Then, the opportunity to read this book came along! Am I still a fan of Cassandra? Of course! Did I love the book to pieces? Not even close! It had so much potential.

In any case, I’ve always been a bit intrigued by this enigmatic woman and have always wanted to learn a bit more about her. But I used to imagine that I was indeed named after the prophetess, simply because it made me feel more exotic somehow. I have no idea why my parents chose the name Cassandra, but I do know it had nothing to do with their love for Greek mythology. Really, it is! Candi is not short for Candice, as you likely assumed it to be. No one is going to believe this, but my given name is Cassandra. I did not want anything more, anything different.” “Why did I want the gift of prophecy, come what may? To speak with my voice: the ultimate. In 1951, she married Gerhard Wolf, an essayist. She studied German literature in Jena and Leipzig and became a publisher and editor. She moved to East Germany in 1945 and joined the Socialist Unity Party in 1949. The jury praised her life’s work for “critically questioning the hopes and errors of her time, and portraying them with deep moral seriousness and narrative power.”Ĭhrista Ihlenfeld was born March 18, 1929, in Landsberg an der Warthe, a part of Germany that is now in Poland. She won awards in East Germany and West Germany for her work, including the Thomas Mann Prize in 2010. Her best-known novels included “Der geteilte Himmel” (“Divided Heaven,” 1963), addressing the divisions of Germany, and “Kassandra” (“Cassandra,” 1983), which depicted the Trojan War. Christa Wolf died in December 2011.Novelist, short-story writer, essayist, critic, journalist, and film dramatist Christa Wolf was a citizen of East Germany and a committed socialist, and managed to keep a critical distance from the communist regime.

Novelist, short-story writer, essayist, critic, journalist, and film dramatist Christa Wolf was a citizen of East Germany and a committed socialist, and managed to keep a critical distance from the communist regime.

Cassandra by Christa Wolf