This master thesis aims to identify and interpret alienation-related situations in two novels by the German-Romanian author Herta Müller, "The Land of Green plums" (Herztier) and ''The Appointment" (Heute wär ich mir nicht lieber begegnet). The events presented in the novels take place during the time of the communist dictatorship of Nicolae Ceausescu in Romania, with some references to the time before the Second World War. Alienation is considered a central theme in both novels. The thesis uses the six dimensions of alienation as described by the American sociologist Melvin Seeman (University of California), and is based on the following research questions: 1) What literary descriptions of alienation-related situations can be found in Herta Müller’s two novels?; and 2) How do these literary descriptions emphasize the concept of alienation as defined in Melvin Seeman’s theory? In analyzing the novels, two aspects were taken into account: 1) what kind of society the protagonist lives in; and 2) what types of situations highlight the protagonist’s alienation. The process of identification and evaluation of texts describing alienation-related situations are based on a mixed method of thematic and biographic text analysis. The method of interpreting a written text rest on hermeneutics as described by Hans Georg Gadamer. The thesis identifies several descriptions of alienation-related situations in both novels. These situations are all various expressions of the protagonists’ experiences of living in a non-democratic society. Most of them relate to extreme situations causing fear and anxiety to the protagonists. The thesis studies the relationship between protagonists and society. The protagonists describe not only their own police interrogations, but also those of their friends. Alienation is also represented in the childhood memories of the protagonists.

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When translating a stylistic written language there are lot to consider, in particular metaphors are said to be one of the most specific challenges. Herta Müllers writing is known to be filled with rhetorical devices. As metaphors belong to one of the major characteristics in Müllers texts, the novel Atemschaukel was studied to find out whether the readers comprehension and experience would differ when reading the text in German language or reading it translated into Swedish.The analysis was based on which strategies was used for the translation and if, and in that case how, it effects the reception of the text by the readers. It showed that most parables and metaphors were directly translated and that the difference in understanding and reading experience mainly didn’t differ much from reading the original text.

Submitted by Aline Batista (alinehb.ufpel@gmail.com) on 2018-07-17T18:47:50Z No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) Dissertacao_Loren_Cristine_Ferreira_Cuadros.pdf: 4331024 bytes, checksum: 6f0813758e58cdd14dc44163a7ad1238 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Aline Batista (alinehb.ufpel@gmail.com) on 2018-07-17T21:24:48Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) Dissertacao_Loren_Cristine_Ferreira_Cuadros.pdf: 4331024 bytes, checksum: 6f0813758e58cdd14dc44163a7ad1238 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-07-17T21:24:57Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) Dissertacao_Loren_Cristine_Ferreira_Cuadros.pdf: 4331024 bytes, checksum: 6f0813758e58cdd14dc44163a7ad1238 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-12-21 / Sem bolsa / O artista plástico alemão Gerhard Richter tem causado certa controvérsia com sua abordagem do Holocausto que utiliza a técnica da pintura abstrata. Uma de suas obras mais recentes, “Birkenau”, tem como pano de fundo as fotografias tiradas pelos prisioneiros judeus que integravam o Sonderkommando em 1944. Alguns críticos acusam o trabalho de Richter de esconder a verdade de Auschwitz. Por sua vez, o romance “Tudo o que tenho levo comigo”, da escritora romeno-alemã Herta Müller, é constituído por uma série de imagens poéticas que são produto da visão pictórica de seu narrador, Leo Auberg. Aos dezessete anos, o jovem romeno é deportado para um gulag após a ocupação de seu país pelas tropas soviéticas e encontra na observação da beleza dos elementos de seu cotidiano no campo de trabalhos forçados uma forma de resistir à violência física e psicológica a que é submetido. O presente trabalho tem como objetivo sugerir que em vez de encobrir os horrores dos campos de concentração e de trabalhos forçados, a estetização presente nas obras de Richter e Müller evidencia a crueldade dos crimes cometidos pelos nazistas e soviéticos. / The German artist Gerhard Richter has caused some controversy through his use of the abstract painting technique to approach the Holocaust. One of his most recent works, “Birkenau”, uses as its background images the photographs taken by some of the Jewish prisoners who were part of the Sonderkommando group in 1944. Some critics accuse Richter of hiding Auschwitz’s truth. On its turn, “The Hunger Angel”, a novel by Romanian-born German author Herta Müller, consists of successive poetic imagery arising from the picturesque vision of its narrator, Leo Auberg. At the age of seventeen, the young Romanian is deported to a gulag after the occupation of his country by Soviet troops and finds in observing the beauty of the elements of his daily life at the forced labor camp a way of resisting the physical and psychological violence to which he is subjected. This research project aims to suggest that instead of concealing the horrors of the concentration and forced labor camps, the aestheticization found in Richter's and Müller's works emphasizes the cruelty of the crimes committed by the Nazis and Soviets.

I detta arbete undersöks två etablerade och en experimentell metod för bestämmande av läsbarheten hos texter. Metoderna undersöks genom att de appliceras på två litterära verk: Atemschaukel av Herta Müller och Berühre mich. Nicht. av Laura Kneidl. Metoderna som undersöks är läsbarhetsformeln Flesch-Reading-Ease (meningslängd och ordlängd) och ordfrekvens (hur vanliga orden är). Dessa båda läsbarhetsundersökningar är väletablerade och har använts flitigt. I detta arbete testas även en ny möjlig läsbarhetsfaktor: Upprepningar av ord, där upprepningar av innehållsord räknas. Resultaten av analyserna enligt de olika metoderna sammanställs och jämförs för att besvara två frågor: 1. Vilket verk förefaller mest lättläst enligt de två etablerade läsbarhetsundersökningarna? 2. Samvarierar mängden upprepningar med resultaten från de andra två läsbarhetsundersökningarna? Resultaten ger en något splittrad bild: Atemschaukel är enligt Flesch-Reading-Ease det mest lättlästa verket, medan ordfrekvensen visar på motsatt förhållande: Berühre mich. Nicht. har de genomsnittligt vanligare orden. Huruvida upprepning av ord har ett samband med läsbarheten är svårt att avgöra baserat enbart på resultaten i denna undersökning. Användandet av språkliga stilfaktorer för eventuellt att läsbarhetstest inte lämpar sig för undersökning av skönlitterära texter.

abstract: After being awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2009, Herta Müller attained great prominence around the world. Commentators, especially in English-speaking countries, seemed shocked by the decision. One of the primary concerns was that Müller was relatively unknown. This thesis seeks to address this and other concerns by looking at reviews of her works in German- and English-language publications both before and after the Nobel Prize was awarded. This thesis analyses chronologically the reception of her books beginning with Niederungen in 1982 and ending with the reception of her novel Atemschaukel in 2009. It compares the reception of the original German text to that of the English translation; therefore only works which have been translated and published in English are discussed. The study also shows that while Müller's work did not top the bestseller charts, at least before the Nobel Prize, she was hardly the completely unknown author that some in the English-language media believed. This thesis seeks to present trends in the reception as well as provide a basis for further study of the reception of Herta Müller. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.A. German 2011