Abstract

Christa Wolf’s final novel, Stadt der Engel (2010), is marked by a deeply personal autobiographical framework and a complex, multi-layered narrative structure that unfolds across various temporal planes. The protagonist, an evident alter ego of Wolf, is an elderly writer from the former GDR who spends an extended period in Los Angeles at a research center from 1992 to 1993. This setting provides the character with a space for disillusioned reflection on her ideological beliefs and the failed socialist project in East Germany. In her exploration of personal and historical crises, German writers exiled in California during the 1930s-1940s, particularly Bertolt Brecht, emerge as ideal intellectual interlocutors. Brecht, a key figure for Wolf’s generation, plays a central role in the protagonist’s reflections. This article analyzes the multifaceted presence of Brecht – exile, revolutionary, and poet – in what is aptly considered the testament novel of one of East Germany’s greatest authors