BÖLL, Heinrich (Theodor)

Nationality: German. Born: Cologne, 21 December 1917. Education: Began apprenticeship to a book dealer, Bonn, 1937-38; briefly studied literature and classical philology at the University of Cologne, 1939, before being drafted into the army. Military Service: German Army, 1939-45: wounded in action four times; corporal; prisoner of war, April-September 1945. Family: Married Annemarie Cech in 1942; four sons (two deceased). Career: Following the war held a variety of odd jobs while writing; worked for the Cologne Bureau of Statistics, 1950-51; full-time writer from 1951; began association with Gruppe 47, 1951. Visiting chair of poetics, University of Frankfurt, 1964. Coeditor, Labyrinth, 1960-61, and L, from 1976. President, PEN International, 1971-74. Awards: Gruppe 47 prize, 1951, for "The Black Sheep"; Rene Schickele prize, 1952; literary prize of the German industry; Southern German radio prize and Association of German Critics literary prize, both in 1953, for Mönch and Räuber; French publishers prize for best foreign novel, 1954, for Tribune de Paris; City of Wuppertal Edward von der Heydt prize 1958; North Rheine-Westphalia art prize, 1959; Charles Veillon prize, 1960; city of Cologne literature prize, 1960; Premio d'Isola d'Elba, 1965; Premio Calabria, 1966; Georg Büchner prize, 1967; Nobel prize for literature, 1972; Scottish Arts Council fellowship, 1973; Carl von Ossietzky medal, International League of Human Rights, 1974; first Neil Gunn fellow, Scottish Arts Council, 1974; named honorary member of American Academy of Arts and Letters, and of American National Institute of Art and Literature, both 1974; named honorary citizen of City of Cologne, 1983; honorary title of professor conferred by North Rhine-Westphalia, 1983. D.Litt: Trinity College, University of Dublin; University of Aston; University of Birmingham; and Brunel University, all 1973. Died: 16 July 1985.

PUBLICATIONS

Novels

Der Zug war pünktlich (novella). 1949; as The Train Was on Time, 1956.

Die schwarzen Schafe. 1951.

Wo warst du, Adam? (novella). 1951; as Adam, Where Art Thou?, 1955; as And Where Were You, Adam?, 1973.

Nicht nur zur Weihnachtszeit. 1952.

Und sagte kein einziges Wort. 1953; as Acquainted with the Night, 1954; as And Never Said a Word, 1978.

Haus ohne Hüter. 1954; as Tomorrow and Yesterday, 1957; asThe Unguarded House, 1957.

Das Brot der frühen Jahre. 1955; as The Bread of Our Early Years, 1957; as The Bread of Those Early Years, 1976.

So ward Abend und Morgen. 1955.

Im Tal der donnernden Hufe. 1957.

Der Mann mit den Messern. 1958.

Der Bahnhof von Zimpren. 1959.

Billard um Halbzehn. 1959; as Billiards at Half-Past Nine. 1961.

Als der Krieg ausbrach, Als der Krieg zu Ende war (2 novellas). 1962; as Absent Without Leave, 1965.

Ansichten eines Clowns. 1963; as The Clown, 1965.

Entferung von der Truppe. 1964.

Ende einer Dienstfahrt. 1966; as The End of a Mission, 1967.

Geschichten aus zwölf Jahren. 1969.

Gruppenbild mit Dame. 1971; as Group Portrait with a Lady, 1973.

Die verlorene Ehre der Katharina Blum. 1974; as The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum, 1975.

Berichte zur Gesinnungslage der Nation. 1975.

Fürsorgliche Belagerung. 1979; as The Safety Net, 1982.

Du fährst zu oft nach Heidelberg. 1979.

Das Vermächtnis (novella). 1982; as A Soldier's Legacy, 1985.

Frauen vor Flusslandschaft: Roman in Dialogen und Selbstgesprächen. 1985; as Women in a River Landscape: A Novel in Dialogues and Soliloques, 1988.

Der Engel schwieg (novella). 1992.

Short Stories

Wanderer, kommst du nach Spa. 1950; as Traveller, If You Come to Spa, 1956.

Unberechenbare Gäste: Heitere Erzählungen. 1956.

Doktor Murkes gesammeltes Schweigen und andere Satiren. 1958.

Die Waage der Baleks und andere Erzählungen. 1958.

Absent without Leave and Other Stories. 1965.

Eighteen Stories. 1966.

Children Are Civilians Too. 1970.

Der Mann mit den Messern: Erzählungen (selections). 1972.

Gesammelte Erzählungen (2 vols.). 1981.

Die Verwundung und andere frühe Erzählungen. 1983; as The Casualty, 1986.

Der Angriff: Erzählungen 1947-1949. 1983.

Veränderungen in Stäck: Erzählungen 1962-1980. 1984.

Mein trauriges Gesicht: Erzählungen. 1984.

The Stories (selection). 1986.

The Silent Angel. 1995.

The Mad Dog: Stories. 1997.

Plays

Die Brücke von Berczaba (radio play). In Zauberei auf dem Sender und andere Hörspiele, 1962.

Der Heilige und der Räuber (radio play). In Hörspielbuch des Nordwestdeutschen und Süddeutschen Rundfunks 4, 1953; as Mönch und Räuber, in Erzählungen, Hörspiele, Aufsätz, 1961.

Ein Tag wie sonst (radio play). 1980.

Zum Tee bei Dr. Borsig (radio play). In Erzählungen, Hörspiele, Aufsätz, 1961.

Eine Stunde Aufenthalt (radio play). In Erzählungen, Hörspiele, Aufsätz, 1961.

Die Spurlosen (radio play). 1957.

Bilanz (radio play). Published with Klopfzeichen, 1961.

Klopfzeichen (radio play). Published with Bilanz, 1961.

Ein schluck Erde (produced 1961). 1962.

Zum Tee bei Dr. Borsig (includes Mönch und Räuber ; Eine Stunde Aufenthalt ; Bilanz ; Die Spurlosen ; Klopfzeichen ; Sprechanlage ; Konzert für Stimmen ). 1964.

Hausfriedensbruch (radio play). 1969.

Aussatz (produced 1970). Published with Hausfriedensbruch, 1969.

Radio Plays:

Die Brücke von Berczaba, 1952; Ein Tag wie sonst, 1953; Der Heilige und der Räuber, 1953; Zum Tee bei Dr. Borsig, 1955; Anita und das Existenzminimum, 1955, revised version as Ich habe nichts gegen Tiere, 1958; Die Spurlosen, 1957; Bilanz, 1957; Eine Stunde Aufenthalt, 1957; Die Stunde der Wahrheit, 1958; Klopfzeichen, 1960; Hausfriedensbruch, 1969.

Poetry

Gedichte. 1972.

Other

Irisches Tagebuch. 1957; as Irish Journal, 1967.

Im Ruhrgebiet. 1958.

Unter Krahnenbäumen. 1958.

Menschen am Rhein. 1960.

Brief an einen jungen Katholiken. 1961.

Erzählungen, Hörspiele, Aufsätz. 1961.

Assisi. 1962.

Hierzulande. 1963.

Frankfurter Vorlesungen. 1966.

Aufsätz, Kritiken, Reden 1952-1967. 1967.

Leben im Zustand de Frevels. 1969.

Neue politische und literarische Schriften. 1973.

Nobel Prize for Literature (lecture). 1973.

Politische Meditationen zu Glück und Vergeblichkeit, withDorthee Sölle. 1973.

Drei Tage in März, with Christian Linder. 1975.

Der Lorbeer ist immer noch bitter: Literarische Schriften. 1976.

Briefe zur Verteidigung der Republik, with Freimut Duve andKlaus Staeck. 1977.

Einmischung erwünscht: Schriften zur Zeit. 1977.

Werke, edited by Bernd Balzer (10 vols.). 1977-78. Missing Persons and Other Essays. 1977.

Querschnitte: Aus Interviews, Aufsätzen, und Reden, edited byViktor Böll and Renate Matthaei. 1977.

Gefahren von falschen Brüdern: Politische Schriften. 1980.

Warum haben wir aufeinander geschossen? with Lew Kopelew.1981.

Rendevous mit Margaret: Liebesgeschichten. 1981.

Was soll aus dem jungen bloss werden? (memoir). 1981; asWhat's to Become of the Boy? or Something to Do with Books, 1984.

Der Autor ist immer noch versteckt. 1981.

Vermintes Gelände. 1982.

Antikommunismus in Ost und West. 1982.

Ich hau dem Mädche mix jedonn, ich han et bloss ens kräje:

Texte, Bilder, Dokumente zur Verteihung des Ehrenbürgerrechts der Stadt Köln, 29 April 1983. 1983.

Ein-und Zusprüche: Schriften, Reden und Prosa 1981-83. 1984.

Weil die Stadt so fremd geworden ist. 1985.

Bild-Bonn-Boenish. 1985. Die Fähigkeit zu trauern: Schriften und Reden 1983-1985. 1986.

Denken mit Böll. 1986.

Rom auf den ersten Blick: Landschaften, Städte, Reisen. 1987.

Editor, with Erich Kock, Unfertig ist der Mensch. 1967.

Edtior, with Freimut Duve und Klaus Staeck, Verantwortlich für Polen? 1982.

Translator, with Annemarie Böll:

Kein Name bei den Leuten [No Name in the Street], by KayCicellis. 1953.

Ein unordentlicher Mensch, by Adriaan Morriën. 1955.

Tod einer Stadt [Death of a Town], by Kay Cicellis. 1956.

Weihnachtsabend in San Cristobal [The Saintmaker's Christmas Eve], by Paul Horgan. 1956.

Zur Ruhe kam der Baum des Menschen nie [The Tree of Man], by Patrick White. 1957.

Der Teufel in der Wüste [The Devil in the Desert], by PaulHorgan. 1958.

Die Geisel [The Hostage], by Brendan Behan. 1958.

Der Mann von Morgen fruh [The Quare Fellow], by BrendanBehan. 1958.

Ein Wahrer Held [The Playboy of the Western World], by J.M.Synge. 1960.

Die Boot fahren nicht mehr aus [The Islandman], by TomásO'Crohan. 1960.

Eine Rose zur Weihnachtszeit [One Red Rose for Christmas], by Paul Horgan. 1960.

Der Gehilfe [The Assistant], by Bernard Malamud. 1960.

Kurz vor dem Krieg gegen die Eskimos, by J.D. Salinger. 1961.

Das Zauberfass [The Magic Barrel], by Bernard Malamud.1962.

Der Fänger im Roggen [The Catcher in the Rye], by J.D.Salinger. 1962.

Ein Gutshaus in Irland [The Big House], by Brendan Behan.Published in Stücke, 1962.

Franny und Zooey, by J.D. Salinger. 1963.

Die Insel der Pferde [The Island of Horses], by Eilís Dillon.1964.

Hebt den Dachbalken hoch, Zimmerleute; Seymour wird vorgestellt [Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters; Seymour: An introduction], by J.D. Salinger. 1965.

Caesar und Cleopatra, by G.B. Shaw. 1965.

Der Spanner [The Scarperer], by Brendan Behan. 1966.

Die Insel des grossen John [The Coriander], by Eilís Dillon. 1966.

Das harte Leben [The Hard Life], by Flann O'Brien. 1966.

Neun Erzählungen [Nine Stories], by J.D. Salinger. 1966.

Die schwarzen Füchse [A Family of Foxes], by Eilís Dillon.1967.

Die Irrfahrt der Santa Maria [The Cruise of the Santa Maria], by Eilís Dillon. 1968.

Die Springflut [The Sea Wall], by Eilís Dillon. 1969.

Seehunde SOS [The Seals], by Eilís Dillon. 1970.

Erwachen in Mississippi [Coming of Age in Mississippi], byAnne Moody. 1970.

Candida, Der Kaiser von Amerika, Mensch und Übermensch [Candida, the King of Amerika, Man and Superman], by G.B. Shaw. 1970.

Handbuch des Revolutionärs, by G.B. Shaw. 1972.

Bibliography:

Heinrich Böll in America 1954-1970 by Ray Lewis White, 1979.

Critical Studies:

Böll, Teller of Tales: A Study of His Works and Characters by Wilhelm Johannes Schwartz, 1969; A Student's Guide to Böll by Enid Macpherson, 1972; Heinrich Böll: Withdrawal and Re-Emergence, 1973, and Heinrich Böll: A German for His Time, 1986, both by J.H. Reid; The Major Works of Böll: A Critical Commentary by Erhard Friedrichsmeyer, 1974; The Writer and Society: Studies in the Fiction of Günter Grass and Heinrich Böll by Charlotte W. Ghurye, 1976; The Imagery in Heinrich Böll's Novels by Thor Prodaniuk, 1979; Heinrich Böll, 1981, and Understanding Heinrich Böll, 1992, both by Robert C. Conard; Heinrich Böll by Klaus Schröter, 1982; Heinrich Böll: On His Death: Selected Obituaries and the Last Interview, translated by Patricia Crampton, 1985; Heinrich Böll and the Challenge of Literature by Michael Butler, 1988; The Woman As Survivor: The Evolution of the Female Figure in the Works of Heinrich Böll by Aleidine Kramer Moeller, 1991; The Narrative Fiction of Heinrich Böll: Social Conscience and Literary Achievement, edited by Michael Butler, 1994; Heinrich Böll: Forty Years of Criticism Reinhard K. Zachau, 1994; On the Rationality of Poetry: Heinrich Böll's Aesthetic Thinking by Frank Finlay, 1996.

* * *

Heinrich Böll's considerable literary output embraces almost 40 years, from 1947 to his death in 1985. He began writing in 1936, but nothing of his early works was published. After the war, Böll and Wolfgang Borchert, among others, created what was termed Truemmerliteratur ("literature born of the rubble"), a realistic portrayal of war. Their view, shared by most post 1945 European writers and philosophers, differed considerably from the Expressionists' belief during and after World War I in the regeneration of mankind. In contrast, World War II and especially the Holocaust led to a lack of belief in any new, positive values; consequently, the new Weltanschauung was born of a pessimism that was close at times to nihilism.

With the exception of the short novel Wo warst du, Adam? (And Where Were You, Adam?), Böll's postwar literature (1947-52) consists of short stories almost all of which deal with aspects of the war. With the exception of the story "Todesursache: Hakennase" ("Cause of Death: Hooked Nose"), Böll does not deal explicitly with the Holocaust. Generally, his approach is indirect, revealed through the reactions of his protagonists to their war experiences. As in And Where Were You, Adam?, Böll's protagonists are never heroes; they have no control over their lives at the front, and they all suffer mentally or physically from the effects of the war and anti-Semitism. In these stories, Böll attacks the lie of Nazi propaganda that glorified war. His method is often to concentrate on the fate of a single character in order to intensify his condemnation of the brutality and absurdity of war. One of the best examples is the title story of the collection Wanderer kommst du nach Spa … ("Stranger, Bear Word to the Spartans We …"). A young, wounded soldier is brought into a high school that has been transformed into an army hospital. The story is in form of a soliloquy narrated by the young man. He realizes that it is his own school that he had left only three months earlier when forced to join the army. Having lost both arms and a leg he is now dying in his school which once promoted traditional values of higher learning symbolized by the paintings and busts of classical and historical figures, and by the unfinished quotation about Spartan bravery at the battle of Thermopylae written on the blackboard by the young soldier when he was still a student. Böll's cynicism, marked by sadness, is directed against these classical values which have been rendered meaningless by the reality of the Nazi regime. The atmosphere of destruction, and the stark description of mutilation and pain are typical of Böll's war literature.

Böll's later stories of this period, although still influenced by the war, are more critical of contemporary German society which reveals itself as predominantly materialistically oriented and unwilling to give up its Nazi past and admit its guilt. "Nicht nur zur Weihnachtszeit" ("Christmas Not Just Once a Year") is on the surface a hilariously funny story about the author's aunt having seemingly gone mad because of her concern about the risk to her Christmas tree's ornaments arising from the bombing of the city. To restore the aunt's sanity the family resorts to year-round Christmas trees and celebrations. The aunt does not notice that in the course of the years the family members are replaced by paid actors and wax dolls. Böll begins to develop his new technique of social criticism with this work. While the story about the aunt is quite absurd, the reflections on most of the other family members are factual and point to the major problem of postwar German society: namely, that the war for the majority of Germans was nothing but an interruption of their former life style which was, and is again, dominated by materialism.

After 1952 Böll turned primarily to the novel form, where he continued to depict the ills of German society as he saw them: corruption among politicians and the clergy in Und sagte kein einziges Wort (1953; And Never Said a Word ) and Germans' love of authority, their petit-bourgeois attitude, and hypocritical and unscrupulous character in Billard um halb zehn (1959; Billiards at Half-Past Nine) and Ansichten eines Clowns (1963; The Clown ). He felt all of these contributed to the rise of Nazism, the war, and the Holocaust. The award of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1972 recognized Böll's important contribution to literature and the courage displayed in his lifelong critique of contemporary German culture and mores.

—Renate Benson

See the essay on And Where Were You, Adam?