SOURCE: Derr, Nancy. “Germany East and West: The Twain Meet.” Belles Lettres 5, no. 4 (summer 1990): 9.

In the following excerpt, Derr commends Kirsch's realistic portrayal of East German women in The Panther Woman.

In The Panther Woman: Five Tales from the Cassette Recorder, Sarah Kirsch presents a collection of monologues she recorded, then transcribed and edited much as a film director edits hours of takes. The collection, a fascinating snapshot of life in socialist East Germany, offers a depressing portrait of five women from all walks of life. The reader gains a sense of the historical development of this country from a fascist dictatorship to its status as the strongest socialist country in the world. We see something of the functioning of local government, the East German business world, and the workings of a factory. While remaining anonymous, the women in The Panther Woman range from an historian employed at...