Der Teufel sitzt im Spiegel (The Devil Sits in the Mirror) is a book by Nobel Prize

Nobel Prize in Literature

Since 1901, the Nobel Prize in Literature has been awarded annually to an author from any country who has, in the words from the will of Alfred Nobel, produced "in the field of literature the most outstanding work in an ideal direction"...

-winning author Herta Müller

Herta Müller

Herta Müller is a Romanian-born German novelist, poet and essayist noted for her works depicting the effects of violence, cruelty and terror, usually in the setting of Communist Romania under the repressive Nicolae Ceauşescu regime which she experienced herself...

. It was first published in 1991 after Müller's emigration to Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 and is cited in 2010's History of the Literary Cultures of East Central Europe, along with Traveling on One Leg

Traveling on One Leg

Traveling on One Leg is a novel by Nobel Prize-winning author Herta Müller, published in German in 1989 by Rotbuch Verlag. Published after Müller's emigration to Germany, it is cited in 2010's History of the Literary Cultures of East Central Europe, along with Der Teufel sitzt im Spiegel and The...

and The Land of Green Plums

The Land of Green Plums

The Land of Green Plums is a novel by Nobel Prize-winning author Herta Müller, published in 1994 by Rowohlt Verlag. Perhaps Müller's best-known work, the story portrays four young people living in a totalitarian police state under the Soviet-imposed communist dictatorship in Romania, ending with...

, as drawing attention to her work in the West

Western world

The Western world, also known as the West and the Occident , is a term referring to the countries of Western Europe , the countries of the Americas, as well all countries of Northern and Central Europe, Australia and New Zealand...

. Titled for a cautionary proverb

Proverb

A proverb is a simple and concrete saying popularly known and repeated, which expresses a truth, based on common sense or the practical experience of humanity. They are often metaphorical. A proverb that describes a basic rule of conduct may also be known as a maxim...

 which Müller's grandmother used to say to her—a warning against a variety of evils including vanity

Vanity

In conventional parlance, vanity is the excessive belief in one's own abilities or attractiveness to others. Prior to the 14th century it did not have such narcissistic undertones, and merely meant futility. The related term vainglory is now often seen as an archaic synonym for vanity, but...

, sexual self-awareness and self-reflection in general, each of which could precede a fall, the book is a collection of essays about writing and literature built around the theme.

According to 1997's Gender and Germanness, Müller views the proverb politically, focusing on its use by those in power—grandmothers or governments—to repress non-conformity, permitting them to impose a constructed identity unchallenged by self-evaluation.