Herta Müller and her Romanian heritage. A bio-bibliography

Abstract

The winner of the 2009 Nobel Prize for Literature, Herta Müller, had a turbulent past in communist Romania. Until her exile in 1987, the writer contended with both the prejudices of her own Romanian-German community and the totalitarian regime. Her Romanian biography and bibliography remained entangled in areas not always close to plausibility. Unfortunately, they have not been thoroughly recovered through manuscript readings and detailed historical-literary research. The trajectory of Müller’s development as a writer involved numerous trials and marked stages of social and cultural maturation. This article offers the first systematic and accurate examination of her Romanian period, emphasizing overlooked publications and the complex interplay of biographical and cultural events."