Heinrich Boll
Heinrich Boll won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1972. Born in Cologne in 1917, Boll was raised in a pacifist Catholic family who later opposed Nazism. After an apprenticeship at a bookseller's, he was drafted into the Nazi Wehrmacht before being sent to an American prisoner of war camp in 1945. After the war he enrolled at university, but dropped out to write about his shattering experiences as a soldier: The Train Was On Time was his first novel, published in 1949, and he went on to...See more
Heinrich Boll won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1972. Born in Cologne in 1917, Boll was raised in a pacifist Catholic family who later opposed Nazism. After an apprenticeship at a bookseller's, he was drafted into the Nazi Wehrmacht before being sent to an American prisoner of war camp in 1945. After the war he enrolled at university, but dropped out to write about his shattering experiences as a soldier: The Train Was On Time was his first novel, published in 1949, and he went on to become one of the most prolific and important post-war German authors. Boll served for several years as the president of International P.E.N. and was a leading defender of the intellectual freedom of writers throughout the world. He died in 1985. See less
Heinrich Boll's Featured Books
Heinrich Boll book reviews
-
The Clown
The Tears Of A Clown
This book captures magnificently the feeling of being down and out and rootless. It is set specifically in post World War II Germany and describes well what surely were the feelings of many. But the ... Read More
-
Group Portrait with Lady
Civilians Who Are Not So Civil
The main problem I had with this book is the ?talking head? tack that it takes. Very little is it is straight dialogue. While the view of life during the Nazi era are laid out in convincing words, ... Read More
-
The Clown
Angst Recaptured
Excellent existential novel about Germany after World War II, contains rich symbolism. Read More
