Summary of I
“I” by Wolfgang Hilbig is a novel set in the surveillance state of Communist East Germany during the 1980s. The protagonist, an aspiring writer, is sent by the Stasi – the East German secret police – to East Berlin to infiltrate underground literary circles and report on a mysterious dissident writer known as “Reader”. As the boundaries between his poetry and his role as an informant begin to blur, the protagonist reflects on how he ended up in this situation – and how he lost his sense of self.
Reasons to read I
Hilbig’s novel “I” explores the impact of state surveillance on individual lives and examines how an artist is gradually drawn into collaboration with a paranoid system of control. The author, Wolfgang Hilbig, grew up in East Germany and had first-hand experience with the Stasi – he was interrogated and imprisoned before moving to West Germany. Hilbig received numerous literary awards, including the Georg Büchner Prize, the Fontane Prize, and the Ingeborg Bachmann Prize. Other notable works by Hilbig include the novel “The Interim” and the novellas “The Females” and “The Tidings of the Trees”.
Original title: Ich
Year of publication: 1993
Nr of pages: 384
