ADESSO MI RICORDO. STEFAN HEYM: DA “L’INDIFFERENTE” A “COLLIN”

Abstract

This essay analyses two literary works written by Stefan Heym (1913-2001), an Eastern German author of Jewish origins known for his dissident socialist positions. In the story “The Indifferent” and in the novel “Collin” (1979), Heym deals with the uneasy subject of Stalinism in the Eastern Block in the Fifties, with particular reference to the ‘sham trials’ that took place in Hungary and in the GDR. What stands out at the centre of both works is the theme of the removal of memory as a defence mechanism against subjects that are painful to the self. At the same time, the recovery of that memory functions as a legitimation of the role of the intellectual, whose task is to tell the truth.

Keywords

• Stefan Heym
• Stalinism
• Memory
• GDR
• Collin