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Gustavo Krieger's Reviews > O rei se inclina e mata
O rei se inclina e mata
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I have finished reading "The King Bows and Kills" and not only I must recommend it, but that book has changed my perspective regarding Herta Muller.
The book is a series of essays about her own life. In her novels, I always had the impression that although she is very gifted, that she writes like no one else, occasionally the lyricism is too much and, in certain sense, it aliviates the tension inside the novel. Not only, the novels sometimes seem to be a bit out of this world, because Muller rarely (if I´m not mistaken, in some novels, never), directly adresses times and places and people. I believe that in the 4 books I´ve read by her only in one - once - the name Ceasescu is mentioned. The city where the stories are - Timiasoara - never. Precise dates - never. The language, Romanian - rarely. But reading the essays you get to understand those things and to situate her stories in a more tangible scope. In short, the life in Romenia seems now, for me, a lot worse than I thought it was. That she has survived and could write the books she did seems like a miracle.
We have some explanations of moments of her life, from where did she got a certain idea, in which interrogatory she told a certain line that later she used in a novel. That made her books better, more interesting. Mostly the relations about real life is with Hertztier and Niedlungs. It´s evident that Hertztier (or The Land of Green Plums) is the most personal novel she ever wrote, and almost everything there she did lived. There are some moments about her family and about language that are very, very good.
But the most important thing (for me, at least) is that now I can see her as not being a German Writer - I mean, understanding German as the country Germany. She is someone that writes in a certain language, that happens to be German, from a minority that does not exist anymore. She can´t adapt to Germany, it´s not her home not even today, she is an exile.
Reading comments and articles everywhere, it seems to me that there are many pros and cons about Herta Muller. Understanding the author as a whole - not only through her novels, but through her words about herself - she seems to have gained to me a very special aura (I would compare with Coetzee after I read Summertime, and in some extent Diary of a Bad Year). In fact, before reading "The King Bows and Kill" she seemed to me to be a very talented writer, even a little technical with the language, but now I can say I see her as a true genius.
The book is a series of essays about her own life. In her novels, I always had the impression that although she is very gifted, that she writes like no one else, occasionally the lyricism is too much and, in certain sense, it aliviates the tension inside the novel. Not only, the novels sometimes seem to be a bit out of this world, because Muller rarely (if I´m not mistaken, in some novels, never), directly adresses times and places and people. I believe that in the 4 books I´ve read by her only in one - once - the name Ceasescu is mentioned. The city where the stories are - Timiasoara - never. Precise dates - never. The language, Romanian - rarely. But reading the essays you get to understand those things and to situate her stories in a more tangible scope. In short, the life in Romenia seems now, for me, a lot worse than I thought it was. That she has survived and could write the books she did seems like a miracle.
We have some explanations of moments of her life, from where did she got a certain idea, in which interrogatory she told a certain line that later she used in a novel. That made her books better, more interesting. Mostly the relations about real life is with Hertztier and Niedlungs. It´s evident that Hertztier (or The Land of Green Plums) is the most personal novel she ever wrote, and almost everything there she did lived. There are some moments about her family and about language that are very, very good.
But the most important thing (for me, at least) is that now I can see her as not being a German Writer - I mean, understanding German as the country Germany. She is someone that writes in a certain language, that happens to be German, from a minority that does not exist anymore. She can´t adapt to Germany, it´s not her home not even today, she is an exile.
Reading comments and articles everywhere, it seems to me that there are many pros and cons about Herta Muller. Understanding the author as a whole - not only through her novels, but through her words about herself - she seems to have gained to me a very special aura (I would compare with Coetzee after I read Summertime, and in some extent Diary of a Bad Year). In fact, before reading "The King Bows and Kill" she seemed to me to be a very talented writer, even a little technical with the language, but now I can say I see her as a true genius.
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Reading Progress
October 29, 2015
–
Started Reading
October 29, 2015
– Shelved
November 1, 2015
–
Finished Reading
