Herta Muller (en.) life and biography

Herta Müller is a Romanian-born German novelist, poet and essayist noted for her works depicting the effects of violence, cruelty and terror, usually in the setting of Communist Romania under the repressive Nicolae Ceausescu regime which she experienced herself.

Herta Müller was raised in a German-speaking section of Romania, and became a member of Aktionsgruppe Banat, an underground writers' group seeking freedom of expression. She worked for several years at a machine factory, but was fired when she refused to become an informant for the secret police. Her first collection of short stories was published in 1982, but only in a heavily censored edition, as government officials saw that her writing cast light on human rights violations by President Nicolae Ceausescu's regime. An uncensored edition of her work was published in Germany to great critical acclaim, and she emigrated in 1986. She now lives in Berlin, where she has written some 20 books. She was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2009.

Her work is not well known beyond eastern Europe, as only five of her books have been translated into English. In 2001, a New York Times review of Heute wär ich mir lieber nicht begegnet (The Appointment), described it as "more a test of endurance than pleasure". She remains critical of writers from Romania and the former East Germany who cooperated with the secret police, and she has declined membership in the writers group International PEN over this issue. Her husband, Richard Wagner, is also a Romanian exile and author.

Müller's involvement with Aktionsgruppe Banat has also influenced the boldness with which she writes, 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.

Awards:

Kleist Prize 1994
German Academy for Language and Literature 1995
Aristeion Prize 1995
Carl Zuckmayer Medal 2002
Würth Prize for European Literature 2006
Nobel Prize for Literature 2009

Read more