Music, the GDR military and the GDR today in the works of Walter Flegel
Abstract
This article analyses music in two novels by Walter Flegel from the 1980s set in the GDR army. Flegel shows a diverse range of music involved in the everyday life of the armed forces, and this music exemplifies the way in which characters develop identities in dialogue with both official and popular culture. Classical, folk and rock styles form part of individuals’ self-expression, but also integrate them into the military institution. Flegel’s writing highlights the ongoing importance of socialist realism in the 1980s, and the multiple musical styles he presents offer a model for approaching the late GDR that does justice to the simultaneity and mutual influence that existed between varying and even contradictory styles and movements. This analysis builds on recent trends in GDR studies to rehabilitate socialist realism, while suggesting that official and institutional culture continued to influence individual identities and even popular culture into the late 1980s.
Citation
Smith , T A 2018 , Music, the GDR military and the GDR today in the works of Walter Flegel . in S Ehrig , M Thomas & D Zell (eds) , The GDR Today : New Interdisciplinary Approaches to East German History, Memory and Culture . Studies in Modern German and Austrian Literature , vol. 6 , Peter Lang , Oxford .
Publication
The GDR Today
ISSN
2235-3488Type
Book item
Rights
© 2018 Peter Lang Publishing. This work has been made available online in accordance with the publisher’s policies. This is the author created accepted version manuscript following peer review and as such may differ slightly from the final published version. The final published version of this work is available at https://www.peterlang.com/view/title/62148
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