Herta Müller

Herta Müller
Müller in 2019
Born	(1953-08-17)17 August 1953 Nițchidorf,Timiș County,SR Romania
Occupation	Novelist, poet
Nationality	Romanian, German
Alma mater	West University of Timișoara
Period	1982–present
Notable works	Nadirs The Passport The Land of Green Plums The Appointment The Hunger Angel
Notable awards	Kleist Prize(1994) International Dublin Literary Award(1998) Franz Werfel Human Rights Award(2009) Nobel Prize in Literature(2009)

Herta Müller(German:[ˈhɛʁtaˈmʏlɐ];born 17 August 1953) is a Romanian-German novelist, poet, essayist and recipient of the2009 Nobel Prize in Literature.She was born inNițchidorf(German:Niczkydorf;Hungarian:Niczkyfalva),Timiș Countyin Romania; her native language is German. Since the early 1990s, she has been internationally established, and her works have been translated into more than twenty languages.

Müller is noted for her works depicting the effects of violence, cruelty and terror, usually in the setting of theSocialist Republic of Romaniaunder the repressiveNicolae Ceaușescuregime which she has experienced herself. Many of her works are told from the viewpoint of theGerman minority in Romaniaand are also a depiction of the modern history of the Germans in theBanatandTransylvania.Her much acclaimed 2009 novelThe Hunger Angel(Atemschaukel) portrays thedeportationof Romania's German minority toSoviet Gulagsduring theSoviet occupation of Romaniafor use asGerman forced labour.

Müller has received more than twenty awards to date, including theKleist Prize(1994), theAristeion Prize(1995), theInternational Dublin Literary Award(1998) and theFranz Werfel Human Rights Award(2009). On 8 October 2009, theSwedish Academyannounced that she had been awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, describing her as a woman "who, with the concentration of poetry and the frankness of prose, depicts the landscape of the dispossessed".

Early life

Müller was born toBanat SwabianCatholicfarmers inNițchidorf(German: Nitzkydorf; Hungarian: Niczkyfalva), up to the 1980s a German-speaking village in theRomanian Banatin southwestern Romania, until 1920 part of theKingdom of Hungary.Her family was part ofRomania's German minorityand before 1920 part of the German minority in the Kingdom of Hungary. Her grandfather had been a wealthy farmer and merchant, but his property was confiscated by the Communist regime. Her father was a member of theWaffen-SSduringWorld War II,and earned a living as a truck driver in Communist Romania.In 1945, her mother, born 1928 as Katarina Gion, then aged 17, was among 100,000 of the German minoritydeportedtoforced labour camps in the Soviet Union,from which she was released in 1950.Müller's native language is German; she learnedRomanianonly ingrammar school.She graduated fromNikolaus Lenau High Schoolbefore becoming a student ofGerman studiesandRomanian literatureatWest University of Timișoara.

In 1976, Müller began working as a translator for an engineering factory, but was dismissed in 1979 for her refusal to cooperate with theSecuritate,the Communist regime's secret police. After her dismissal, she initially earned a living by teaching inkindergartenand giving private German lessons.

Career

Müller's first book,Niederungen(Nadirs), was published in Romania in German in 1982, receiving a prize from the Central Committee of theUnion of Communist Youth.The book was about a child's view of the German-cultural Banat.Some members of the Banat Swabian community criticized Müller for "fouling her own nest" by her unsympathetic portrayal of village life.Müller was a member ofAktionsgruppe Banat,a group of German-speaking writers in Romania who supported freedom of speech over the censorship they faced underNicolae Ceaușescu's government, and her works, includingThe Land of Green Plums,deal with these issues.Radu Tinu, the Securitate officer in charge of her case, denies that she ever suffered any persecutions,a claim that is opposed by Müller's own version of her (ongoing) persecution in an article in the German weeklyDie Zeitin July 2009.

Müller in Hanover, 1992

After being refused permission to emigrate to West Germany in 1985, Müller was finally allowed to leave along with her then-husband, novelistRichard Wagner,in 1987, and they settled inWest Berlin,where both still live.In the following years, she accepted lectureships at universities in Germany and abroad. Müller was elected to membership in theDeutsche Akademie für Sprache und Dichtungin 1995, and other honorary positions followed. In 1997, she withdrew from thePENcentre of Germany in protest of its merger with the formerGerman Democratic Republicbranch. In July 2008, Müller sent a critical open letter toHoria-Roman Patapievici,president of theRomanian Cultural Institutein reaction to the moral and financial support given by the institute to two former informants of the Securitate participating at the Romanian-German Summer School.

The criticDenis Scheckdescribed visiting Müller at her home in Berlin and seeing that her desk contained a drawer full of single letters cut from a newspaper she had entirely destroyed in the process. Realising that she used the letters to write texts,he felt he had "entered the workshop of a true poet".

ReadingThe Hunger Angel,Potsdam, July 2010

The Passport,first published in Germany asDer Mensch ist ein großer Fasan auf der Weltin 1986, is, according toThe Times Literary Supplement,couched in the strange code engendered by repression: indecipherable because there is nothing specific to decipher, it is candid, but somehow beside the point, redolent of things unsaid. From odd observations the villagers sometimes make ( "Man is nothing but a pheasant in the world" ), to chapters titled after unimportant props ( "The Pot Hole", "The Needle" ), everything points to a strategy of displaced meaning... Every such incidence of misdirection is the whole book in miniature, for although Ceausescu is never mentioned, he is central to the story, and cannot be forgotten. The resulting sense that anything, indeed everything – whether spoken by the characters or described by the author – is potentially dense with tacit significance means this short novel expands in the mind to occupy an emotional space far beyond its size or the seeming simplicity of its story. "

2009 success

Müller's nail scissors, which she used to cut words from printed materials, hanging in theNobel Prize Museum.

In 2009, Müller enjoyed the greatest international success of her career. Her novelAtemschaukel(published in English asThe Hunger Angel) was nominated for theGerman Book Prizeand won theFranz Werfel Human Rights Award.In this book, Müller describes the journey of a young man to a gulag in theSoviet Union,the fate of many Germans inTransylvaniaafter World War II. It was inspired by the experience of the poetOskar Pastior,whose memories she had made notes of, and also by what happened to her own mother.

In October 2009, theSwedish Academyannounced its decision to award that year's Nobel Prize in Literature to Müller "who, with the concentration of poetry and the frankness of prose, depicts the landscape of the dispossessed."The academy compared Müller's style and her use of German as a minority language withFranz Kafkaand pointed out the influence of Kafka on Müller. The award coincided with the 20th anniversary of the fall of communism. Michael Krüger, head of Müller's publishing house, said: "By giving the award to Herta Müller, who grew up in a German-speaking minority in Romania, the committee has recognized an author who refuses to let the inhumane side of life under communism be forgotten".

In 2012, Müller commented on the Nobel Prize forMo Yanby saying that the Swedish Academy had apparently chosen an author who 'celebrates censorship'.

On 6 July 2020 a no longer existingTwitteraccount published the fake news of Herta Müller's death, which was immediately disclaimed by her publisher.

Influences

Although Müller has revealed little about the specific people or books that have influenced her, she has acknowledged the importance of her university studies in German and Romanian literature, and particularly of the contrast between the two languages. "The two languages", the writer says, "look differently even at plants. In Romanian, 'snowdrops' are 'little tears', in German they are 'Schneeglöckchen', which is 'little snow bells', which means we're not only speaking about different words, but about different worlds." (However here she confuses snowdrops withlily-of-the-valley,the latter being called 'little tears' in Romanian.) She continues, "Romanians see a falling star and say that someone has died, with the Germans you make a wish when you see the falling star." Romanian folk music is another influence: "When I first heardMaria Tănaseshe sounded incredible to me, it was for the first time that I really felt what folklore meant. Romanian folk music is connected to existence in a very meaningful way. "

Müller's work was also shaped by the many experiences she shared with her ex-husband, the novelist and essayistRichard Wagner.Both grew up in Romania as members of the Banat Swabian ethnic group and enrolled in German and Romanian literary studies atTimișoara University.Upon graduating, both worked as German-language teachers, and were members of Aktionsgruppe Banat, a literary society that fought for freedom of speech.

Müller's involvement with Aktionsgruppe Banat gave her the courage to write boldly, despite the threats and trouble generated by the Romanian secret police. Although her books are fictional, they are based on real people and experiences. Her 1996 novel,The Land of Green Plums,was written after the deaths of two friends, in which Müller suspected the involvement of the secret police, and one of its characters was based on a close friend from Aktionsgruppe Banat.

Letter from Liu Xia

Herta Müller wrote the foreword for the first publication of the poetry ofLiu Xia,wife of the imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize recipientLiu Xiaobo,in 2015.Müller also translated and read a few of Liu Xia poems in 2014.On 4 December 2017, a photo of the letter to Herta Müller from Liu Xia in a form of poem was posted on Facebook by Chinese dissidentLiao Yiwu,where Liu Xia said that she was going mad in her solitary life.

On October 7 massacres

At the October 7 Forum held in Stockholm on 25 and 26 May 2024,Müller commented on the "unimaginable massacre" committed byHamasin its "limitless contempt for humanity" in the7 October attacksand described it comparable to Naziexterminationpogroms.

Works

Prose

Müller signing one of her books in September 2009

Cover ofDrückender Tango,Bukarest 1984

• Niederungen,stories, censored version published inBucharest,1982; uncensored version published in Germany, 1984. Translated asNadirsby Sieglinde Lug (University of Nebraska Press, 1999)
• Drückender Tango( "Oppressive Tango" ), stories, Bucharest, 1984
• Der Mensch ist ein großer Fasan auf der Welt,Berlin, 1986. Translated asThe PassportbyMartin Chalmers(Serpent's Tail,1989)
• Barfüßiger Februar( "Barefoot February" ), Berlin, 1987
• Reisende auf einem Bein,Berlin, 1989. Translated asTraveling on One Legby Valentina Glajar and Andre Lefevere (Hydra Books/Northwestern University Press,1998)
• Der Teufel sitzt im Spiegel( "The Devil is Sitting in the Mirror" ), Berlin, 1991
• Der Fuchs war damals schon der Jäger,Reinbek bei Hamburg, 1992. Translated asThe Fox Was Ever the Hunterby Philip Boehm (2016)
• Eine warme Kartoffel ist ein warmes Bett( "A Warm Potato Is a Warm Bed" ), Hamburg, 1992
• Der Wächter nimmt seinen Kamm( "The Guard Takes His Comb" ), Reinbek bei Hamburg, 1993
• Angekommen wie nicht da( "Arrived As If Not There" ), Lichtenfels, 1994
• Herztier,Reinbek bei Hamburg, 1994. Translated asThe Land of Green PlumsbyMichael Hofmann(Metropolitan Books/Henry Holt and Company,1996). Reviewed inThe New York Times
• Hunger und Seide( "Hunger and Silk" ), essays, Reinbek bei Hamburg, 1995
• In der Falle( "In a Trap" ), Göttingen 1996
• Heute wär ich mir lieber nicht begegnet,Reinbek bei Hamburg, 1997. Translated asThe AppointmentbyMichael HulseandPhilip Boehm(Metropolitan Books/Picador,2001)
• Der fremde Blick oder Das Leben ist ein Furz in der Laterne( "The Foreign View, or Life Is a Fart in a Lantern" ), Göttingen, 1999
• Heimat ist das, was gesprochen wird( "Home Is What Is Spoken There" ), Blieskastel, 2001
• A Good Person Is Worth as Much as a Piece of Bread,foreword toKent Klich'sChildren of Ceausescu,published by Journal, 2001 and Umbrage Editions, 2001.
• Der König verneigt sich und tötet( "The King Bows and Kills" ), essays, Munich (and elsewhere), 2003
• Atemschaukel,Munich, 2009. Translated asThe Hunger Angelby Philip Boehm (Metropolitan Books, 2012)
• Immer derselbe Schnee und immer derselbe Onkel,2011

Lyrics / found poetry

• Im Haarknoten wohnt eine Dame( "A Lady Lives in the Hair Knot" ), Rowohlt, Reinbek bei Hamburg, 2000
• Die blassen Herren mit den Mokkatassen( "The Pale Gentlemen with their Espresso Cups" ), Carl Hanser Verlag, Munich, 2005
• Este sau nu este Ion( "Is He or Isn't He Ion" ), collage-poetry written and published in Romanian,Iași,Polirom, 2005
• Vater telefoniert mit den Fliegen( "Father is calling the Flies" ), Carl Hanser Verlag, Munich, 2012
• Father's on the Phone with the Flies: A Selection,Seagull Books, Munich, 2018 (73 collage poems with reproductions of originals)

Editor

• Theodor Kramer:Die Wahrheit ist, man hat mir nichts getan( "The Truth Is No One Did Anything to Me" ), Vienna 1999
• Die Handtasche( "The Purse" ), Künzelsau 2001
• Wenn die Katze ein Pferd wäre, könnte man durch die Bäume reiten( "If the Cat Were a Horse, You Could Ride Through the Trees" ), Künzelsau 2001

Filmography

• 1993:Vulpe – vânător(Der Fuchs war damals schon der Jäger), directed byStere Gulea,starringOana Pellea,Dorel Vișan,George Alexandruetc.

Awards and honours

• 1981Adam Müller-GuttenbrunnPrize of theTimișoaraLiterature Circle
• 1984Aspekte-Literaturpreis
• 1985Rauris Literature Prize
• 1985 Encouragement Prize of the Literature Award ofBremen
• 1987 Ricarda-Huch Prize ofDarmstadt
• 1989Marieluise-Fleißer-PreisofIngolstadt
• 1989 German Language Prize, together with Gerhardt Csejka, Helmuth Frauendorfer, Klaus Hensel, Johann Lippet, Werner Söllner, William Totok, Richard Wagner
• 1990Roswitha Medal of KnowledgeofBad Gandersheim
• 1991Kranichsteiner Literature Prize
• 1993 Critical Prize for Literature
• 1994Kleist Prize
• 1995Aristeion Prize
• 1995/96Stadtschreiber von Bergen
• 1997 Literature Prize ofGraz
• 1998 Ida-Dehmel Literature Prize and theInternational Dublin Literary AwardforThe Land of Green Plums
• 2001 Cicero Speaker Prize
• 2002Carl-Zuckmayer-MedailleofRhineland-Palatinate
• 2003Joseph-Breitbach-Preis(together withChristoph MeckelandHarald Weinrich)
• 2004 Literature Prize of Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung
• 2005 Berlin Literature Prize
• 2006 Würth Prize for European Literature und Walter-Hasenclever Literature Prize
• 2009Nobel Prize in Literature
• 2009Franz Werfel Human Rights Award,in particular for her novelThe Hunger Angel
• 2010Hoffmann von Fallersleben Prize
• 2013Best Translated Book Award,shortlist,The Hunger Angel
• 2014Hannelore Greve Literature Prize
• 2021Pour le Mérite for Sciences and Arts
• 2022: Prize for Understanding and Tolerance,Jewish Museum Berlin
• 2022Brückepreis

See also

• List of female Nobel laureates
• List of Nobel laureates in Literature

Further reading

• Bettina Brandt and Valentina Glajar (Eds.),Herta Müller. Politics and aesthetics.University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln 2013.ISBN978-0-8032-4510-5.pdf (excerpt)
• Nina Brodbeck,Schreckensbilder,Marburg 2000.
• Thomas Daum (ed.),Herta Müller,Frankfurt am Main 2003.
• Norbert Otto Eke (ed.),Die erfundene Wahrnehmung,Paderborn 1991.
• Valentina Glajar, "The Discourse of Discontent: Politics and Dictatorship in Hert Müller'sHerztier."The German Legacy in East Central Europe. As Recorded in Recent German Language LiteratureEd. Valentina Glajar. Camden House, Rochester NY 2004. 115–160.
• Valentina Glajar, "Banat-Swabian, Romanian, and German: Conflicting Identities in Herta Muller'sHerztier."Monatshefte89.4 (Winter 1997): 521–540.
• Maria S. Grewe, "Imagining the East: Some Thoughts on Contemporary Minority Literature in Germany and Exoticist Discourse in Literary Criticism."Germany and the Imagined East.Ed. Lee Roberts. Cambridge, 2005.
• Maria S. Grewe,Estranging Poetic: On the Poetic of the Foreign in Select Works by Herta Müller and Yoko Tawada,New York: Columbia UP, 2009.
• Brigid Haines, ' "The Unforgettable Forgotten": The Traces of Trauma in Herta Müller'sReisende auf einem Bein,German Life and Letters,55.3 (2002), 266–281.
• Brigid Haines and Margaret Littler,Contemporary German Women's Writing: Changing the Subject,Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004.
• Brigid Haines (ed.),Herta Müller.Cardiff 1998.
• Martin A. Hainz,"Den eigenen Augen blind vertrauen? Über Rumänien."Der Hammer – Die Zeitung derAlten Schmiede2 (November 2004): 5–6.
• Herta Haupt-Cucuiu:Eine Poesie der Sinne[A Poetry of the Senses], Paderborn, 1996.
• Ralph Köhnen (ed.),Der Druck der Erfahrung treibt die Sprache in die Dichtung: Bildlickeit in Texten Herta Müllers,Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 1997.
  • Bauer, Karin (1999). "Review [of Köhnen 1997]".The German Quarterly.72(4): 421–422.doi:10.2307/408496.JSTOR408496.
• Lyn Marven,Body and Narrative in Contemporary Literatures in German: Herta Müller, Libuse Moníková, Kerstin Hensel.Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005.
• Grazziella Predoiu,Faszination und Provokation bei Herta Müller,Frankfurt am Main, 2000.
• Diana Schuster,Die Banater Autorengruppe: Selbstdarstellung und Rezeption in Rumänien und Deutschland.Konstanz: Hartung-Gorre-Verlag, 2004.
• Carmen Wagner,Sprache und Identität.Oldenburg, 2002.

External links

• Herta Müller,short biography by Professor of German Beverley Driver Eddy atDickinson College
• Herta Müller:Bio, excerpts, interviews and articles in the archives of thePrague Writers' Festival
• Herta Müller,atcomplete review
• List of works, selection of translations,Bibliothèque Nobel
• Herta MüllerArchived6 October 2008 at theWayback Machine,profile byInternational Literature Festival Berlin.Retrieved on 7 October 2009
• Herta Müller interviewbyRadio Romania Internationalon Aug 17, 2007. Retrieved on 7 October 2009
• "Securitate in all but name",by Herta Müller. About her ongoing fight with the Securitate, August 2009
• "Everything I Own I Carry with Me",excerpt from the novel. September 2009
• Poetry and Labor Camp: Literature Nobel Laureate Herta MüllerGoethe-Institut,December 2009
• "The Evil of Banality" – A review of The Appointment by Costica Bradatan,The Globe and Mail,February 2010
• "Herta Müller: The 2009 Laureate of the Nobel Prize in Literature",Yemen Times
• "Half-lives in the shadow of starvation",review by Costica Bradatan ofThe Hunger Angel,The Australian,February 2013
• How could I forgive. An interview with Herta MüllerVideo byLouisiana Channel
• Philip Boehm (Fall 2014)."Herta Müller, The Art of Fiction No. 225".The Paris Review.
• Herta Mülleron Nobelprize.orgincluding the Nobel Lecture, 7 December 2009Jedes Wort weiß etwas vom Teufelskreis