The authors discussed in this series are the leading writers of the younger generation in Germany. The volumes offer accessible introductions to contemporary German writers and new critical assessments of their work. Christoph Hein is widely regarded as one of the most important writers to emerge from the former GDR. He began his career as a dramatist in the 1970s, produced acclaimed prose fiction in the 1980s and is a prolific essayist and lecturer who continues to enjoy literary success in the 1990s. This volume contains an interview with Hein, a previously unpublished prose piece by him, an up-to-date biography and critical articles which examine individual texts in detail.