Spiele der Revolte: Karl Mickel und die konspirative Poetik der Sächsischen Dichterschule

In the light of the rigid yet outdated doctrine of Socialist Realism any literary text and work of art that did not wish to assimilate was met by suspicion. The poets who started their careers in the German Democratic Republic in the mid-1960s were very much aware of the guidelines set out for the arts by the State. The so-called Sächsische Dichterschule countered the pillars of Socialist Realism by travestying them. In particular the authors targeted the concept of comprehensibility. Karl Mickel (1935–2000) specialised in questioning the State sponsored aesthetics by introducing a set of Surrealist poetics. This essay will investigate the different subversive expressions in Mickel’s writings. It will be argued that the poet applied literary ways the Sächsische Dichterschule adopted in the 1960s and 70s for undermining monosemia.