The future of German literature, like the future of united Germany, is a fascinating question and will be vigorously debated throughout the 1990s. In this, the first book-length study in English to tackle this controversial subject, Professor Bullivant analyses the main aspects of German literature since 1945 from the perspective of the 1990s. The author pays particular attention to the periodization of this literature, and especially to major new developments in the 1980s, to the social role of writers as intellectuals, to the treatment of the 'German Question' and to Berlin in German letters.