 22, 1933
- Birthplace: Chemnitz, Saxony, Germany
- Died: May 6, 1990
- Place of death: Berlin, Germany
Biography
Irmtraud Morgner was born in Chemnitz, Saxony, then part of East Germany. The daughter of a train driver, Morgner grew up in a household without books. A discovery of an old copy of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s Faust at age twelve inspired her literary interests. After graduating from the University of Leipzig in 1956, Morgner moved with her husband, the writer Joachim Schreck, to East Berlin, where she became assistant editor for the journal Neue deutsche Literatur and began her tenure as a colorful and lively presence in city’s literary world. In the next five years, she published three novels that conformed to the tenets of socialist realism, but her novel Rumba auf einen Herbst (rumba for an autumn, written in 1965, published in 1992) was iconoclastic and critical of socialism, especially with reference to women’s self- realization. Permission for publication of the novel was withdrawn and subsequent novels were also subject to obstructions and delays.
Morgner gave birth to a son in 1967, but divorced Schreck in 1970 in order to marry the highly regarded poet Paul Wiens. Because of Wiens’s close ties to established socialist circles, the couple was allowed to publish in the West and to travel widely, including France and the Soviet Union. In 1974, Morgner published her massive novel, Leben und Abenteuer der Trobadora Beatriz nach Zeugnissen ihrer Spielfrau Laura (the life and adventures of trobadora beatrice as chronicled by her minstrel Laura), which incorporated much of the material from the rejected Rumba. A bestseller in both East and West Germany, the novel blended history, fantasy and myth in an exuberant, free-wheeling montage involving a twelfth century female troubadour and a half-witch contemporary trolley car driver. It is with this novel that Morgner earned her reputation as a pioneering figure of the new feminist literature.
Morgner suddenly divorced her husband Paul Wiens in 1977; later, it was revealed that she had discovered her husband was an informant for the Stasi, the state security service, and for the Soviet Union’s equivalent, the KGB. Her next novel,Amanda, which continues the story of Beatrice and Laura, is a darker and more complex novel that continues to criticize socialism and gender inequality, but, referencing Morgner’s marriage to Wiens, also included the theme of betrayal. Morgner began a third novel in this series, but it was never completed due to her untimely death from cancer in 1990. In the years before her death, Morgner traveled to numerous other countries, including West Germany and the United States, where she gave readings at various conferences. In 1987-1988, she was a visiting professor at the University of Zurich.
In 1975, Morgner was given the prestigious Heinrich-Mann Prize, and in 1977, she was appointed to the board of the Writers’ Union. She was awarded the highest state honor, the GDR National Prize for Literature in 1978 and was awarded the Hroswitha von Gandersheim Literary Prize in 1985, making her one of the most honored women writers of the twentieth century. Although she continued to identify herself as a Marxist, her novels were not published in the Soviet Union because of their eroticism; she was also closely monitored by her own country. Her surreal, subversive novels, however, enjoyed a special popularity in West Germany and in Europe.