9780803231979

Book Description: Lincoln, Nebraska: University Of Nebraska Press, 1999. Hardcover. Book Condition: As New. 1st Edition. 1st Printing. Signed. 126 pages. Published in 1999. Retrospective collection of short stories. One of Herta Muller's finest achievements. The first appearance of the title in English and in the United States. Precedes and should not be confused with the Softcover Edition and all other subsequent printings. Published in a very small and limited first print run as a hardcover original by a University Press. The Hardcover Edition, issued in elegant cloth boards (without a DJ) and printed on pristine-white archival stock paper in the United States, was not reissued and is now rare. This copy comes with a signed copy of Herta Muller's Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech, "When We Don't Speak, We Become Unbearable And When We Do, We Make Fools of Ourselves", translated by Philip Boehm and distributed during her 2012 PEN Festival appearance. Presents Herta Muller's "Niederungen" in a felicitous English translation. "Juxtaposes reality and fantasy, nightmares and dark laughter, a collection of largely autobiographical stories based on Muller's childhood in Romania. The individual tales reveal a child's often nightmarish impressions of life in her village. They brilliantly convey the inner, troubled life of a child and at the same time capture the violence and corruption of life under an oppressive state" (Sieglinde Lug). Regarded as a national icon in Germany, "a living Goethe" (rhymes with Herta), Muller was awarded the Nobel Prize on the 20th Anniversary of the Fall of Communism: "The Committee has recognized an author who refuses to let the inhumane side of life under Communism be forgotten". That is a direct rebuke of Milan Kundera's famous (and frivolous) statement that "the condemnation of totalitarianism doesn't deserve a novel". Yes, it does, and in Muller's writing, what being human means in the context of a totalitarian system has a metaphysical lyricism. An absolute "must-have" title for Herta Muller collectors. This copy is very prominently and beautifully signed in black pen on the title page by Herta Muller. Muller made a rare and historic appearance at the 2012 PEN World Voices Festival of International Literature, during which her signature was obtained. Laid-in is a copy of her Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech, which was distributed during the Festival, also very prominently and beautifully signed in black pen above the first page by Herta Muller. This title is now highly collectible. As far as we know, this is only such signed set available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright, pristine beauties. All other copies of the book available online are subsequent printings. A rare signed set thus. Winner of The Kleist Prize, one of the most prestigious prizes given to writers in German, in 1994. Winner of the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award in 1998 for "The Land of Green Plums". Winner of the European Literature Prize in 2006. Winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2009. One of the greatest living writers. A fine collectible set. (SEE ALSO OTHER HERTA MULLER TITLES IN OUR CATALOG) ISBN 0803231970. Signed by Author. Bookseller Inventory # 17327

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