| Summary: | The following thesis analyses the literary development of the author Brigitte Reimann from her early publications to the novel <i>Franziska Linkerhand</i>. The themes and literary figures as well as the formal structure of the author's work are examined in order to highlight continuities between the earlier stories and the novel, but also to show that considerable shifts occurred in the course of her literary career. 'Erinnerung' 'Erlebnis' and 'Gespräh' constitute the three areas within which Reimann's concerns shift; 'Erinnerung' generally referring to the author's choice of a memory framework in her stories; 'Erlebnis' to her drawing from personal experience as a means of creating an authentic reflection of GDR 'Alltag'; and 'Gespräh' to the social and political issues thematicised in her work. Owing to the dramatic extent to which her writing changed during her career, a pluralistic methodology has been chosen to locate specific features of individual works: this involves an analysis of the cultural-political background to her literature, an interpretation based on the author's biography; a feminist approach, and formal narratology which reveals how the various, sometimes conflicting, elements of Reimann's work function within a given text.
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