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The Post-Communist Afterlife of Dissidents: The Case of Herta Müller

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Author

Editor

  • Michael Schoenhals
  • Karin Sarsenov

Summary, in English

This chapter explores the role of the dissident intellectual in the post-dictatorship era. More specifically, it looks at the reaction in the Romanian cultural press and in the daily newspapers to the awarding of the 2009 Nobel Prize in Literature to Herta Müller, a Romanian-born German writer. Müller is known for her anti-Communist stance as well as her critique of those Romanian political and intellectual elites judged too shy in distancing themselves from the Communist past. I would suggest that the ambivalent attitude of the media towards Müller’s prize reflects the hesitation of both the public and elite to critically engage with the recent past. The effectiveness of Müller’s intransigent attitude is also questioned, that is, more broadly, whether former anti-Communist dissidents are still in a position to mobilize interest and reaction in the aftermath of authoritarian regimes.

Department/s

Publishing year

2013

Language

English

Pages

28-51

Publication/Series

Imagining Mass Dictatorships: The Individual and the Masses in Literature and Cinema

Document type

Book chapter

Publisher

Palgrave Macmillan

Topic

  • History and Archaeology

Keywords

  • Post-communism
  • Herta Müller
  • dissidents
  • media analysis
  • Romania
  • Nobel Prize in Litterature
  • anti-communism
  • collective memory

Status

Published

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISBN: 9781137330680