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Art has a prominent place in the novel, appearing through allusions to musical pieces, sketches and paintings, sculptures, and even plays. What does this suggest about the role of art in nation-building? In the building of individual identity? How does Hans’s role as a Stasi collaborator either contribute or undermine this function?
Does the novel take a position on socialism as a political system? Is this position embodied in either of its central characters, or in the tension between them?