Herta Müller, an ethnic German who fled Ceausescu's dictatorship in Romania, yesterday won the Nobel prize for literature for her stories presenting "the landscape of the dispossessed".Born into the marginalised German-speaking community in Romania, Ms Müller was dismissed from her job as a translator in 1979 when she refused to inform for the secret police.
Her first story collection, written in German in 1982, was censored by Ceausescu's regime. Repeatedly threatened by the Romanian authorities, in 1987 she escaped to Germany, where she still lives.
Ms Muller's literature reflects themes of oppression and alienation. "In this country, we had to walk, eat, sleep, and love in fear," she wrote in The Land of Green Plums (1996), which won the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award.
Ms Müllerwas praised by the Swedish academy for writing with "the concentration of poetry and the frankness of prose". "I'm surprised and still can't believe it," she said of yesterday's announcement. She has written 19 books. Four have been translated into English.
This award comes 20 years after the fall of the Berlin wall. "There's no doubt that was a consideration," said Pete Ayrton of Serpent's Tail , who published Ms Müller's The Passport in 1989. "The committee do see themselves as being engaged in the politics of the world."
Felicitas von Lovenberg, head of the literature section at the Frankfurter Allgemeine daily, said that, while the timing was "appropriate", she believed that "for once it was not a politically motivated decision, but came from an aesthetic, poetic point of view".
The intensity of her prose, her powers of description and use of metaphor allowed her to "create a new reality in language" that was "astonishing", Ms von Lovenberg said.
Part of this use of language could, she added, be attributed to the author's experience growing up as a native German speaker in Romania surrounded by different languages and many dialects. Ms Müller has in the past described her early awareness of the power and importance of language.
She is only the 12th woman to win the Nobel prize for literature since it was launched in 1901. The prize is worth SKr10m ($1.4m, €980,000, £900,000), and is to be presented in Stockholm on December 10.
Translated work
The Passport (1989). An ethnic German embattled with the Ceausescu regime. The Land of Green Plums (1996). Students commit betrayal. Travelling on One Leg (1998). An emigrant is adrift in Berlin. The Appointment (2001). A day in the life of a young clothing-factory worker who sews secret messages into the lining of men's suits.
Aarticle from FT.com
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