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The Landscape of The Dispossessed Self and Characters
Author
Dr Chitra. V S
Specifications
  • ISBN 13 : 9789388008129
  • year : 2019
  • language : English
  • binding : Hardbound
Description
The twentieth century German literature proffers multifarious dimensions to exile, endowing exile writings as creative artifacts. The thesis attempts to view exile narratives as representations of the landscape of the dispossessed, in the backdrop of the semantic parameters of heterogeneous exile narratives. The intricacies of exile literature necessitate an understanding of the complexities of the backdrop of its framework. The concept of displacement is foregrounded in the variant forms of exile, blending nostalgia and the associated sense of loss, leading the study through an analytical and theoretical approach essentially illustrated through the select works of Herta Müller. Müller’s writings are depictions of the life under Ceausescu’s regime in conjunction with her augmentation into an internationally acclaimed writer. The German-Romanian exile and its repercussions in the German literature of all times figure the core element of discussion. The concepts of “landscape’ and “dispossession” – one complementing the other and aimed at appropriating quantitatively to its fulfillment, has been discussed diversely. The concept of ‘landscape’ in itself incorporates the mental conditions owing to the physical experiences an individual comes across in life. Müller’s select novels rich in autofictional elements are narratives of exile predominant in trauma, and are explicit expressions of “the landscape of the dispossessed” lending uniqueness to the aesthetics of her exile writings, serve as the focus of this study. The exile inherent in Muller’s life and the select novels – The Passport, The Appointment, The Land of Green Plums, Traveling on One Leg and The Hunger Angel – are analysed. Herta Müller’s ‘Aussiedler’ status owes much to the oppressive conditions under the totalitarian regime. Exile and its Repercussions on theSelf and Characters, which forms the core aspect and substantiates the fact that Muller’s works constitute the recreation of the author’s life and are the true representations of landscape that transforms to mindscape of the displaced characters. The common features that her novels maintain with other exile narratives are traced along with the singularity she maintains in discovering the rare beauty in the agony of exile.