Grunbein, Durs. The Bars of Atlantis.(Brief article)(Book review)

Grunbein, Durs. The Bars of Atlantis. Farrar. Apr. 2010. c.320p, ed. by Michael Eskin. ISBN 978-0-374-26062-0. $26. LIT

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Arguably the best-known and best contemporary poet and author to have emerged from the former East Germany, Grunbein received many major awards, including the 1995 Georg Buchner Preis, the most prestigious honor for a German-language author. Since the Berlin Wall came down in 1989, Grunbein, through his various writings, has been an active participant in the debates that aim at facilitating Germany's attempts at reshaping and redefining itself in the post--Cold War era. The essays collected here, covering two decades, …