The Narrator´s Identity in Nachdenken über Christa T.

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Introduction
Christa Wolf (1929-) quotes Johannes R. Becher in Nachdenken über Christa T. (1968): Was ist das: Dieses Zu-sich-selber-Kommen des Menschen? a question which returns in the narrator’s search for her own and her society’s identity through her, in leukemia diseased, friend Christa T. Identity is a complex matter, which Christa Wolf acknowledges and illustrates by using a highly complex narrative technique. This structure in which she uses several layers of narrators and thereby enables shifts in the narrator’s perspective, can be considered Christa Wolf’s signum, and these shifts are analogue with the the novels Ich-narrator’s self-reference as well as references to the society she lives in.
A female character without a name is used to vehicle the search for these identities in the retrospective visit in an everyday GDR. With thematic oppositions such as memory versus repression, acknowledgment versus ignorance of the past and also conflicts between self-integration and disintegration of the self and the society as a whole, Christa Wolf intrigues the reader additionally in the complex narrative structure opposed to the simplex chronological narration. The structure of the narrator’s role and identity compared with the form and content of the text, will be illustrated through examples from Nachdenken über Christa T. in the following .
Establishment of the Narrator(s) in Nachdenken über Christa T
After the Johannes R. Becher “Was ist das: Dieses Zu-sich-selber-Kommen des Menschen?” quote, the reader is introduced to Nachdenken über Christa T. through two reading instructions, which function as non-circular frame stories for the following 20 chapters, meaning that these frame stories do not structurally return in the end, but instead colour the content throughout the story and also establish a complex network of narrators.
Before the pagination, a text similar to a descriptive foreword informs the reader that:
Christa T. ist eine literarische Figur. Authentisch sind manche Zitate aus Tagebüchern, Skizzen und Briefen. Zu äusserlicher Detailtreue sah ich mich nicht verpflichtet. Nebenpersonen und Situationen sind erfunden. Wirklich lebende Personen und wirkliche Ereignisse sind ihnen nur zufällig ähnlich.
This gives the reader the impression that it could be the author/narrator Christa Wolf who directs the reader to understand the text as a fictional report of a person’s, Christa T.’s, life. Contradictorily, however, some quotes are authentic says the Ich-narrator in this text. Through this reading instruction, Christa Wolf toggles the reader to an awareness of herself as the “authoritarian narrator” and how she has selected the material for her presupposed readers.
The second story within the story (p. 7-9) is told by the Ich -narrator without a name in the main story, the 20 chapters, and this, also a reading instruction, offers an attempt to clarify why this narrative Ich has chosen to remember – and to forget – Christa T. This fictional Ich and main narrator poetically invites the reader to take part of material that is left to her after the death of Christa T., which, as already pointed out, consists of personal texts, letters and diaries written by Christa T. over the years. With these two reading instructions, the reader confronts three layers of narrators already in the first three pages: supposedly the author Christa Wolf (N1), the Ich (N2), and Christa T. (N3), which can be demonstrated by the following model:
N1N2N3
R1,2,3

To add to the complex structure of the narrator, this also gives the text three readers: The presupposed reader who the author Christa Wolf had in mind during the creative process(R1), Ich as the fictive reader of the material left by Christa T.(R2), and the actual “in real life” reader (R3) who takes part of all three authors, as some of Christa T.´s “authentic” texts are directly quoted in the text:

Dem Versuch, man selbst zu sein. So steht es in ihren Tagebüchern, die uns geblieben sind, auf den losen Blättern der Manuskripte, die man aufgefunden hat, zwischen den Zeilen der Briefe, die ich kenne. Die mich gelehrt haben, dass ich meine Erinnerung an sie, Christa T., vergessen muss. Die Farbe der Erinnerung trügt. (p. 7)
In contrast to Christa Wolf´s additional text, which gives the reader the feeling of a newspaper article or a report, this poetic text invites the reader to take part in something that the Ich is emotionally involved in: The reconstruction of the narrator’s memory of the past is vehicled by her friend Christa T. Although the narrator chooses to add and exclude material along she goes, the narrator explicitly explains how Christa T. ‘forces’ her to continue her story, that Christa T. demands to be followed. The narrator’s responsibility of what to include and exclude in a history is however large, and the narrator expresses her fears of failure to the extent that she doubts not only her capacity of reconstruction, but also wishes to unburden her responsibility, and expresses this in a questioning of the self:
Und an die Stelle des Ich kann – diesen Ausweg lässt die Sprache – fast immer das Wir treten, niemals mit mehr Recht als für jene Zeit. So dass einem nicht zugemutet werden muss, die Schulden einer fremden Person zu übernehmen, oder doch nur unter gewissen Umständen. (p. 51)
The narrator´s insecurity and fear of not sufficing is intensified throughout the text and becomes analogue with Christa T.´s fear of the death. Christa T.´s fight against her leukaemia becomes analogue with the narrator´s struggles with separating herself from Christa T. -- and finally the text itself.
The Identity of the Ich-Narrator
The identity of the narrator, which sometimes is identical with Christa T., sometimes with the author Christa Wolf, shifts constantly in the text. The reached effects are changes of the perspective of the narrator who conveniently is able to precautiously “hide” behind other identities. Through this ambivalence, the reader is made aware of the many perspectives that have to be taken into account in order to reach some kind of “truth”. Additionally, the narrator constantly reminds the reader of her right to a poetic license . The higher grade of transparency of the narrator, the more important role it plays, i.e. the material exposed to the reader is coloured by the narrator only, and therefore the reader becomes fully dependent on the narrator. Although the content seemingly is focused on Christa T., the Ich-narrator intervenes and plays the central role by being the omniscience “author” -- what we find out about Christa T. stands in relation to the Ich-narrator´s life. The first years of their knowing of each other are summarized in dry facts and the narrator makes a point of not idolizing Christa T. This distance colours the text to be the report that Christa Wolf initially gives the impression of being, and that the main task is to write down and to conclude and revise Christa T.´s life: to blow life into her soul through letters, as in the biblical sense. After the academic years in Leipzig, when they meet again after seven years of separation due to the World War II, the image of Christa T. intensifies and therefore also the image of the narrator. Apart from factual information such as age and occupation, the narrator’s engagement in the friend increases noticeably in the course of the unfolding of Christa T.’s life. The narrator’s thorough research and struggles with presenting Christa T. in fair light, implies a very goal oriented personality. But also emotional reflections shine through, such as in the choice of not visiting the friend Gertrud Dölling:
Sie war merkwürdig, würde Gertrud Dölling sagen. (...) Ich werde nicht zu ihr gehen, ich werde Gertrud Dölling nicht besuche. (p. 50ff)
The reason behind this jealousy (which can be read between the lines) of Dölling´s fictional statement of friendship:
Vergiss nicht, wir waren befreundet, wirklich befreundet. Sie hat sich immer auf mich verlassen können. (p. 50)
The Ich-narrator is willing to accept that there have been men who were important to Christa T. but reluctant to the idea of having female competitors. As much as the engagement in Christa T.´s life story is in the focal point, the Ich-narrator’s identity as Christa T.’s best friend is fragile. She is however also aware of the strong relationship between the Dölling and Christa T. and also blames herself for not having been there for Christa T. when needed, but defends herself: “Wir hatten anderes zu tun.” (p. 52) -- and pushes her (false) independence of Christa T. even further when she utters:
Und gewisse Fragen, die ich ihr stellen wollte, kann ich ebensogut – oder besser – mir selbst stellen. Der Umweg war überflüssig. (p. 51)
Christa T. spent most of her life trying to find her true self, and as the narrator comments on Christa T.´s marriage:
Christa T. musste sich damals jahrelang über sich selbst getäuscht haben, und sie hat dafür bezahlt, wie ein Mensch mit starkem Wirklichkeitssinn Täuschungen aller Art bezahlt, am bittersten die über sich selbst. Mir ist es nicht aufgefallen (…).(p. 46)
This is not only a conclusion of Christa T.´s diaries, but also the narrator’s personal speculation, a revelation of her inner thoughts. To reach “absolute truth” is an impossible task, of which the narrator initially only is intellectually aware, but throughout the creative process also reaches an emotional awareness. In the process of the narration has become a vehicle for a selective reconstruction of a reality of which the narrator initially only could anticipate.
Summary
Christa Wolf’s Nachdenke...