Saturday 10 October 2009

Nobel

This year's recipient of the literary Nobel Prize is Herta Muller. She was born near Timisoara, in an area where the German-speaking community was very strongly represented. Her father fought in the SS as a result of an agreement between the two countries at the begging of WW2, and her mother was detained in a labour camp after the war, as all Germans were considered to have collaborated with the Nazis. Herta left Romania as she was in her 30's, in 1987, as a result of political persecutions. Only one of her books, the only poetry one, was written in Romanian.
It's a sad thing that all the three Romanian born people ever to have been awarded the Nobel, she, Ellie Wiesel and George Emil Palade, received this award long after leaving our country for ever.

2 comments:

caluad said...

Yes, I had already heard about it. I even went to the public library to look for a book. There was only one copy and it was already taken. so, I'm in the waiting list.
I revised all the entries in the guide aobut literature and could not find any about her. But I understand what you mean about inmigrant writers. A pity!

ivasil said...

I had only heard of her, never read anything written by her except two poems. She was not a well-known figure, suitable for the guide, and not connected to Bucharest either.