German author born in Rumania wins the Nobel Prize

German writer takes Nobel Prize in Literature

08/10/2009 1:06:58 PM

CBC Arts
Romanian-born German author Herta Mueller, who was censored for her critical depictions of life under communist rule, has received the Nobel Prize in Literature.


The Royal Swedish Academy said Thursday that Mueller's work shows "the frankness of prose" and "depicts the landscape of the dispossessed."

"Because Mueller had publicly criticized the dictatorship in Romania, she was prohibited from publishing in her own country," said the prize citation. Though her works were heavily criticized in Romania, they were well-received outside the country, the committee said.

"I am very surprised and still cannot believe it," Mueller, who is widely renowned in Germany, said in a statement released by her publisher.

"I can't say anything more at the moment."

The 56-year-old author will receive an award of 10 million kronor ($1.5 million), a diploma and an invitation to the prize ceremonies in Stockholm on Dec. 10, the anniversary of Alfred Nobel's death in 1896.

Mueller, 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 Oppressive Tango in Romania.

Most of her works are in German, but some works have been translated into English, French and Spanish, including The Passport, The Land of Green Plums, Traveling on One Leg and The Appointment.

She was eventually prohibited from publishing in Romania because of her criticism of the government.

With files from The Associated Press

This post has been edited by Dénes on October 08, 2009 05:49 pm

while i was at adolescent age, i read through some of her works back then. i confess that her reflective style has not been and even with the time passing still is not my thing.
yet, as the "Spiegel" writes today, every book of hers is written in order to stem the tide of letting the memories of comunism fade into oblivion. nowadays in germany (perhaps especially here) there is a subtle trend of attpeting to display comunism in a "nicer" way, perhaps as a concession to some of the elder citizens of the former GDR, who could and would not adapt to the post 1989 epoch.
i think that the prize comitee tried to send a strong message to combat these tendencies.

Like usual.
"A romanian born gets nobel prize.....".
When it will be a romanian citizen?

Never I belive.

She is not a "romanian-born", but born in Rumania. Great difference...

Gen. Dénes

My guess is that she's a "former Romanian", because she has lived in Romania for many years and "only" in 1987 she left for Germany.

intresting. last year, when she send Patapievici a protest letter for his support of 2 former informators, the tonus was "ce se baga nemtoaica asta sa ne zica pe cine trimitem".

No, she was never (ethnic) Rumanian, she was always (ethnic) German. She merely changed citizenships.

Gen. Dénes

Shes father fought in the Waffen SS, does anybody knowght in what divion ? I know that many german etnic from Transilvania were in the Das Reich Division.

I,m glad that someone how spoke and wrote about life under comunist regime won the Nobel prize.

I fully agree. Particularly, because this was one of the main reasons why she was chosen this year. However, I have yet to read any of her books...

Gen. Dénes

There are quite a few of them translated in Romanian; I don't know about Hungarian, yet You might wanna try to search some Hungarian-German writer for that particular purpose!

She was translated in Hungarian, A rókák csapdába esnek (Pesti Szalon, 1995). However, I can read English or Rumanian, no problem, even basic level German.

Gen. Dénes