Stockholm: Romanian-born German writer Herta Mueller has won the 2009 Nobel Prize in literature, honored for work that "with the concentration of poetry and the frankness of prose, depicts the landscape of the dispossessed."
The 56-year-old author, who emigrated to Germany from then-communist Romania in 1987, made her debut in 1982 with a collection of short stories titled "Niederungen," which was promptly censored by the Romanian government. In 1984 an uncensored version was published in Germany and her work depicting life in a small, German-speaking village in Romania was devoured by readers.
That work was followed by Oppresive Tango in Romania.
Because of her vocal criticism of Romania's government, and its feared secret police, she and her husband left the country.
Excerpts from the Swedish Academy's citation
"Herta Mueller was born on August 17, 1953 in the German-speaking town Nitzkydorf in Banat, Romania. Her parents were members of the German-speaking minority in Romania. Her father had served in the Waffen SS during World War II. Many German Romanians were deported to the Soviet Union in 1945, including Mueller's mother who spent five years in a work camp in present-day Ukraine. Many years later, in Atemschaukel (2009), Mueller was to depict the exile of the German Romanians in the Soviet Union. From 1973 to 1976, Mueller studied German and Romanian literature at the university in Timis,oara (Temeswar). During this period, she was associated with Aktionsgruppe Banat, a circle of young German-speaking authors who, in opposition to Ceausescu's dictatorship, sought freedom of speech. After completing her studies, she worked as a translator at a machine factory from 1977 to 1979. She was dismissed when she refused to be an informant for the secret police. After her dismissal, she was harassed by Securitate.
Mueller made her debut with the collection of short stories Niederungen (1982), which was censored in Romania. Two years later, she published the uncensored version in Germany and, in the same year, Drueckender Tango in Romania. In these two works, Muller depicts life in a small, German-speaking village and the corruption, intolerance and repression to be found there. The Romanian national press was very critical of these works while, outside of Romania, the German press received them very positively. Because Mueller had publicly criticized the dictatorship in Romania, she was prohibited from publishing in her own country. In 1987, Mueller emigrated together with her husband, author Richard Wagner."
A partial list of books by Herta Mueller
Works in English, translated from German:
The Passport (1989).
The Land of Green Plums (1996)
Travelling on One Leg (1998)
The Appointment (2001)
Works in German:
Niederungen (1984).
Druckender Tango (1996)
Der Mensch ist ein groser Fasan auf der Welt (1986)
Barfusiger Februar (1987)
Reisende auf einem Bein (1989)
Der Teufel sitzt im Spiegel (1991)
Der Fuchs war damals schon der Jdger (1992)
Eine warme Kartoffel ist ein warmes Bett (1992)
Im Haarknoten wohnt eine Dame (2000).
Heimat ist das, was gesprochen wird (2001)
Der Kvnig verneigt sich und tvtet (2003)
Die blassen Herren mit den Mokkatassen (2005)
Atemschaukel (2009)
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