Heinrich Böll – A Literary Genius

Heinrich Böll (1917-1985)

Heinrich Böll was born in 1917, and after the war devoted himself to writing. He won a succession of German literary prizes, including the Critic’s Prize in 1953, and was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1972.

One of Germany’s most popular and prolific authors, Heinrich Böll gained international fame as a chronicler of the Federal German Republic (1949-1990). Critics have generally emphasized his strong ethical stance, which stemmed from his personal philosophy of Christian humanism and sympathy for the downtrodden. He died in 1972.

I’m reading this at the moment…

The Clown.

The face of a clown is the face of innocence, and innocence goes to the wall in German society after the Second World War, when double-dealing and double standards have become a way of life. Heinrich Böll’s clown is a professional entertainer in his late twenties who has reached the end of his tether: an unhappy drunk abandoned by the women he loves, too honest and disillusioned to compromise, he sits in his lonely flat and calls for help or consolation of any kind. For this is a study in hypocrisy – emotional, sexual, religious and political – where the majority are smugly blinkered and the rest are caught in a trap they fail to understand, let alone escape.

Need I say more?

His other works (Source: Wikipedia)

Kreuz ohne Liebe, written 1946-1947; publ. 2002
Der Zug war pünktlich (The Train Was on Time), 1949
Das Vermächtnis (A Soldier’s Legacy), written 1948-1949; publ. 1981
Wanderer, kommst du nach Spa (Stranger, Bear Word to the Spartans), 1950
Die schwarzen Schafe (Black Sheep), 1951
Nicht nur zur Weihnachtszeit (Christmas Not Just Once a Year), 1951
Wo warst du, Adam? (And Where Were You, Adam?), 1951
Der Engel schwieg (The Silent Angel), written 1949-1951; publ. 1992
Und sagte kein einziges Wort (And Never Said a Word), 1953
Haus ohne Hüter (House without Guardians), 1954
Das Brot der frühen Jahre (The Bread of Those Early Years), 1955
Irisches Tagebuch (Irish Journal), 1957
Die Spurlosen (Missing Persons), 1957
Doktor Murkes gesammeltes Schweigen (Dr. Murke’s Collected Silence), 1958
Billard um halb zehn ( Billiards at Half-past Nine ), 1959
Ein Schluck Erde, 1962
Ansichten eines Clowns (The Clown), 1963
Entfernung von der Truppe (Absent Without Leave), 1964
Ende einer Dienstfahrt (End of a Mission), 1966
Gruppenbild mit Dame (Group Portrait with Lady), 1971
Die verlorene Ehre der Katharina Blum (The Lost Honour of Katharina Blum), 1974
Fürsorgliche Belagerung (The Safety Net), 1979
Was soll aus dem Jungen bloss werden? (What’s to Become of the Boy?), 1981
Vermintes Gelände, 1982
Die Verwundung (The Casualty), early tales, publ. 1983
Frauen vor Flusslandschaft (Women in a River Landscape), 1985 (publ. posthumously)

Explore posts in the same categories: Uncategorized