Herta Müller

Valentina Glajar (Texas State University at San Marcos)

Ed. by Jennifer Marston William, Purdue University
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.4.1: German-language Writing and Culture: Germany, 500-present.
Vol. editors: Gerhard P. Knapp (University of Utah), Jennifer Marston William (Purdue University), Herbert Rowland (Purdue University), Jill E. Twark (East Carolina University)

Domains

Protest movements and actions

Dates

Born 17 Aug 1953
Activity 1984-ongoing

Places

Born in Banat
Active in Germany; Romania

Activities

Primary

Essayist
Novelist

Resources

Among contemporary German-Romanian writers who began a new life and career in Germany, Herta Müller is undoubtedly the most successful, especially after receiving the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2009. Born August 17, 1953, in Nitzkydorf, Banat, Romania, she left the country in 1987 after she and her then husband, writer Richard Wagner, endured persecution under Ceauşescu’s totalitarian regime. In Germany, as she has stated in many interviews, Müller as well as Wagner wanted to be accepted as political refugees, not as ethnic Germans. Müller and Wagner’s application for political asylum complicated and delayed the process of establishing their status in Germany, since what German immigration officials were looking for was proof …

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1999 words

Citation: Glajar, Valentina. "Herta Müller". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 04 January 2010 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=12545, accessed 24 November 2024.]

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