Böll, Heinrich (hīn`rĭkh böl), 1917–85, German novelist, short-story writer, and playwright. Böll presents a critical, antimilitarist view of modern society in a collection of masterful short stories, Wanderer, kommst du nach Spa· · · (1950; tr. Traveller, If You Come to Spa…, 1956), and the novels Wo warst du, Adam? (1951; tr. Adam, Where Art Thou?, 1955) and Billard um halb zehn (1959; tr. Billiards at Half Past Nine, 1961). Humanity's excesses and its inability to alter his destiny are among Böll's principal concerns in the narratives Und sagte kein einziges Wort (1953; tr. Acquainted with the Night, 1954), Haus ohne Hüter (1954; tr. Tomorrow and Yesterday, 1957), Ansichten eines Clowns (1963; tr. The Clown, 1965), and Entfernung von der Truppe (1964; tr. Absent without Leave, 1965). Many of Böll's works present his critical reflections on Catholicism, the church, and contemporary German society. Among his other notable works are a collection of travel essays, Irish Journal (tr. 1967); the novel Gruppenbild mit Dame (1971; tr. Group Portrait with Lady, 1973); two English anthologies, Eighteen Stories (1966) and Children Are Civilians Too (1970); and formerly unpublished stories, Der blasse Hund (1995; tr. The Mad Dog, 1997). Böll won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1972.

Bibliography

See J. H. Reid, Henrich Böll: A German for His Time (1988).

Böll, Heinrich (Theodor)

Heinrich Böll.

(credit: Camera Press/Copyright Archive Photos)

(born Dec. 21, 1917, Cologne, Ger.—died July 16, 1985, Bornheim-Merten, near Cologne, W.Ger.) German writer. As a soldier in World War II he fought on several fronts, a central experience in the development of his antiwar, nonconformist views. His ironic novels on the travails of German life during and after the war captured the changing psychology of the German nation. He became a leading voice of the German left. Among his works are Acquainted with the Night (1953), Billiards at Half-Past Nine (1959), The Clown (1963), Group Portrait with Lady (1971), and The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum (1974). He won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1972.