ABSTRACT
With Voraussetzungen einer Erzählung: Kassandra (1983), Christa Wolf describes her journey to Greece and her intensive research into the historical Cassandra in order to create her novel, Kassandra. However, modern Greece is far different from ancient Greece that once relied on beauty and aesthetics. Like most other modern countries, Greece's natural surroundings have been destroyed by heavy industry and a total disregard for nature, especially through oil refineries. She also visits Crete, an island that is still fully patriarchal and where women are not seen on the streets or at any street cafés. At the Acropolis, she finds the same trail of destruction by looking at the acid rain that has eaten into the Koren statues of Erechteion, who were once the matriarchs of Athens. Voraussetzungen comprises four lectures, each with its own main focus:
First Lecture: Wolf's reading of Aeschylus's Oresteia and reflections on how his Kassandra differs from her Kassandra character, as well as how she comes to understand and define the character;
Second Lecture: Wolf investigates the destruction of Crete and Troy from a more factual historical and archaeological perspective and how these devastating events impacted the history of Kassandra's origin;
Third Lecture: Wolf reflects on her Grecian journey in her journal of 16 May 1980 to 23 August 1981.
Fourth Lecture: She looks at the male bias in Western literature, from Goethe's Faust Part II to Schiller. Here, she brings together the most important theme in Voraussetzungen: that Kassandra is the ancient symbol of women's silence through the ages, and that, in order to regain their former dignity, women need to act as witness and scribe to facilitate their emancipation.