In lowlands

Censored in Romania and hailed by German critics as a revelation, Nobel laureate Herta Müller's first work describes, from a child's perspective, the brutality in a supposedly idyllic village during Ceaucescu's dictatorship.

This volume gathers fifteen stories that take us through, from the vivisecting gaze of a child, everyday scenes in the life of a small community of Swabian descent. The family nucleus, death, children's games, sex, the church, as well as school, dancing, animals and the vegetable garden, are depicted with a deceptive ingenuity that turns reality into a brutal nightmare.

Through critical images and surreal scenes, En tierras bajas is composed of stories of permanent repression and lack of communication, which begin in family relationships and continue in those of individuals with the State.

The underlying criticism of the Romanian regime in this work led to Herta Müller being forbidden to travel and publish and finally resulted in her exile in Germany.

Reviews:

"Fantasy and reality in texts that are very close to what we call Magical Realism in Spanish."

Jesús Munárriz, El Mundo

"It somehow honors all persecuted authors and all those who have been forced into exile."

Bei Ling