The Passport (German: Der Mensch ist ein großer Fasan auf der Welt) is a novel by Herta Müller, published in German in 1986.[1] The German title (literally, "Man is a great pheasant in the world") refers to a saying in Romania. The novel, one of several for which the author was known when winning the Nobel in 2009,[2] tells the story of a village miller in a German-speaking village in the Banat in Romania, who applies for permission to emigrate to West Germany. The novel was published in English by Serpent's Tail in 1989,[3] the first of Müller's novels to be offered in direct translation.[4]