Cassandra: A Novel and Four Essays

by Christa Wolf

Cassandra, daughter of the King of Troy, is endowed with the gift of prophecy but fated never to be believed. After ten years of war, Troy has fallen to the Greeks, and Cassandra is now a prisoner, shackled outside the gates of Agamemnon's Mycenae. Through memories of her childhood and reflections on the long years of conflict, Cassandra pieces together the fall of her city. From a woman living in an age of heroes, here is the untold personal story overshadowed by the battlefield triumphs of Achilles and Hector. This stunning reimagining of the Trojan War is a rich and vivid portrayal of the great tragedy that continues to echo throughout history.

Genres: Mythology, Fiction

305 pages, Unknown Binding

Published January 1, 2013

About the author

Novelist, short-story writer, essayist, critic, journalist, and film dramatist Christa Wolf was a citizen of East Germany and a committed socialist, and managed to keep a critical distance from the communist regime. Her best-known novels included “Der geteilte Himmel” (“Divided Heaven,” 1963), addressing the divisions of Germany, and “Kassandra” (“Cassandra,” 1983), which depicted the Trojan War.

She won awards in East Germany and West Germany for her work, including the Thomas Mann Prize in 2010. The jury praised her life’s work for “critically questioning the hopes and errors of her time, and portraying them with deep moral seriousness and narrative power.”

Christa Ihlenfeld was born March 18, 1929, in Landsberg an der Warthe, a part of Germany that is now in Poland. She moved to East Germany in 1945 and joined the Socialist Unity Party in 1949. She studied German literature in Jena and Leipzig and became a publisher and editor.

In 1951, she married Gerhard Wolf, an essayist. They had two children. Christa Wolf died in December 2011.

(Bloomberg News)

Reviews

[Jane Fudger · Rating 4 out of 5]

Christa Wolf,[1929-2011], is a well known East German essayist and novelist. Cassandra came about when she and her husband visited Greece and as a consequence of this she wrote five essays published seperately in Germany. The fifth essay was expanded into this novel
Cassandra is the daughter of Priam and Hecuba, the King and Queen of Troy, She is a prophet and seer but her predictions about the fall of Troy are never believed.When Troy falls shr becomes a prisioner of the Greeks and is taken to Mycenae by Agamemnon to face death by Agamemnon's wife Clymestra
This novel is slightly difference from most Greek mythology novels in that the story is written solely from the point of view of her own thoughts as she pieces together the time to the fall of Troy. Wolf writes the story in a poetic and emotional style and portrays the characters emotions and thoughts in a sensitive and believable manner
I have read other works by Wolf in the past but this novel was a page turner!

[beccaaa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was struggling through it only for me extended essay.