Looking Back at a Bright Tomorrow. Essays on SF and Fantasy in East Germany

Memoranda-Publ. Berlin, 2025

ISBN 978-3-911391-08-5 | E-Book ISBN 978-3-911391-09-2

After analyzing the image of the future in early GDR SF in Anticipations of a Bright Tomorrow, this fourth volume of essays takes a personal look back at SF and fantasy in the GDR. As in other countries, SF was frequently the subject of controversial debate in East Germany. In essays written in the 1980s, we attempt, among other things, to define a position: What can SF do, what is it good for? How does the principle of alienation (Brechtian “Verfremdung”) work in it? How does SF relate to science, for example genetic engineering? Where does it convey mythologies? Personal experiences with censorship have prompted us to examine more generally the role that censorship and self-censorship played in East German SF. During our research we came across numerous revealing examples. They can be traced back to frequently used, formulaic expressions: “That's not possible.” “And this is supposed to be our future?” “The reviewer recommends ...” “Thinking in questionable wordings” “Getting oneself into line”. It is also exciting to have a look at the fantastic literature of the GDR. In this diverse and highly differentiated field, social changes were usually expressed quite clearly, such as the growing self-confidence of women. As a kind of supplement to Anticipations, we have analyzed the image of the future in the only continuous comic book series in the GDR, Mosaik von Hannes Hegen. In the early issues, it paints an optimistic quasi-softened vision of the future without communist phraseology – but with a heavy dose of espionage and sabotage. The volume concludes with a tongue-in-cheek experiment: What should be taken into an omnibus volume “Best of East German SF Stories”? A selection of 45 from the about one thousand SF stories written in the GDR is given.

Selected Content Items:

• Instead of a preface: Was there only Hans Dominik? • Of pears, fake men in the Moon, and transsolar gifts: East German SF during the Apollo years • The biological future of man in the mirror of science fiction • Positioning starfish beings: Problems of realism in science fiction • Future by command: East German science fiction and censorship • Fantastic literature in the GDR. An overview • With Dig and Dag into space: The image of the future and realism in Das Mosaik von Hannes Hegen • Book reviews • “Highlights”: Experiment of a Best-of Omnibus