The Land Of Green Plums

THE LAND OF GREEN PLUMS

by Herta Muller

 

Awards: Dublin Winner 1998, Nobel Winner 1998

 

Date Read: November 15, 2023

 

In The Land of Green Plums, Muller explores the fates of four young people as they begin their adult lives and how those lives are shaped by living under a corrupt and brutal dictator. All of them are moderate in their political views with undertones of dissidence but those leanings are not overt. Having all come from the countryside, they believe their prospects will be improved if they move to the city. All of their futures are compromised, though.

 

As another wrote, “…we see the way the totalitarian state comes to inhabit every human realm and how everyone, even the strongest, must either bend to the oppressors or resist them and thereby perish.” And perish they do. Almost as soon as they can feel the warm embrace of freedom do two of the four come to mysterious ends, both of which are labeled suicides. The state has the power to corrupt their livelihoods, their living situations, their romantic lives and once all parts of their lives are devastated, only two choices remain – bend to the will of the state or kill yourself. 

 

Having herself survived Ceausescu's reign, Muller’s work is largely informed by her own experiences and witness. Through her characters, she is able to reimagine the lives of those she’s known and give a voice to their experience. At times opaque and at times giving me Anne Sexton vibes, Muller is clearly an exceptional writer.

 

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