Like few other photographers, Roger Melis has shaped the face of contemporary German literature. His photographs have appeared on book covers, publisher catalogs, newspapers, and literary calendars, giving a face to the authors of poems, plays, and novels. When one thinks of Johannes Bobrowski, Peter Huchel, Wolf Biermann, Anna Seghers, Heiner Müller, Stephan Hermlin, Franz Fühmann, or Christa Wolf, his images come to mind. With over 200 shots from 40 years, this volume gathers for the first time the entire spectrum of the often-praised portrait art of Roger Melis. Chronologically arranged, the many photographs, which have often become classics, come together to create an extraordinary visual history of intellectual life in East Germany.