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Article: Speaking the Taboo: A Study of the Work of Wolfgang Hilbig.(Book Review)(Brief Article)
- Article from:
- The Modern Language Review
- Article date:
- October 1, 2002
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2002 Modern Humanities Research Association. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Speaking the Taboo: A Study of the Work of Wolfgang Hilbig. By PAUL COOKE. (Amsterdamer Publikationen zur Sprache und Literatur, 141) Amsterdam and Atlanta, GA: Rodopi. 2000. x + 247 pp. $43.
One of Francois Villon's ballads, consisting almost entirely of proverb-like statements, contains the line 'Tant crie l'on Noel qu'il vient.' The equivalent cry of the GDR's cultural functionaries, particularly at the time of the 'Bitterfelder Weg', was for poets to emerge from the proletariat and laud the achievements of the workers' and peasants' state. However, when potentially one such writer emerged in the shape of Wolfgang Hilbig, with a sociologically impeccable ...