East German science fiction enabled its authors to create a subversive space in another time
and place. One of the country's most popular genres it outlined futures that often went beyond
the party's official version. Many utopian stories provided a corrective vision intended to
preserve and improve upon East German communism. This study is an introduction to East German
science fiction. The book begins with a chapter on German science fiction before 1949. It then
spans the entire existence of the country (1949-1990) and outlines key topics essential to
understanding the genre: popular literature socialist realism censorship fandom and
international science fiction. An in-depth discussion addresses notions of high and low
literature elements of the fantastic and utopia as critical narrative strategies ideology and
realism in East German literature gender and the relation between literature and science.
Through a close textual analysis of three science fiction novels the author expands East
German literary history to include science fiction as a valuable source for developing a
multi-faceted understanding of the country's short history. Finally an epilogue notes new
titles and developments since the fall of the Berlin Wall.
