What Remains collects Christa Wolf's short fiction, from her early work in the sixties to the recently published title story, which was widely debated when it appeared in Germany in 1990. These short stories shed light on her work as an artist and political figure, and as a woman.

"What Remains," the title story, powerfully describes what it is like the live under surveillance by the Stasi police and how such a life gradually destroys normalcy for a writer. An interior monologue reveals the fear and self-consciousness of the author as the secret police eventually disrupt the balance of her life.

Examining the power of memory, "Exchanging Glances" captures the collision of childhood and war, as Wolf recollects her family's flight from the Russian Army during World War II. She remembers imagining her own dead body and watching prisoners released from a concentration camp with a combination of fear and something more painful than fear: knowledge.

In "The New Life and Opinions of a Tomcat," a satire of life in a totalitarian state, Max the cat and his owner, a psychology professor, work on a secret project called "Tohuha," short for Total Human Happiness.

Contents:

• Exchanging Glances
• Tuesday, September 27
• June Afternoon
• Unter den Linden
• The New Life and Opinions of a Tomcat
• A Little Outing to H.
• Self-experiment
• What Remains