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Patterns of Childhood (Kindheitsmuster)

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Patterns of Childhood, originally published as Kindheitsmuster in German, is a book written by Christa Wolf and released in 1976 by Aufbau-Verlag. Christa Wolf was a prominent, and controversial, author from East Germany.[1] Although Patterns of Childhood is not an autobiography in the traditional sense, it has parallels with Wolf's own childhood in Nazi Germany. It is set in multiple time periods and locations, with the primary narratives revolving around the author's childhood during Nazi Germany, her return to her hometown as an adult, and her reflections while writing. Patterns explores themes of memory, Nazism, guilt, and more. Though fictional, it provides insight into the upbringings of those who lived under totalitarian regimes, and issues that arise from such a childhood. 

The main settings of the novel relate to major historical events during and following World War II. The sections recounting the earlier parts of her childhood are set in Landsberg Germany, now Gorzów Wielkopolski in Poland.[2] It is also important to note that unlike many works discussing life in the Third Reich, this novel is from the perspective of a fairly average German girl. During the course of the book her family was forced to leave due to the invading Soviet army. After the war, Landsberg became Polish territory as a part of the post World War II Potsdam Conference. The postwar settlement also established the German Democratic Republic in Eastern Germany, where Wolf lived for much of her life. These experiences gave the author direct familiarity with the events that are central to those in Patterns of Childhood. 

Background

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Historical context

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The historical setting for the events that take place in the book are essential to understanding the themes and references in Patterns of Childhood. The narrator’s hometown, referred to as “L,” can be taken to mean the town of Landsberg. After the war, parts of German territory were given to Poland, including Landsberg.[3] This shift in borders explains the changes in street signs, spoken language, and other observations made by the narrator when she returns to her childhood home. This transformation was also influential on the area of Germany where the author later made her home. 

An additional political change that explains aspects of the book is the establishment of the German Democratic Republic after the war. When Germany was divided into parts, with the Allied powers each getting a portion, in the East the Soviet Union established the German Democratic Republic. This state, often referred to as the GDR or East Germany, was built under the banner of socialism.[4] East Germany was restrictive of views that were counter to the regime.[5] This political climate explains some of the controversies that surrounded the release of the book, as well as the criticisms that developed around it. 

Author’s background

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Christa Ihlenfeld, later Christa Wolf, was born in 1929 in Landsberg, Germany. She came from a comfortable middle class background and attended public school.[6] As a young student in the 1930s, she received an education espousing National Socialist ideologies.[7] When the Red Army invaded Germany, she and her family was forced to flee west.[8] Her experience with these events mirror the ones portrayed in the life of the narrator. Wolf is also known for works such as Divided Heaven and Cassandra.[9]

Title & publication history

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English translation

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Since its first English language release, Patterns of Childhood has encountered controversy. When it was first printed in English in 1980 it was titled A Model Childhood. Four years later is was re-released as Patterns of Childhood, which the author said is a more accurate translation of the German title.[10] The idea for the original German title, Kindheitsmuster, came from Wolf’s husband Gerhard.[11] A notable difference between the original German version and the English translation is the significant decrease in length. While they have the same number of chapters, the original German version is 477 pages long, and the English version is only 407. Many authors have discussed the differences and issues with its translation.

One of the criticisms of the English translation is how it has been altered from its original form to suit the literary tastes of the targeted country.[12] Some authors argue that when texts are introduced to an international audience they are changed from their original form and morphed to more closely match the culture and agenda of the publishing company. [13]

Plot

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The three main narratives are: 1) the life of Nelly Jordan, set from 1929-1947 2) the narrator’s perspective visiting her childhood hometown in the 1970s and 3) the narrator working on the book. Despite these different settings, the book is not clearly divided into these timeframes and instead switches back and forth between them.

Despite the fact that the book’s major events closely follow those of Christa Wolf’s life, there is a disclaimer on the first page that goes as follows:

“All characters in this book are the invention of the narrator. None is identical with any person living or dead. Neither do any of the described episodes coincide with actual events. Anyone believing that he detects a similarity between a character in the narrative and either himself or anyone else should consider the strange lack of individuality in the behavior of many contemporaries.”[14]

This choice to not make this novel an autobiography adds further difficulties to interpreting the book, and alludes to the problems with autobiographies of a Nazi past.

Introduction

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From the very first line of the novel Wolf centers on memory. “What is past is not dead, she writes, "it is not even past.”[15] [Das vergangene ist nicht tot; es ist nicht einmal vergangen.]”[16] The introduction includes a reflection by the author on issues of memory and childhood. She also addresses the narration and different voices present in the book. Although the book closely follows the main events in Wolf’s life, she never says “I.” One interpretation of this lack of attributing herself to the story is a desire to distance herself from Nazi Germany or as a response to her own embarrassment for how disconnected she feels from her past. It can also be claimed that the work is more widely associated with a larger audience of others who lived through a similar childhood; instead of saying it was just her life. In the case of subjects like Nazi Germany, recalling one’s past is especially difficult, as is evident from this narrative choice. 

Characters

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Nelly Jordan

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Nelly Jordan is the name of the young girl who grew up during Nazi Germany. Her parents Charlotte and Bruno Jordan, owned their own shop in the town and lived a fairly comfortable lifestyle.[17] In her youth she joined the League of German Girls (Bund Deutscher Mädel). As a young girl, she also experienced the flight of Germans westward following the invasion of the Red Army.[18]

The Narrator & her family

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The narrator, who often refers to herself as “you” in the text [“du” in German] is the other main voice in the novel. Throughout the book, she reflects on the memory process both in the later time when she is writing, as well as when she visits her old hometown. Present in the time when she goes back to her childhood town of “L” are her husband, daughter, and brother. The daughter’s responses often prompt the narrator to reflect on her youth and how it was so unlike what young people of the current day experience. She also contrasts her memories and emotions with that of her younger brother. There are other more minor characters throughout the book, but these are the ones who are most central to the narrator’s life. 

Narration 

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Self and narration

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Because of the obstacles of writing about one’s own childhood, it is important to consider the relationship between the self and narration in this novel. Many authors have written on this relationship in the context of Patterns of Childhood.  Ruth Ginsburg’s In Pursuit of Self: Theme, Narration, and Focalization in Christa Wolf's "Patterns of Childhood" argues that there is a contradiction between the author trying to understand herself through her past and the fundamental nature of memory. She says that this is a paradox because “revealing the past prevents integration of the self.”[19] She also criticizes the narrative choice of the author to not directly refer to herself by using “I.” Authors such as Robert Shirer have also argued that novels such as this are a way to discover and explore the self.[20]

The split narrators and timelines that are interwoven in the novel can be interpreted as a representation of an internal conversation of the author with herself.[21] This dialogue is evident in the conflict between the later narrator’s memory of her youth, and her many “you” statements. This discourse between the different “selves” of the narrator allows her to confront her internalized contradictions and dissonances in the pursuit of a unified and whole self.[22] This personally directed conversational aspect of the novel explains a function that transcends just a narrative choice. By confronting the more difficult and obscured parts of herself, the narrator can come to terms with her difficult past. This internal dialogue is an explanation for the choice of different narrator’s in Patterns of Childhood.

Time

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The novel does not follow a linear schema that tracks the life of the protagonist chronologically, but instead often jumps back and forth. This interweaving of time can be interpreted as an allusion to the complicated and murky nature of memory, or a stylistic choice by the author. This back and forth narrative also reveals the inner thoughts of the author and allows her to reflect on the past while still portraying different points of view. 

Themes

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Memory

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From the outset of the book, the author acknowledges the problems of memory. Due to the narrator’s childhood growing up under the Nazi regime, she has some repressed feelings of regret and guilt that obfuscate memory of her youth. The narrator argues that many adults suppress their memories because recognizing their actions causes too much turmoil.[23] Remembering a normal childhood is difficult for the simple fact that we forget over time, but when memory is shadowed by painful and violent events it is obscured even further. The element of morality and culpability makes the memories of those who lived through the Nazi state more difficult to parse.

One of the central narratives of the book that reveals a problem with memory is the narrator’s return to her hometown. When she returns to the town in her adult years, visiting different parts of the area causes her to remember events and emotions from her childhood.[24]  One dichotomy that authors have invoked to describe themes of memory is “Heimat [home/land] and Heimweh [homesickness].”[25] The rhetoric of the homeland was one that was widely invoked by the Nazis to justify policies such as annexation of land. After the war this became highly problematic. Some authors argue that this troubled relationship with the homeland because of Nazism caused the author to repress her positive memories towards her childhood home.[26] The narrator also reflects on this political element that influenced how she felt towards her homeland.

Self & the Other

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Throughout Patterns of Childhood the author uses personal pronouns such as “you” “them” and “it” directed at an unclear subject. One interpretation of these conversations is how they are directed at the “other.”[27] This dialogue was also often invoked when discussing the holocaust and guilt that arises from such memories. Subjects outside of the author took the form of other Germans of the author’s generation, for example when discussing the ability of her peers to confront their memories of the war.[28] This interrogation of groups and historical subjects that are separate from the author pose a way to understand the self.[29] By understanding her peers and how she feels separate from those who shared her experiences, the author can more closely identify with herself. This process of alienation and discovery is present throughout the book. 

Communism

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Flag of the German Democratic Republic

Although Wolf does not reflect at length upon the topic of communism in this book, her childhood is often discussed in context of her later support of communism. She outlined the journey to communism that was driven by her, and her peers, experience with the Nazis and holocaust when she said that her “generation came to socialism via Auschwitz.”[30] Some argue that this embracing of socialism came as a response to the guilt of the generation of Germans who lived through the Third Reich.[31] The details of her childhood, and adult reflections, on guilt demonstrate how deeply ingrained emotions can drive individuals to ascribe to an entirely different political worldview than the one they were raised in.

Interpretations, responses, & controversies 

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Much of the initial reception to Patterns of Childhood focused on the political ramifications of her works.[32] It also holds an important position among postwar and German Democratic literature.

Controversies

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In the 1990s, controversy developed around Wolf and her work following news that she was a Stasi informant in the 1950s and ‘60s.[33] Previously sealed files revealed that from 1959 to 1962 she had collected and reported information on other authors.[34] She later said that she had completely forgotten about her involvement, explaining it as a repressed memory.[35] This demonstrates an additional aspect to the role of repressed memories that is a recurring theme throughout Patterns of Childhood.

Socialist Realism 

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Wolf’s works are a part of the historical and literary development of socialist realism. Socialist realism was formulated in the 1930s in the Soviet Union as a socialist lens of analysis.[36] The socialist administration of the German Democratic Republic, where Wolf wrote and published many of her works, incorporated this genre in order to advance their socialist regime in the artistic realms of life.[37] In the 1980s this form of analysis was applied to her works as a way of understanding reality and literature according to a particular world view. Although Patterns does not focus on socialist interpretations, it is a part of this genre of literature. 

Morality

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Patterns of Childhood can also be interpreted in relation to how it explores morality and culpability. Authors have argued that Wolf’s works seek to lay out frameworks of interpretation and ways of life.[38]  She has also been praised for how Patterns of Childhood sought to relate war memory to politics of the day. But conversely, she was criticized for what some describe as a disconnect between herself and the events that took place during Nazi Germany.[39] The reflections in this novel on how her generation remembers their responsibility and actions as children during the Holocaust demonstrate how people like herself grappled with this moral dilemma. 

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  1. Christa Wolf, Nachdenken über Christa T. 
  2. Jana Simon, Sei dennoch unverzagt; Gespräche mit meinen Großeltern Christa und Gerhard Wolf

References

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  1. ^ Margit Resch, Understanding Christa Wolf: Returning Home to a Foreign Land (Columbia, S.C: University of South Carolina Press, 1997), 4. 
  2. ^ SPIEGEL ONLINE Germany Hamburg, “East Germany’s Most Famous Writer: Acclaimed Author Christa Wolf Dies at 82 - SPIEGEL ONLINE - International,” SPIEGEL ONLINE, accessed April 11, 2017, http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/east-germany-s-most-famous-writer-acclaimed-author-christa-wolf-dies-at-82-a-801150.html.    
  3. ^ John Graham Royde-Smith, “World War II,” Encyclopedia Britannica, February 3, 2017. https://www.britannica.com/event/World-War-II    
  4. ^ Christiane Lemke, “German Democratic Republic,” The Oxford Companion to Politics of the World (2 ed.), http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195117394.001.0001/acref-9780195117394-e-0280.
  5. ^ Margit Resch, Understanding Christa Wolf: Returning Home to a Foreign Land, Understanding Modern European and Latin American Literature (Columbia, S.C: University of South Carolina Press, 1997), 18.    
  6. ^ Resch, Understanding Christa Wolf, 23-25. 
  7. ^ Ibid, 24. 
  8. ^ Ibid.
  9. ^ Ibid.
  10. ^ Christa Wolf, Patterns of Childhood: (Formerly A Model Childhood) (New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 1984).    
  11. ^ Wolf, Patterns of Childhood, 36. 
  12. ^ “Patterns of Authorship: The Translation of Christa Wolf’s Kindheitsmuster,” German Life and Letters 67, no. 3 (July 2014): 380.
  13. ^ “Patterns of Authorship: The Translation of Christa Wolf’s Kindheitsmuster,” German Life and Letters 67, no. 3 (July 2014): 380.    
  14. ^ Wolf, Patterns of Childhood.    
  15. ^ Wolf, Patterns of Childhood, 1.
  16. ^ Christa Wolf, Kindheitsmuster, 2. Aufl (Darmstadt: Luchterhand, 1977).    
  17. ^ Wolf, Patterns of Childhood, 35.    
  18. ^ Ibid. 
  19. ^ Ruth Ginsburg, “In Pursuit of Self: Theme, Narration, and Focalization in Christa Wolf’s ‘Patterns of Childhood,’” Style 26, no. 3 (1992): 437–46.
  20. ^ Robert K. Shirer, Difficulties of saying “I”: The Narrator as Protagonist in Christa Wolf’s Kindheitsmuster and Uwe Johnson’s Jahrestage, Germanic Studies in America, no. 57 (New York: P. Lang, 1988).
  21. ^ Michael Jopling, Re-Placing the Self: Fictional and Autobiographical Interplay in Modern German Narrative (Elias Canetti, Thomas Bernhard, Peter Weiss, Christa Wolf), Stuttgarter Arbeiten Zur Germanistik, Nr. 381 (Stuttgart: Verlag Hans-Dieter Heinz, 2001), 239.
  22. ^ Ibid, 255.
  23. ^ Shirer, Difficulties of saying “I,” 68–73.    
  24. ^ Brangwen Stone, “Visiting the Hometown, Revisiting the Past: Christa Wolf’s Kindheitsmuster,” Neophilologus 96, no. 4 (October 2012): 593–609.    
  25. ^ Ibid, 598.
  26. ^ Ibid.
  27. ^ Gail Gilliland, “Self and Other: Christa Wolf’s ‘Patterns of Childhood’ and Primo Levi’s ‘Se Questo E Un Uomo’ as Dialogic Texts,” Comparative Literature Studies 29, no. 2 (1992): 183.    
  28. ^ Ibid, 189.
  29. ^ Ibid, 207.
  30. ^ “Blind Spot: On Christa Wolf,” The Nation, accessed April 29, 2017, https://www.thenation.com/article/blind-spot-christa-wolf/.    
  31. ^ Ibid.
  32. ^ Neil Jackson and Barbara Saunders, “Christa Wolf’s Kindheitsmuster. an East German Experiment in Political Autobiography,” German Life and Letters 33, no. 4 (July 1, 1980): 319–29, doi:10.1111/j.1468-0483.1980.tb00197.x.    
  33. ^ Sally McGrane, “Remembering Christa Wolf,” The New Yorker, December 13, 2011, http://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/remembering-christa-wolf.    
  34. ^ Ibid.
  35. ^ Ibid.
  36. ^ George Buehler, The Death of Socialist Realism in the Novels of Christa Wolf, European University Studies. Series 1, German Language Andliterature ; Europäische Hochschulschriften. Reihe 1, Deutsche Sprache Und Literatur, v 787= Bd. 787 (Frankfurt am Main ; New York: P. Lang, 1984), 29–31.
  37. ^ Ibid, 40.
  38. ^ Myra Norma Love, Christa Wolf: Literature and the Conscience of History, DDR-Studien = East German Studies, v. 6 (New York: P. Lang, 1991), 63.    
  39. ^ Michelle Mattson, Mapping Morality in Postwar German Women’s Fiction: Christa Wolf, Ingeborg Drewitz, and Grete Weil, Studies in German Literature, Linguistics, and Culture (Rochester, N.Y: Camden House, 2010), 116.    
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