These stories, written between 1946 and 1952 are stunning accounts of German soldiers in a war they did not want and the bleak aftermath of Germany in ruins. This Nobel Prize-winner's other works include Billiards at Half-Past Nine, The Clown, Group Portrait with Lady, and The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Nobel Prizewinning author Boll (19171985) wrote these stories between 1940 and 1952, focusing on the miseries of the German soldier during World War II and the postwar plight of the ordinary citizen. An almost crazed sense of nightmare warps and heightens the realism of many of the collection's 22 tales. A man becomes fatefully obsessed with the lacy beauty of barbed wire in "The Cage." A sentry pacing a French village in "Vive la France" feels endless time, dark and silence flowing tangibly around him before he shoots his hated drunken lieutenant. The ambitious title story weaves a dark, picaresque account of a 19-year-old soldier, jubilant because of a wound which helike his comradeshas purchased "to order." The others are superficially disabled, but the young soldier carries a surrealistically deep, festering hole in his back. Countless trains carry him toward home through Hungary, where he drinks and riots in the local bars to keep the wound infected. These are rich, stunning tales told by a master.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Library Journal
Death and dismemberment are the lasting images of this latest collection of Boll's short stories, all written between 1946 and 1952. Himself a veteran of the eastern front and the war's desperate aftermath, he draws on his experiences in creating these stories (some stark vignettes) of war's carnage and life's mayhem. "Story," in fact, seems too light a label for these darkly brooding pieces. Soldiers rejoice when wounded, while in postwar Germany a young boy attempts suicide after losing his family's ration cards. Throughout this collection, life takes on meaning only as a commodity bartered for fair exchange: a loaf of bread, an acre of ground. Boll's powerful writing is once again masterfully translated by Leila Vennewitz. An important addition to The Stories of Heinrich Boll ( LJ 2/1/86). Paul E. Hutchison, English Dept., Pennsylvania State Univ., University Park
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A striking and terrifying view of war and its aftermath,
This review is from: The Casualty (Norton Paperback Fiction) (Paperback)
These 22 short stories by Heinrich Böll are powerful and moving. Most of the stories are very short, "The Casualty" being the longest (40 pages in this edition). "Vive La France" gives a good description of the passing of time, and is a tense, atmospheric story. "Beside the River" is also especially good, the despair and hopelessness of the story is almost tangible, and the switching of narrators is well done. All in all, I was very impressed with these stories, and am surprised that they are not more widely read.
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First Sentence:
He was looking down on the parting in her hair, a narrow white path; he felt her breasts against his skin, her warm breath in his face, and his gaze fell into the endless distance of that narrow white path. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
stern corporal, greasy youth, parched ones, ten pfennigs, ruined bridge, stretcher cases, gold badge Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Madame Sevry, Vienna Woods, Iron Cross, The Murder New!
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Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
He was looking down on the parting in her hair, a narrow white path; he felt her breasts against his skin, her warm breath in his face, and his gaze fell into the endless distance of that narrow white path. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
stern corporal, greasy youth, parched ones, ten pfennigs, ruined bridge, stretcher cases, gold badge Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Madame Sevry, Vienna Woods, Iron Cross, The Murder New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 22
books:
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- Lovers And Tyrants by Francine du Plessix Gray in Front Matter
- The Wizard of Loneliness by John Treadwell Nichols in Front Matter
- Jean Rhys (Critical Studies of Caribbean Writers) by Louis James in Front Matter
- My First Loves by Ivan Klima in Front Matter
- A Fine Madness by Elliott Baker in Front Matter
See all 22 books this book cites
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