Hunt for selfhood amid daily chaos

If the feeling of loneliness while being surrounded by people could be bottled and sold, it would come in the form of Herta Müller’s Traveling on One Leg. The 2009 Nobel Prize-winning author depicts the main character, Irene, and her struggle to find herself. Semi-autobiographical, the novel explores three core themes of identity, exile, and isolation.In essence, it’s a novel that’s deeply personal to the author. Herta Müller is a Romanian-German novelist, poet and essayist, largely known for her work that showcases the dark realities of living under the Socialist Republic rule in Romania. In Traveling on One Leg, she digs into her own experiences to evoke a feeling of loneliness and disarray. It forces readers to experience some of the most undesirable situations alongside Irene.The Bare Bones Book Of Humour: A comic lens to perceive the worldLike Müller, Irene was born to a German family in Romania. In her later life, she moves to Germany hoping to find comfort away from authoritarian rule. There, she also explores a relationship with an emotionally unavailable man named Franz. Over the course of the novel, two other romances are teased, including one with Franz’s friend and stand-in Stefan, and Thomas, a bookseller constantly on the verge of an emotional breakdown. But Irene’s desperate pining to find belonging drives the narrative.It’s established early on that Irene is a product of Nicolae Ceausescu’s dictatorship, reflected in her struggle to develop an understanding of freedom and individuality. Escaping her home country is meant to open a door for liberty and autonomy, but she isn’t welcomed to a land of golden opportunity as she had hoped. Her interactions with officials bring back to the surface emotions that she tried to escape after leaving Romania.The experiences isolate Irene and force her to reexamine her understanding of what normal is.For many, these moments might not seem like much, but to others it’s a subtle and powerful nod to the pains of physical relocation. Despite being ethnically German and nationally Romanian, she feels no connection or kinship with either country. Leaving her home was supposed to be a relief, but instead it creates an invisible and unexpected hurdle in understanding who she is as an individual.Attempts to find identityThe men she meets in her journey are another failed attempt to find her identity. With Franz, it’s fast and exciting, but unstable and doesn’t last. Stefan is more reliable, but it quickly gets boring. Thomas pretends to understand the big picture, but like Irene, he doesn’t know who he is as an individual. Each has a list of qualities that, in a way, Irene is looking to adopt in herself. She has no real attraction to any of them as people, so she fruitlessly continues to entertain the idea of romance, flitting among the three of them with little direction or purpose.Much the same can be said for the structure of the book. The style Müller chose rewards the slower and more attentive readers who enjoy a lack of central plot and non-linear storytelling. A lot of time is spent detailing surroundings. Descriptions of animals chirping in the distance, long train journeys across Germany, architecture and room decor (or lack thereof) are all conduits to Irene’s struggle to find belonging.Water, mirrors and windows in particular are a recurring imagery, symbolising the unpredictable and transitional stage in her life. Irene’s journey doesn’t end satisfyingly, like most things both in life and in the novel. But then again, one has to ask oneself what satisfying means. At the start, Irene is able to leave an oppressive state alone, and as a woman, her character avoids being cornered into chasing marriage, childbirth or a career to feel fulfilled. She is messy and disorganised, allowing uncertainty and unpredictability to guide her even if it results in dead ends. Precisely why the novel can be both dissatisfying and enough, depending on what the reader is looking for.

Source: Deccan Herald