Skip to: Content
Skip to: Site Navigation
Skip to: Search
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2009
| Subscribe to Newser's RSS feeds RSS | Follow Newser on Twitter Twitter


0

German Novelist Herta Mueller Wins Nobel for Literature

Romanian-born writer explores themes of exile, dictatorship

Share

(Newser) – The Nobel Prize in literature was awarded today to Herta Mueller, a Romanian-born German novelist and poet whose work has explored the brutality of life under the Ceausescu dictatorship. Deprived of her job and threatened by the regime, she fled to Germany in 1987. The Land of Green Plums, published in English in the 1990s, follows five lives through the dictatorship and was written, she says, "in memory of my Romanian friends who were killed under the Ceausescu regime."

Mueller's more recent fiction continues to explore themes of oppression and exile. Her latest novel, Everything I Possess I Carry With Me, takes place in a Ukrainian labor camp, and has received rave reviews in the German press. Mueller is only the 12th woman to win the $1.4 million prize in its century-plus history; the last was English writer Doris Lessing, in 2007.

Romanian-born German writer Herta Mueller, seen in 2004. The Swedish Academy said her work, 'with the concentration of poetry and the frankness of prose, depicts the landscape of the dispossessed.'
Romanian-born German writer Herta Mueller, seen in 2004. The Swedish Academy said her work, 'with the concentration of poetry and the frankness of prose, depicts the landscape of the dispossessed.'   (AP Photo/Jens Meyer/file)
Romanian-born German writer Herta Mueller has the won the 2009 Nobel Prize in literature.
Romanian-born German writer Herta Mueller has the won the 2009 Nobel Prize in literature.   (AP Photo/Jens Meyer, file)
Peter Englund, right, secretary of the Royal Swedish Academy announces Thursday, Oct. 8, 2009, that Romanian-born German writer Herta Mueller has won the 2009 Nobel Prize in literature.
Peter Englund, right, secretary of the Royal Swedish Academy announces Thursday, Oct. 8, 2009, that Romanian-born German writer Herta Mueller has won the 2009 Nobel Prize in literature.   (AP Photo/Anders Wiklund)
« Prev« Prev | Next »Next » Slideshow
OFF THE GRID
11.20.09
The Health-Care Wars Have Just Begun
11.19.09
Sarah Palin Deserves Some More Attention
0 comments
VIEWING:
 
LEAVE A
COMMENT Comment Policy
Facebook ConnectPost this comment to Facebook?

After connecting you will have the option to post your comment on your Facebook profile.

 

Related Newser Stories

10 Stories

(Newser) - With Herta Mueller joining the ranks of Nobel laureates today, it seems like a good time to look back at some of the other literary giants that have been honored since the turn of the century. For a full list of all the winners since 1960, check the AP source.... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Nobel Prize • Doris Lessing • Harold Pinter • Nobel Prize for Literature • Herta Mueller

opinion

 Modern Novels' Shift: 
 We Can Understand Them  

Literary writers are re-embracing idea of a good plot

Aug 29, 09 10:30 AM CDT
(Newser) - The 21st-century novel is being reacquainted with an old friend: the plot. Today's best writers are abandoning the notion that literary novels need to be all but impenetrable to readers without advanced degrees, writes Lev Grossman in the Wall Street Journal. "The revolution is under way," he says.... More »

MORE ABOUT:
literature • novelist • novel • authors • books

 García Márquez 
 Finished With 
 Writing: Agent 

Giant of Latin American literature's oeuvre is complete

Apr 2, 09 12:59 PM CDT
(Newser) - The world has probably already seen the complete work of Gabriel García Márquez, the Guardian reports. Friend and fellow author Plinion Apuleyo Mendoza said last year that the creator of magical realism was working on a new novel, but his agent recently quashed that rumor. "I don't... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Latin America • Colombia • literature • author • novel • book • Nobel Prize for Literature • Gabriel Garcia Marquez

10 Stories


Arts & Living 
TwitterFollow @NewserArts on Twitter

 
Germany • literature • novelist • Nobel Prize • Romania • Nobel Prize for Literature • Herta Mueller

from our news partners