The concept of object in literary works of Herta Müller

Authors

  • Katsiaryna V. Andryanava Belarusian State University, 4 Niezaliežnasci Avenue, Minsk 220030, Belarus

Keywords:

Herta Müller, the concept of object, self-identification, invented perception, foreign view

Abstract

In this article the concept of object in H. Müller’s literary works is examined. The objects play a significant role in revealing a self-identification problem in the writer’s works. Images of certain objects can convey emotions and feelings of characters, and at the same time they represent a particular idea or symbolic meaning. In the works of H. Müller the objects, like people, have ambiguous nature: depending on a situation or a context, on the one hand, they can be seen as a saving remedy for loneliness, doubts, fear, death of the characters, and on the other hand as an instrument of the heroes’ obedience to those who have power.

Author Biography

  • Katsiaryna V. Andryanava, Belarusian State University, 4 Niezaliežnasci Avenue, Minsk 220030, Belarus

    lecturer at the department of foreign literature, faculty of philology

References

  1. Bologa E. Identität bei Herta Müller: Schreiben als Mittel der Selbstbehauptung [Internet]. 2012 [cited 2017 November 2]. Available from: http://digitalrepository.unm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1086&context=fll_etds. German.
  2. Predoiu G. «Leben wir also. Aber man lässt uns nicht leben. Leben wir also im Detail»: Zur Fokussierung auf «kleine Dinge» in Herta Müllers Romanen. Temeswarer Beiträge zur Germanistik. Band 10 [Internet]. Temeswar: Mirton Werlag; 2013 [cited 2017 April 23]. p. 7−32. Available from: https://litere.uvt.ro/publicatii/TBG/pdf/TBG/tbg-10-2013.06121301.pdf. German.
  3. Bozzi P. Im Namen der Dinge: Zur gebrechlichen Einrichtung der Welt im Werk Herta Müllers. Temeswarer Beiträge zur Germanistik. Band 12 [Internet]. Temeswar: Mirton Verlag; 2015 [cited 2017 April 23]. S. 263−283. Available from: https://litere.uvt.ro/publicatii/TBG/pdf/TBG/TBG12=2015.pdf. German.
  4. Kovtun OA. Chelovek i veshch’ v kul’ture: predmetnoe osnovanie personal’noi identichnosti [A person and thing in culture: the object basis of personal identity] [dissertation abstract]. Chelyabinsk: Chelyabinsk State Academy of culture and arts; 2011. 26 p. Russian.
  5. Müller H. Immer derselbe Schnee und immer derselbe Onkel [Always the same snow and always the same uncle]. Munich: Hanser; 2011. German.
  6. Müller H. Hunger und Seide [Hunger and Silk]. Munich: Hanser; 2015. German.
  7. Müller H. In der Falle [Trapped]. Göttingen: Wallstein; 2009. German.
  8. Müller H. Der Teufel sitzt im Spiegel: Wie Wahrnehmung sich erfindet [The devil sits in the mirror: how perception invents itself]. Berlin: Rotbuch Verlag; 1991. German.
  9. Poluboiarinova LN. [Herta Müller’s poetics: to the concept of invented perception]. In: Kudryavtseva TV, editor. Nemetskoyazychnaya literatura: edinstvo v mnogoobrazii [German literature: unity in variety]. Moscow: A. M. Gorky Institute of World Literature, Russian Academy of Sciences; 2010. p. 382−389. Russian.
  10. Müller H. Der König verneigt sich und tötet [The kingbows and kills]. Munich: Hanser; 2003. German.
  11. Müller H. Mein Vaterland war ein Apfelkern [My homeland was an apple pip]. Munich: Hanser; 2014. German.
  12. Müller H. Atemschaukel [The hunger angel]. Munich: Hanser Publishers; 2009. German.
  13. Müller H. Der Fuchs war damals schon der Jäger [The fox was ever the hunter]. Munich: Hanser; 2009. German.
  14. Müller H. Herztier [The land of green plums]. Munich: Hanser; 2007. German.

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Published

2019-02-27

Issue

No. 1 (2019): Journal of the Belarusian State University. Philology

Section

Literary Research

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How to Cite

[1]
Andryanava, K.V. 2019. The concept of object in literary works of Herta Müller. Journal of the Belarusian State University. Philology. 1 (Feb. 2019), 46–52.