Herta Müller facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Herta Müller
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Müller in 2019
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| Born | 17 August 1953 Nițchidorf, Timiș County, SR Romania |
| Occupation | Novelist, poet |
| Nationality | Romanian, German |
| Alma mater | West University of Timișoara |
| Period | 1982–present |
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Herta Müller (born August 17, 1953) is a famous Romanian-German writer. She writes novels, poems, and essays. In 2009, she won the Nobel Prize in Literature.
Herta Müller was born in Nițchidorf, a village in Timiș County, Romania. Her first language is German. She also speaks Romanian. Since the 1990s, her books have become well-known around the world. They have been translated into more than twenty languages.
Müller's books often show the harsh effects of violence and fear. These stories are usually set in Socialist Republic of Romania. This was during the time of the strict leader Nicolae Ceaușescu. Herta Müller lived through this period herself. Many of her books tell stories from the point of view of the German minority in Romania. They also show the history of Germans in the Banat and Transylvania regions.
Her book The Hunger Angel (published in 2009) is very famous. It describes how German people from Romania were sent to Soviet labor camps. This happened during the Soviet occupation of Romania after World War II. They were forced to work there.
Herta Müller has won over twenty awards. These include the Kleist Prize (1994) and the International Dublin Literary Award (1998). On October 8, 2009, she won the Nobel Prize in Literature. The Swedish Academy said she writes with "the concentration of poetry and the frankness of prose." She "depicts the landscape of the dispossessed."
Contents
Early Life and Education
Herta Müller grew up in a German-speaking village called Nițchidorf. This village is in southwestern Romania. Her family were farmers and part of the German minority. Her grandfather was a rich farmer, but the Communist government took his property. Her father was a truck driver.
In 1945, her mother was just 17 years old. She was one of about 100,000 Germans sent to forced labor camps in the Soviet Union. She was released in 1950. Herta Müller learned Romanian when she went to school. She went to Nikolaus Lenau High School. Later, she studied German and Romanian literature at West University of Timișoara.
In 1976, Müller started working as a translator. She worked for an engineering factory. But in 1979, she was fired. This was because she refused to work with the Securitate. This was the secret police of the Communist government. After losing her job, she taught in a kindergarten. She also gave private German lessons.
Writing Career
Herta Müller's first book was Nadirs. It was published in German in Romania in 1982. The book was about a child's view of German village life in the Banat region. Some people in the German community didn't like her honest descriptions.
Müller was part of a group called Aktionsgruppe Banat. This group was made up of German-speaking writers in Romania. They wanted freedom of speech. They were against the strict censorship of Nicolae Ceaușescu's government. Many of Müller's books, like The Land of Green Plums, explore these issues.
In 1985, Müller was not allowed to leave Romania. But in 1987, she finally got permission. She moved to West Germany with her husband, the writer Richard Wagner. They settled in West Berlin. After moving, she gave lectures at universities in Germany and other countries.
A critic named Denis Scheck once visited Müller's home. He saw that her desk had a drawer full of single letters. She had cut them out from a newspaper. She used these letters to create her texts. He felt like he had "entered the workshop of a true poet."
Her novel The Passport was first published in 1986. It describes life under a strict government. The book uses strange codes and hints. It talks about things without saying them directly. Even small details, like a "pot hole" or a "needle," become important. They show a deeper meaning. The book never mentions Ceausescu directly. But he is central to the story. This makes the reader feel that everything has a hidden meaning.
Nobel Prize Success
In 2009, Herta Müller became very famous around the world. Her novel Atemschaukel, known in English as The Hunger Angel, was nominated for a big German book prize. It also won the Franz Werfel Human Rights Award.
In The Hunger Angel, Müller tells the story of a young man. He is sent to a labor camp in the Soviet Union. This was a common experience for many Germans in Transylvania after World War II. Müller was inspired by the memories of the poet Oskar Pastior. She also used stories from her own mother's experience.
In October 2009, Herta Müller won the Nobel Prize in Literature. The Swedish Academy praised her for showing "the landscape of the dispossessed." They compared her writing style to Franz Kafka. They noted how she uses German as a minority language. The award came at a special time. It was 20 years after the fall of communism. Michael Krüger, her publisher, said the award recognized an author. She "refuses to let the inhumane side of life under communism be forgotten."
Influences on Her Work
Herta Müller has not said much about specific people or books that influenced her. But she has talked about her university studies. She studied German and Romanian literature. The differences between the two languages were very important to her.
She said that languages see things differently. For example, in Romanian, "snowdrops" are called "little tears." In German, they are "Schneeglöckchen," meaning "little snow bells." This shows that languages describe different worlds. She also mentioned Romanian folk music, especially Maria Tănase. Müller said it helped her understand what folklore truly meant. She felt that Romanian folk music is deeply connected to life.
Her experiences with her ex-husband, Richard Wagner, also shaped her work. Both grew up in Romania as part of the German minority. They both studied German and Romanian literature. They were also members of Aktionsgruppe Banat. This group fought for freedom of speech.
Being part of Aktionsgruppe Banat gave Müller courage. She wrote boldly, even with threats from the Romanian secret police. Her books are fiction, but they are based on real people and events. Her 1996 novel, The Land of Green Plums, was written after two friends died. Müller suspected the secret police were involved. One character in the book was based on a close friend from Aktionsgruppe Banat.
Supporting Human Rights
Herta Müller wrote the introduction for the first book of poems by Liu Xia. Liu Xia is the wife of Liu Xiaobo, who won the Nobel Peace Prize and was imprisoned. Müller also translated some of Liu Xia's poems in 2014. In 2017, a letter from Liu Xia to Herta Müller was shared online. In the letter, Liu Xia wrote a poem about feeling alone. This showed Müller's support for human rights.
Works
Prose
- Niederungen, stories, 1982 (censored version); 1984 (uncensored version). Translated as Nadirs (1999)
- Drückender Tango ("Oppressive Tango"), stories, 1984
- Der Mensch ist ein großer Fasan auf der Welt, 1986. Translated as The Passport (1989)
- Barfüßiger Februar ("Barefoot February"), 1987
- Reisende auf einem Bein, 1989. Translated as Traveling on One Leg (1998)
- Der Teufel sitzt im Spiegel ("The Devil is Sitting in the Mirror"), 1991
- Der Fuchs war damals schon der Jäger, 1992. Translated as The Fox Was Ever the Hunter (2016)
- Eine warme Kartoffel ist ein warmes Bett ("A Warm Potato Is a Warm Bed"), 1992
- Der Wächter nimmt seinen Kamm ("The Guard Takes His Comb"), 1993
- Angekommen wie nicht da ("Arrived As If Not There"), 1994
- Herztier, 1994. Translated as The Land of Green Plums (1996)
- Hunger und Seide ("Hunger and Silk"), essays, 1995
- In der Falle ("In a Trap"), 1996
- Heute wär ich mir lieber nicht begegnet, 1997. Translated as The Appointment (2001)
- Der fremde Blick oder Das Leben ist ein Furz in der Laterne ("The Foreign View, or Life Is a ... in a Lantern"), 1999
- Heimat ist das, was gesprochen wird ("Home Is What Is Spoken There"), 2001
- A Good Person Is Worth as Much as a Piece of Bread, foreword to Kent Klich's Children of Ceausescu, 2001.
- Der König verneigt sich und tötet ("The King Bows and Kills"), essays, 2003
- Atemschaukel, 2009. Translated as The Hunger Angel (2012)
- Immer derselbe Schnee und immer derselbe Onkel, 2011
Lyrics / Found Poetry
- Im Haarknoten wohnt eine Dame ("A Lady Lives in the Hair Knot"), 2000
- Die blassen Herren mit den Mokkatassen ("The Pale Gentlemen with their Espresso Cups"), 2005
- Este sau nu este Ion ("Is He or Isn't He Ion"), collage-poetry in Romanian, 2005
- Vater telefoniert mit den Fliegen ("Father is calling the Flies"), 2012
- Father's on the Phone with the Flies: A Selection, 2018 (73 collage poems)
Editor
- Theodor Kramer: Die Wahrheit ist, man hat mir nichts getan ("The Truth Is No One Did Anything to Me"), 1999
- Die Handtasche ("The Purse"), 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"), 2001
Filmography
- 1993: Vulpe – vânător (Der Fuchs war damals schon der Jäger), directed by Stere Gulea
Awards and Honours
- 1981 Adam Müller-Guttenbrunn Prize
- 1984 Aspekte-Literaturpreis
- 1985 Rauris Literature Prize
- 1985 Encouragement Prize of the Literature Award of Bremen
- 1987 Ricarda-Huch Prize of Darmstadt
- 1989 Marieluise-Fleißer-Preis of Ingolstadt
- 1989 German Language Prize
- 1990 Roswitha Medal of Knowledge
- 1991 Kranichsteiner Literature Prize
- 1993 Critical Prize for Literature
- 1994 Kleist Prize
- 1995 Aristeion Prize
- 1995/96 Stadtschreiber von Bergen
- 1997 Literature Prize of Graz
- 1998 Ida-Dehmel Literature Prize
- 1998 International Dublin Literary Award for The Land of Green Plums
- 2001 Cicero Speaker Prize
- 2002 Carl-Zuckmayer-Medaille
- 2003 Joseph-Breitbach-Preis
- 2004 Literature Prize of Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung
- 2005 Berlin Literature Prize
- 2006 Würth Prize for European Literature
- 2006 Walter-Hasenclever Literature Prize
- 2009 Nobel Prize in Literature
- 2009 Franz Werfel Human Rights Award, for The Hunger Angel
- 2010 Hoffmann von Fallersleben Prize
- 2013 Best Translated Book Award, shortlist, The Hunger Angel
- 2014 Hannelore Greve Literature Prize
- 2021 Pour le Mérite for Sciences and Arts
- 2022 Prize for Understanding and Tolerance, Jewish Museum Berlin
- 2022 Brückepreis
Images for kids
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Müller in Hanover, 1992
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Reading The Hunger Angel, Potsdam, July 2010
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Müller's nail scissors, used to cut words from printed materials, at the Nobel Prize Museum.
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Müller signing one of her books in September 2009
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Cover of Drückender Tango, Bucharest 1984
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See also
