The premise for this seemed interesting, but I found it tricky to get into. However, the book is well-written and worth a read if the description appeals to you.

An interesting perspective on the former East Germany.

This well researched book is all about the contrast between a military , repressive regime and art/poetry. However the use of poetry is as propaganda rather than arts for arts sake.

It reads like a fictional account of the monthly meetings of the notorious Stasi members in a military property to write the poetry.

Can the poetry ultimately be subversive rather than Stasi propaganda?
The "lessons" sections correlate to the concept of this as a creative writing class.

This isn't usually a book I would have picked up , but its concept was intriguing. I recommended it to one customer who had lived under that regime but she shuddered as it was obviously too "close" for comfort.

A non fiction book that could be compared to Barnes' Noise of Time of Toibin's The Magician.

Such an unusual book and it is incredible to believe it is true. I loved it and learned so much. I felt like I was living it.

Informative and very entertaining read shining a light on a lesser known aspect of the DDR. Full review in link below.

You couldn’t make it up. Between 1982 and 1989 the GDR tried to weaponise poetry. Art was seen as a means of socialist self-improvement and a way to fight against capitalism. So a group of Stasi officers and border guards were convened every 4 weeks at the House of Culture and under the direction of professional state-sanctioned poet Uwe Berger to learn about poetry and how to write it. Essentially, it was thought, that if they became poets themselves they would be able to infiltrate poetry circles and be able to spot dissident writing. As well, of course, as supplying some positive state-approved poetry for the masses. However this attempt to weaponise poetry failed for many reasons, not least because it didn’t develop very good poets, and then many of them started to identify with the thoughts and ideas of the very people they were supposed to be spying on. From interrogating suspects to composing sonnets in one short step. This is a truly fascinating account of a little byway of history, a story stranger than fiction. Well-researched, often using first-hand accounts and even on occasion meeting some of the original participants, the author gives us a vivid and insightful account - although I did find he jumped about a bit too much in time and place – and I look forward to actually reading some of the poetry composed under the auspices of one of the GDR’s more imaginative experiments.

The premise had a lot of potential, but this was just not a very good book. I think the plot could potentially be well-suited for a dark comedy film (e.g., The Death of Stalin), though, since the true story is so comically ridiculous.

I expected the book to read more like a novel, and there was much more focus on analyzing poetry and discussing literary elements than I anticipated. The timelines were completely jumbled and the cast of characters kind of jumped in and out at various points, which made it really hard for me to keep track of who people were and how they related to each other. I also didn't like how the author would randomly insert himself and the investigative work he did into the 'storyline' -- it wasn't consistent, so it felt really odd.

The Stasi Poetry Circle: The Creative Writing Class that Tried to Win the Cold War is just an amazing title for the book! The title alone made me want to read the book and learn more.

I was hoping that the book would focus more on the Stasi Poetry Circle and for there to be more of the poetry in the book. Rather, it provides a good overview of the GDR, an overview of the political climate during the Cold War and up to the fall of the Berlin Wall, the context to the formation of the Stasi Poetry Circle, it focuses on a few of the more notable poets of the group as well as looking at other poets in the GDR at that time and how they were viewed and treated.

Nonetheless, it makes for a fascinating read. The fact that members of the Stasi would meet to workshop their poetry seems surreal, but it did happen. Being the GDR, nothing was completely as it seemed. The country was rife with informants and people being surveilled - even in this Stasi group, poets were watching and reporting on poets.

I think it’s a must-read for anyone interested in recent German history and the Cold War.

Huge thanks to NetGalley and the publisher, Faber & Faber, for the ARC for a fair and honest review.

"The Stasi Poetry Circle" offers a fascinating insight into the surprising role played by literature within the GDR's secret police. One might expect the repressive climate of East Germany to be particularly hostile to the freedom of expression one associates with poetry, but Oltermann shows how literature was at the heart of the socialist vision on which the GDR was founded.

The book really deals with two types of poets - those who worked within the Stasi and were part of the official poetry circle which was based on the idea of working poets whose work and writing were inseparable, and those who became targets of the Stasi because of the dissenting views expressed in their work, including one poet who was imprisoned on the basis of one poem she wrote. Oltermann also explores the way that some high-profile members of the poetry circle were themselves involved in spying and informing on other writers.

The book is well-researched and engaging, particularly when he is able to speak and bring together some of the writers he discusses and share their reflections on events (including one poet who had informed on another). I think I was expecting a slightly more narrative account following the meetings of a particular group of poets over time and the dynamics within this group, whereas Oltermann actually explores a range of different figures and uses this to tell a much broader story about the rise and fall of the GDR, and the relationship between language, literature, freedom and politics. Occasionally I found it difficult to keep track of the different strands of the book, particularly as my knowledge of this historical period is quite limited, but generally Oltermann explains the relevant background clearly.

Overall, I found this a very interesting exploration of a largely overlooked part of German history. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me an ARC to review.

This gives an interesting slant and angle to stories about the Stasi and communist Berlin - it's a mix of biography and history, held together with a literary frame, and Oltermann has a quirky sense of humour that is welcome. The idea of Stasi officers meeting to write poetry feels quirky and a bit surreal. Interesting and unusual.

Philip Oltermann’s book “The Stasi Poetry Circle” is, on the surface, a black comedy, which would make for a hugely enjoyable movie. The book’s chapters are split into “lessons” and comically entitled “Bathos” and “Dissonance” etc, giving this work the feel of a school text book. The contents are a connected series of stories which tell the tale of how the Stasi tried to win the war through poetry. The history has been deeply and skilfully researched, and it is an accessible read.
Whilst not the craziest thing ever to happen during the Cold War, this is nevertheless a quirky and poignant account of one bizarre chapter of it. At once both deadly serious and totally ridiculous, “The Stasi Poetry Circle” is highly recommended for students of the Cold War and readers who enjoy unusual histories.

This is a strange and wonderful account of how the Stasi in East Germany tried to use poetry as a weapon in their work to support the state from the 1960s onwards. It's a bizarre story, or set of stories, which ultimately asserts the power of art to overcome the limitations of ideology, while remaining open to the weirdness, comedy and tragedy of the events it describes. The depth of Oltermann's research is obvious and his feel for the material is obvious. I was less convinced about the literary critical aspects of the book - the discussions of poems rarely acknowledges the issues of translation into English and the structuring framework around forms of and devices from poetry (e.g. dissonance or concrete poetry) didn't always work, although I can see why he chose to use it. This is a minor point, however, there is loads here to enjoy, admire and learn.