心靈的遠航者

赫塔·米勒(Herta Müller)，1953年出生于羅馬尼亞，1987年與丈夫移居德國，現居住在柏林。米勒以描寫羅馬尼亞下層人民的不幸生活和痛苦遭遇而著稱。她創作了大量的小說、詩歌和隨筆，其代表作有《我所擁有的我都帶著》、《光年之外》、《行走界線》、《河水奔流》、《風中綠李》、《呼吸鐘擺》等。米勒的作品語言簡潔，文字優美，在充滿詩意的描述中暗含隱喻。德國文學評論家認為，米勒的作品總是“從記憶、夢與內心出發，帶領讀者進行一次又一次難忘的心靈之旅”。

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Herta Müller， the Romanian-born German novelist and essayist who writes of the oppression of dictatorship1) in her native country， won the 2009 Nobel Prize in Literature. The Swedish Academy described Ms. Müller as a writer “who， with the concentration of poetry and the frankness of prose， depicts the landscape of the dispossessed2).”

Ms. Müller， 56， emigrated to Germany in 1987. She is the first German writer to win the Nobel in literature since Günter Grass3) in 1999 and the 13th winner writing in German since the prize was first given in 1901. She is the 12th woman to capture the literature prize. But unlike previous winners like Doris Lessing4) and V. S. Naipaul5)， Ms. Müller is a relative unknown outside of literary circles in Germany. She has written some 20 books， but just 5 have been translated into English， including the novels The Land of Green Plums and The Appointment.

Peter Englund， permanent secretary of the Swedish Academy， said Ms. Müller was honored for her “very， very distinct special language” and because “she has really a story to tell about growing up in a dictatorship...and growing up as a stranger in your own family.”

Ms. Müller was born and raised in the German-speaking town of Nitzkydorf， Romania. Her father served in the Waffen-SS6) in World War II， and her mother spent years in a work camp in what is now Ukraine.

She wrote her first collection of short stories in 1982 while working as a translator for a factory. The book Niederungen—published in English as Nadirs—was published in Germany two years later to critical acclaim.

Niederungen and her other early works depicted life in a village and the repression its residents faced. Her later novels， including The Land of Green Plums and The Appointment， approach allegory7) in their graphic portrayals of the brutality suffered by modest people. Her most recent novel， Atemschaukel， is a finalist for the German Book Prize.

Even in Germany， Ms. Müller is not well known. “She’s not one of these public trumpeters8)—or drumbeaters9)， like Grass，” said Volker Weidermann， a book critic for the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung newspaper. “She’s more reserved.”

Ms. Müller also has a low profile10) in the English-speaking world， although The Land of Green Plums won the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award in 1998.

Lyn Marven， a lecturer in German studies at the University of Liverpool who has written about Ms. Müller， said: “It’s an odd disjunction to write about traumatic11) experiences…in a very poetic style. It’s not what we expect， certainly.”

About learning to become a writer while under a dictatorship， Ms. Müller has said: “I’ve had to learn to live by writing， not the other way around. I wanted to live by the standards I dreamt of， it’s as simple as that. And writing was a way for me to voice what I could not actually live.”

赫塔·米勒，這位出生于羅馬尼亞的德國小說家和散文家，獲得了2009年諾貝爾文學獎。米勒的作品主要描寫的是羅馬尼亞獨裁政權對人民的鎮壓。瑞典文學院稱作家米勒女士“以詩歌的精練和散文的率直描繪了一幅流離失所者的眾生相”。

米勒女士現年56歲，1987年移居德國。自1999年君特·格拉斯獲得諾貝爾文學獎以來，她是又一位獲得該項殊榮的德國作家，也是該獎于1901年設立以來第13位以德語寫作獲獎的作家。同時她還是第12位獲得該獎的女性。但與多麗絲·萊辛和V. S.奈保爾這些以往的獲獎者不同，米勒女士在德國文學圈外基本不為人所知。盡管她已創作約二十部作品，但僅有五部被譯成英文，包括《風中綠李》與《約定》。

瑞典文學院終身秘書彼得·恩格隆德稱米勒女士獲獎的原因是她“別具一格的語言風格”以及“她對于成長在極權之下……以及在自己家中像陌生人一樣生活所作出的真實描述。”

米勒女士出生并成長于羅馬尼亞的尼特基多夫，一個以德語為通用語言的小鎮。她的父親在二戰時曾服役于武裝黨衛隊，她的母親在現位于烏克蘭境內的勞教營里被關押過多年。

1982年，她在一家工廠里從事翻譯工作時，出版了她的第一本短篇小說集。這本英文譯名為《低地》的書于兩年后在德國出版，并大獲好評。

《低地》以及米勒女士其他的早期作品描述的是鄉下村莊的生活以及那里的村民所受到的鎮壓。她后期的小說，包括《風中綠李》與《約定》，以諷喻的手法生動再現了普通大眾的殘酷遭遇。她的最新作品《我所擁有的我都帶著》入圍了德國圖書獎。

但即使在德國，米勒女士也并不出名。“與格拉斯這些人不同，她不愛在公眾面前高談闊論或大肆宣揚，”來自《星期日法蘭克福匯報》的書評家沃克爾·韋德曼說，“她更內斂一些。”

盡管米勒女士于1998年憑借作品《風中綠李》榮獲國際IMPAC都柏林文學獎，但她在英語國家的知名度也不高。

英國利物浦大學“德國研究”專業的講師利恩·馬文曾撰文談及米勒女士，他評論說:“用詩意的方式來記述痛苦的經歷，會讓人產生一種奇怪的分裂的感覺。而毫無疑問，這超出了我們的預期。”

在談到如何在獨裁政權下成長為一名作家時，米勒女士曾說:“我不得不學會依靠寫作而生存，除此之外別無選擇。我想按自己夢想的標準生活，僅此而已。對我來說，寫作是一種吶喊的途徑，用以表達我在現實中無法實現的生活。”

The Passport (1986)

《護照》

內容簡介:小說講述的是在羅馬尼亞一個講德語的小村落里，一個鄉下人申請移民德國的故事。小說以簡潔、優美、充滿詩意的文字描述了主人公Windisch對德國的向往以及對羅馬尼亞齊奧塞斯庫時期獨裁統治的失望。

Amalie hangs the map of Romania on the wall.

“All children live in blocks of flats or in houses，” says Amalie. “Every house has rooms. All the houses together make one big house. This big house is our country. Our Fatherland.”

Amalie points at the map. “This is our Fatherland，” she says. With her fingertip she searches for the black dots on the map. “These are the towns of our Fatherland，” says Amalie. “The towns are the rooms of this big house， our country. Our fathers and mothers live in our houses. They are our parents. Every child has its parents. Just as the father in the house in which we live is our father， so Comrade Nicolae Ceausescu12) is the father of our country. And just as the mother in the house in which we live is our mother， so Comrade Elena Ceausescu13) is the mother of our country. Comrade Nicolae Ceausescu is the father of all the children. And Comrade Elena Ceausescu is the mother of all the children. All the children love comrade Nicolae and comrade Elena， because they are their parents.”

Traveling on One Leg (1989) 《單腿旅行》

內容簡介:小說的主人公Irene是一位出生在羅馬尼亞的德國人，后來移居德國。作為一名移居者，Irene覺得自己既不屬于羅馬尼亞，也不屬于德國。Irene生活在一個既熟悉又陌生的國度，她無法卸下舊有的文化包袱，也無法融入新的文化，深深地陷入了一種政治上與社會上的孤立感。小說圍繞著Irene與三位男性的感情糾葛展開敘述，揭示了她內心深處“家國兩殤”的痛楚。

Irene had met Thomas through Stefan. On the banks of the Landwehrkanal14). The sun had been warm. But its light was already turned towards another season.

The voices of the junk dealers came on the wind through the trees from the direction of the flea market. And the wind smelled like old clothes and dust.

The flea market was one of the many places forgotten by the city， where poverty disguised15) itself as business.

Weeds from regions where nobody lives grew in those places: stinging nettles16)， thistles17)， yarrows18). They were the other country’s weeds for Irene.

Irene got frightened when she saw the other country’s weeds here in the city. She had the suspicion that she had brought the weeds over in her head. Irene touched the weeds to make sure they were not her imagination.

Irene had another suspicion， too. That she kept her homesickness small and tightly woven in her head so she wouldn’t recognize it. That she undercut her melancholy19) as it manifested itself. And that she built constructions of thoughts on her senses to overwhelm20) them.

The Land of Green Plums (1993) 《風中綠李》

內容簡介:小說敘述了一群朋友之間的故事，這其中有學生、老師和工程師。他們終日忍受懷疑、監視和商品匱乏的生活，他們的友情在獨裁政權下擺蕩，當生命受到威脅時，他們嘗試賄賂、適應，甚至反抗，直到找不到繼續活下去的理由而一個接一個地走向毀滅。小說以詩意的語言、銳利的文字刻畫了人們在獨裁政權統治下的絕望狀態。

As I wandered， I didn’t only see the demented21) and their dried-up belongings. I also saw the guards walking up and down the streets. Young men with yellowish teeth standing guard at the entrances of big buildings， outside shops， on squares， at tramstops22)， in the scruffy23) park， in front of the dormitories， in bodegas24)， outside the station. Their suits fitted them badly; they were either too loose or too tight. They knew where the plum trees were in every precinct25) they policed. They even took roundabout26) routes to pass by the plum trees. The boughs drooped. The guards filled their pockets with green plums. They picked them fast， their pockets bulged27). One picking was supposed to last them a long time. After they had filled their jacket pockets， they quickly left the trees behind. Plumsucker was a term of abuse. Upstarts28)， opportunists， sycophants29)， and people who stepped over dead bodies without remorse30) were called that. The dictator was called a plumsucker， too.

The Appointment (1997) 《約定》

內容簡介:小說講述了一個在極權統治下的服裝廠工作的羅馬尼亞女工的故事。由于她在服裝廠出口意大利的男士西裝襯里都縫了一張小紙條，而被秘密警察逮捕。而紙條上寫著的，不過是“娶我吧”三個字和她的姓名、地址。

How often have I had to lie or keep my mouth shut to protect the people I love most—at the very times I could stand them least—to keep them from plunging31) headlong into some disaster. Whenever I wanted my hatred to last forever， a feeling of disgust would soften it up. With a hint of love on the one hand， and a heap of self-reproach32) on the other， I was already surrendering to the next hatred. I’ve always had just enough sense to spare33) others， but never enough to save myself from misfortune.