THE CONCEPTS OF “FOREIGNER” AND “ABROAD” IN THE LITERARY WORKS OF HERTA MÜLLER
THE CONCEPTS OF “FOREIGNER” AND “ABROAD” IN THE LITERARY WORKS OF HERTA MÜLLER

Summary/Abstract: The aim of the present article is to present the various aspects and means of representation concerning the concepts “foreign” and “foreignness” in various literary works of the Banat-Swabian Nobel prize winner Herta Müller. The main stylistic particularity of the Nitzkydorf-born author is the “foreign view”, which origins in the known, the familiar. Due to the Romanian communist regime and the relentless pursuit of the Securitate, the objects of everyday life lose their concrete sense, personifying the pursuer and his oppressive mechanisms. The foreign is present in the works of Herta Müller already in her first work, “Niederungen”(eng. “Nadirs”), an utterly ironic portrait of the Banat-Swabian German minority living in the West of Romania, characterized by intolerance, clinging to century-old, outdated traditions and crushing any attempt of individual affirmation. The Soviet labor camp, where 70.000 members of the German minority living in Romania were deported beginning with 1945, is another universe of the foreign. Müllers novel, “Atemschaukel”(“The Hunger Angel”), written in collaboration with the Transylvanian lyricist Oscar Pastior depicts a world characterized by hunger and the will to survive, by the drive to stay alive in a foreign environment. This article focuses on the various stages of Müller’s literary creation, insisting on the elements which make up her original and inimitable style, which fascinates and captivates readers all over the world.

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