UC Berkeley undergraduate Preethi Kandhalu reviewed Herta Müller’s 1986 novel “Der Mensch ist ein grosser Fasan auf der Welt” (The Passport):
The Passport presents the story of Windisch, a miller who lives in the Socialist Republic of Romania with his wife and daughter, Amalie, who is in a desperate quest to acquire a passport to emigrate to West Germany with his family. The novel’s historical context is explicitly stated when Amalie, a kindergarten teacher, says while pointing to a map of Romania, “Comrade Nicolae Ceausescu is the General Secretary of our country, the Socialist Republic of Romania.”, which was between 1967 and 1989… [Read full review here.]
