Reality and fiction in Thomas Brussig's work

The film Sonnenallee

Abstract

GDR nostalgia, called Ostalgie, is defined as a positive assessment of life in East Germany made retrospectively by the new citizens of Germany after the fall of the Wall (Neller 2006). This theme is present in works of literature and cinema, such as the novel Am Kürzeren Ende der Sonnenallee (Brussig 1999) and the film Sonnenallee directed by Leander Haußmann. This article studies the presence of Ostalgie in these works and relates it to the importance of Rock and Roll music in the lives of the protagonists. The concept of Ostalgie implies a nostalgia for the East and an overly positive assessment of the GDR which, according to Bouvier (2002), was only possible because the GDR was integrated into the GFR. But Ostalgie is also a longing for a time when a dictatorship ruled. It can therefore be said that Sonnenalle articulates a complex relationship between reality and fiction, in which Brussig uses humor to embellish the memory of the past.