Product Description
The first novel by the Nobel prize winner, never previously published. Written at the end of the Second World War it describes the death and destruction faced by the people of a city ravaged by war. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (12)

From the rubbles of Nazi-Germany
This is an unfinished novel from Heinrich Böll, as usual he is writing about social differences, religion and love. The thing I liked most about the novel is that it takes place in a totally destructed German city in May 1945. There is something very interesting when a war ends and, an otherwise civilized country and people, return to civilization. (In undeveloped countries this is not so interesting because the culture that exisited before and after the war is so barbaric anyway. (like Somalia or Iraq)). But the scene in Germany and Japan just after WW2 was kind of interesting because it was highly developed countries, especially nazi Germany. Anyway the book is unfinished so the plot is a little confusing.

A rather sad love story...
This book, set in the horrible aftermath of World War II in Germany, depicts with superb clarity what life must have been like then.Many detailed descriptions of the burnt-out buildings, collapsing structures and rubble abound...but through it all circulates an engaging love story of sorts between a former soldier and the woman he befriends.A short novel that can be quickly read, it is not easily digested and is full of symbolism, especially of the religious sort.Once read, not easily forgotten...

The Literature of the Rubble
Written in 1950, the manuscript for Nobel Prize winner Boll's first novel was rejected by his publisher, who felt it was too depressing and that the German public wasn't interested in spending money to read about the grim postwar days they had just survived. (After finishing it, I can't say that I wouldn't have made the same decision in the publisher's place.) Thus, this book sat on the shelf, with elements and passages cannibalized by for use in in other works, until its posthumous publication in 1992.

The heavily autobiographical story is an elliptical, dreamlike journey through the rubble of 1945 Cologne -- where the only thing scarcer than scraps of bread is a sense of hope. Hans is a numb, exhausted, alienated, and depressed German conscript returning to his hometown, having escaped execution for desertion thanks to the intervention of a fellow soldier who died in his place. The story, such as it is, starts with his struggle to survive -- the need to find legitimate discharge papers, food, and shelter. Eventually, he comes to share a flat with a devout widow whose baby recently died, rendering her just as depressed and aimless as Hans. At the core of the book is the depiction of these two dead souls attempting to rekindle some flame of interest in life, and to find some glimmer of solace with each other.

Meanwhile, there's a somewhat confusing subplot involving Hans delivering a dead man's will to the man's dying widow. The widow wants to give this legacy away to the poor, but a rival legatee wants to steal and destroy the will in order to claim the money. As well as being a former Nazi, this man is a lawyer and art collector who seems to have come through the war just fine -- in fact, considerably better off. However, none of this plotting is handled particularly adroitly. What is memorable about the writing is the tone, which does a very good job of oozing exhaustion and emptiness. Boll does an excellent job of showing the numb shock of a people who've suddenly realized that their world is forever changed and that they will never know the security or comfort of the past. Worth reading by those with a deep interest in World War II or the psychology of survival but otherwise not particularly compelling.

Incredible
This is a terrific translation.There is a wonderful economy of words here conveying the emptiness of being on the losing side of World War II and human ethos in the face of tragedy.A super-easy, super-powerful read.

A small jewel
I stumbled upon this book in a used book store and decided to give it a read.The prose is lean and economical and conveys rich sense of the of Germany immediately after WWII.I have never read anything quite like it.While it doesn't have a gripping storyline in the usual sense it was compelling and difficult to put down.I highly recommend this book and have been inspired to read more of Boll's better known works. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A striking and terrifying view of war and its aftermath
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 descriptionof the passing of time, and is a tense, atmospheric story. "Beside theRiver" is also especially good, the despair and hopelessness of thestory is almost tangible, and the switching of narrators is well done. Allin all, I was very impressed with these stories, and am surprised that theyare not more widely read. ... Read more

Product Description
Der Erwerb des Buches enthält gleichzeitig die kostenlose Mitgliedschaft im Buchklub des Verlags zum Ausprobieren - dort können Sie von über einer Million Bücher ohne weitere Kosten auswählen. Das Buch besteht aus Wikipedia-Artikeln: Dieter Kühn, Günter Wallraff, Heinrich Böll, Werner Rügemer, Irmgard Keun, Georg Quander, Hans Mayer, Heinz Günther Konsalik, Jürgen Becker, Frank Schätzing, Manuel Andrack, Fritz-Otto Busch, Hanns-Josef Ortheil, Gottfried Hagen, Heribert Schulmeyer, Renate Schoof, Adam Wrede, Hans-Hasso von Veltheim, Michael Erlhoff, Walter Foelske, Volker Gröbe, Friedrich Kluge, Felix Rexhausen, Johannes Theodor Kuhlemann, Horst Petri, Hans Beller, Peter Faecke, Paul Ingendaay, Friedhelm Kemp, Wilhelm Schneider-Clauß, Ibrahim Evsan, Johann Jakob Merlo, Eduard Hegel, Hermann Maassen, Guido Kasmann, Jens Hagen, Peter Fröhlich, Christian Linder, Elmar Ferber, Klaus Fehling, Katinka Buddenkotte, Moritz von Uslar, Andreas Struck, Christoph Gottwald, Ralph Sander, Margit Hähner, Sabine Küchler, Wilhelm Räderscheidt, Sabine Bode, Bijan Benjamin,. Online finden Sie die kostenlose Aktualisierung der Bücher. Nicht dargestellt. Auszug: Hans-Günter Wallraff (* 1. Oktober 1942 in Burscheid) ist ein deutscher Enthüllungsjournalist und Schriftsteller. Er ist durch seine Reportagen über diverse Großunternehmen, die Bild-Zeitung und verschiedene Institutionen bekannt geworden, für die er sich stets der Methoden des investigativen Journalismus bediente. Wallraffs Vater war erst Arbeiter, später Angestellter bei Ford in Köln. Als der Vater starb, war Günter Wallraff 16 Jahre alt. Seine Mutter entstammte einer südfranzösischen Hugenottenfamilie, ihre Eltern waren Klavierbauer. Wallraff schrieb zu Gymnasialzeiten einige Gedichte und schickte sie Heinrich Böll, mit dessen Neffen er befreundet war. Nach der 10. Klasse verließ er das Gymnasium und begann eine Buchhändlerlehre, die er 1962 abschloss. Seinen Antrag auf Kriegsdienstverweig...http://booksllc.net/?l=de&id=47171 ... Read more

Product Description
Chapters: University of Cologne Alumni, University of Cologne Faculty, Heinrich Böll, Andreas Hillgruber, Martin Broszat, Hans-Ulrich Wehler, Uwe Boll, Hermann Simon, Gerhard Kramm, Andreas Karlstadt, Wolfgang Mommsen, Janko Prunk, Hans Mayer, Fritz Sauter, Carmen Nicole Moelders, Otto Graf Lambsdorff, Michael Ristow, Amos Grunebaum, Bernd Heine, Heinrich Freiherr Von Stackelberg, Erwin Bünning, Gerhard Koeppel, Jürgen Rüttgers, Werner Meyer-Eppler, Conrad Von Bibra, Jürgen Flimm, Otto Depenheuer, Robert Skeris, Berchtold Haller, Radulph of Rivo, Roger Gray, Rudolph Snellius, Heinz Heimsoeth, Johann Faber of Heilbronn, Karl Albert, Konrad Heresbach, Ronald Pofalla, Dirk Busch, Richard David Precht, Menachem Bader, Horst Siebert, Geoffrey Hosking, Axel Ockenfels, Wilhelm Gnapheus, Gustav Aschaffenburg, Juergen B. Donges, Stephan Cohn-Vossen, Robert Wintgen, Erich Gutenberg, Andreas Freytag, James Kemnal, Wolfgang Bosbach, Peter Englert, Bert Rürup, Jürgen Gauß, Andreas Rumpf, Alfred Müller-Armack, Gerhart Baum, Hermann-Josef Lamberti, Richard Fritz Behrendt. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 268. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Andreas Fritz Hillgruber (January 18, 1925 - May 8, 1989) was a conservative German historian. Hillgruber was influential as a military and diplomatic historian. At his death in 1989, the American historian Francis L. Loewenheim said: "Andreas Hillgruber was probably the leading West German historian of his generation - a scholar of indefatigable energy and fierce independence, a scholar of weighty judgment even if one did not always agree with him". Other historians were more hostile, with the British historian Richard J. Evans taking the view that Hillgruber was a great historian whose once-sterling reputation as a historian was in ruins. Hillgruber was bo...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=1703245 ... Read more

Product Description
Purchase includes free access to book updates online and a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Chapters: Thomas Mann, Heinrich Böll, Wilhelm Hünermann, Jean Paul, Gerhart Hauptmann, Peter Härtling, Hanns Heinz Ewers, Mario Szenessy, Judith Hermann, Max Halbe, Wladimir Kaminer, Jan Zweyer, Ludwig Thoma, Bruno Apitz, Michael Szameit, Johann Karl August Musäus, Hermann Grab, Karen Duve, Walter Brandorff, Friedrich Wilhelm Adami, Kurt Kusenberg, Isolde Kurz, Carl Stephenson. Excerpt:Bruno Apitz (right) on the set of Naked Among Wolves . Bruno Apitz (28 April 1900 7 April 1979) was a German writer. Apitz was born in Leipzig as the twelfth child of a washer woman. He attended school until he was fourteen, then started training as a printer. During World War I he was a passionate supporter of German Communist Party leader Karl Liebknecht . At 17, he made a speech in front of striking factory workers that resulted in his being sentenced to twenty-nine months in prison. In 1919 he joined the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) and in 1927, the more radical Communist Party of Germany (KPD). He took active part in the German November Revolution of 1918 and the Kapp Putsch of 1920. During the latter he published his first poems and short stories in Communist newspapers. He wrote his first play in 1924 and was later repeatedly imprisoned under Nazi rule in various concentration camps for spreading socialistic anti-war propaganda and being an active member of the Communist Party. From 1937 to 1945 he was an inmate of the Buchenwald concentration camp near Weimar . It was this stay that became the basis for his most famous novel, Nackt unter Wölfen (Naked Among the Wolves). After 1945 he worked for the East German state film company Deutsche Film-Aktiengesellschaft and as a radio play author. He was one of the founding members of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED), which became the... ... Read more

Product Description
Kapitel: Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, Georg-Von-Vollmar-Akademie, Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung, Hermann Ehlers Stiftung, Hanns-Seidel-Stiftung, Kurt-Schumacher-Akademie, Politische Akademie Der Övp, Heinz-Kühn-Stiftung, Bildungsgemeinschaft Salz, Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung, Bildungswerk Für Heimat Und Nationale Identität, Union Stiftung, Wilhelm-Dröscher-Stiftung, Karl-Arnold-Stiftung. Aus Wikipedia. Nicht dargestellt. Auszug: The Friedrich Ebert Foundation (German: Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung; Abbreviation: FES) is a German foundation associated with the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). Established in 1925 and named in honour of Friedrich Ebert, Germany's first President, it is the largest and oldest of the German party-associated foundations. It is headquartered in Bonn and has an office in Berlin. It is Germany's oldest organisation to promote students of outstanding intellectual abilities and personality. The current President of the FES is Anke Fuchs. The FES was named for Friedrich Ebert (1871-1925), the Social Democratic President of Germany. In his will, he specified that the proceeds from donations at his funeral should be used to create a foundation. The SPD chairman at the time, Konrad Ludwig, was given the responsibility of building this foundation, which he did a few days after Ebert's death in 1925. The main concern of the foundation was to work against discrimination of workers in the area of education: "The Friedrich Ebert Foundation pursues the goal of giving young, empowered proletarians government aid to fund an education at state-accredited institutions. As a basic principle, only those people who have a recommendation from the party organisation will receive funding." (SPD Yearbook 1926) By the end of 1931, 295 students had been funded with over 52,000 marks. Unfortunately, at this point the funding of the foundation fell through, as a result of the Great Depression. The FES was a secti...http://booksllc.net/?l=de ... Read more

Product Description
Der Erwerb des Buches enthält gleichzeitig die kostenlose Mitgliedschaft im Buchklub des Verlags zum Ausprobieren - dort können Sie von über einer Million Bücher ohne weitere Kosten auswählen. Das Buch besteht aus Wikipedia-Artikeln: Georg-Büchner-Preis, Aspekte-Literaturpreis, Egon-Erwin-Kisch-Preis, Kasseler Literaturpreis, Heinrich-Böll-Preis, Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis, Kurd-Laßwitz-Preis, Deutscher Buchpreis, Deutscher Hörbuchpreis, Hörspielpreis der Kriegsblinden, Hörbuchbestenliste, Corine, Literaturpreis der Stadt Bremen, Erik-Reger-Preis, Deutscher Fantasy-Preis, Kalbacher Klapperschlange, Kleist-Preis, Deutscher Science Fiction Preis, Gustav-Heinemann-Friedenspreis für Kinder- und Jugendbücher, Mannheimer Heinrich-Vetter-Literaturpreis, Ludwig-Börne-Preis, Friedrich-Baur-Preis, Friedrich-Hölderlin-Preis, Ingeborg-Drewitz-Literaturpreis für Gefangene, Calwer Hermann-Hesse-Preis, Adelbert-von-Chamisso-Preis, Andreas-Gryphius-Preis, Candide Preis, Ernst-Hoferichter-Preis, Grimmelshausen-Preis, Immermann-Preis, Evangelischer Buchpreis, Heinrich-Mann-Preis, Ernst-Robert-Curtius-Preis, Insel der blauen Delphine, Phantastik-Preis der Stadt Wetzlar, Clemens-Brentano-Preis, Preis der Literaturhäuser, Deutscher Bücherpreis, MDR-Literaturpreis, Kurt-Tucholsky-Preis, Astrid-Lindgren-Preis, Eichendorff-Literaturpreis, Alfred-Müller-Felsenburg-Preis, Heinrich-Heine-Preis des Ministeriums für Kultur der DDR, Hermann-Lenz-Preis, Anna Seghers-Preis, Brüder-Grimm-Preis der Philipps-Universität Marburg, Horst-Bienek-Preis für Lyrik, Brandenburgischer Literaturpreis, Victor Otto Stomps-Preis, Petrarca-Preis, Friedrich-Schiedel-Literaturpreis, Hermann-Kesten-Preis, Caroline-Schlegel-Preis, Berliner Literaturpreis, Goldene Leslie, Alfred-Döblin-Preis, Europäischer Übersetzerpreis Offenburg, Margarete-Schrader-Preis, Ernst-Meister-Preis für Lyrik, Alfred-Kerr-Preis, Rattenfänger-Literaturpreis, Büchergilde-Essaypreis, Quickborn-Preis, K...http://booksllc.net/?l=de&id=59862 ... Read more

Product Description
Aus Wikipedia. Nicht dargestellt. Auszug: Other reasons this message may be displayed: ...http://booksllc.net/?l=de ... Read more

Product Description
Chapters: Thomas Mann, Hermann Hesse, Erich Maria Remarque, Heinrich Böll, Gottfried Benn, Johanna Schopenhauer, Annette Von Droste-Hülshoff, Theodor Fontane, Theodor Storm, Karl May, Friedrich Hölderlin, Erich Kästner, Heinrich Mann, Paul Johann Ludwig Von Heyse, Arno Schmidt, Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe, Ernst Von Bibra, B. Traven, Herta Müller, Heinrich Von Kleist, Günter Grass, Hans Fallada, Wilhelm Hünermann, Bernd Dost, Oskar Panizza, Martin Walser, Hans Carossa, Sophie Von La Roche, Lion Feuchtwanger, Jean Paul, Alfred Döblin, Stefan Heym, Else Ury, Ricarda Huch, Fritz Oswald Bilse, Emil Frommel, Gerhart Hauptmann, Leopold Schefer, W. G. Sebald, Hilde Domin, Caroline Von Wolzogen, Peter Härtling, Shere Hite, Karl M. Baer, Ingo Niermann, Hanns Heinz Ewers, Hubert Fichte, Bernhard Kellermann, Alfred Andersch, Oskar Maria Graf, Louis de Wohl, Ernst Wiechert, Fritz Steuben, Karlheinz Deschner, Arnold Zweig, Patrick Süskind, Mario Szenessy, Bernhard Schlink, Arnold Stadler, Ludwig Ganghofer, Johannes R. Becher, Walter Kempowski, Klaus Mann, Anant Kumar, David Chotjewitz, Felix Dahn, Gustav Freytag, Angela Sommer-Bodenburg, Gina Kaus, Charlotte Von Lengefeld, Karl Gutzkow, Peter Schneider, Nicolas Born, Anthony Ulrich, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, Friedrich Wilhelm Hackländer, Franziska Von Reitzenstein, Klabund, Ludwig Achim Von Arnim, John Henry Mackay, Jakob Wassermann, Friedrich Gerstäcker, Hans Lorbeer, Ingrid Bachér, Therese Huber, Hans Jakob Christoffel Von Grimmelshausen, Herbert Nachbar, Marie D'agoult, Marie Luise Kaschnitz, Michael Kumpfmüller, Ida, Countess Von Hahn-Hahn, Friedrich Christian Laukhard, Karl Leberecht Immermann, Daniel Kehlmann, Wolfgang Schreyer, Friedrich Wolf, Richard Wagner, Max Halbe, Charles Sealsfield, Levin Schücking, Walther Kiaulehn, Wolfdietrich Schnurre, Ulrich Becher, Heinrich Laube, Claudia Schreiber, Edgar Hilsenrath, Max Von Der Grün, Jason Dark, Theodor Plievier, Dietmar Dath,...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=19242322 ... Read more

Product Description
Webster's bibliographic and event-based timelines are comprehensive in scope, covering virtually all topics, geographic locations and people. They do so from a linguistic point of view, and in the case of this book, the focus is on "Heinrich Böll," including when used in literature (e.g. all authors that might have Heinrich Böll in their name). As such, this book represents the largest compilation of timeline events associated with Heinrich Böll when it is used in proper noun form. Webster's timelines cover bibliographic citations, patented inventions, as well as non-conventional and alternative meanings which capture ambiguities in usage. These furthermore cover all parts of speech (possessive, institutional usage, geographic usage) and contexts, including pop culture, the arts, social sciences (linguistics, history, geography, economics, sociology, political science), business, computer science, literature, law, medicine, psychology, mathematics, chemistry, physics, biology and other physical sciences. This "data dump" results in a comprehensive set of entries for a bibliographic and/or event-based timeline on the proper name Heinrich Böll, since editorial decisions to include or exclude events is purely a linguistic process. The resulting entries are used under license or with permission, used under "fair use" conditions, used in agreement with the original authors, or are in the public domain. ... Read more

Product Description
This is nonfiction commentary. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Chapters: Billiards at Half-Past Nine, the Clown, the Lost Honour of Katharina Blum, and Never Said a Word, Group Portrait With Lady. Source: Wikipedia. Free updates online. Not illustrated. Excerpt: Billiards at Half-past Nine (original title: Billard um halb zehn) is a novel written in 1959 by German author Heinrich Böll . It reflects the opposition Böll, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1972, had to the period of Nazism as well as his aversion to war in general. The entirety of the novel takes place on the day of September 6, 1958 but the story stretches back through the use of flashbacks and the retelling of memories of the characters. It focuses on the Faehmel family's history starting from the end of 19th century until the present day of 1958. The major theme of the book is the conflict between the ones who received "The Host of the Buffalo" and their opponents, the receivers of "The Host of the Lamb". Although this separation can be seen as Nazi versus pacifists, it has a deeper meaning: the "Lamb" followers are the free-thinking, kind-hearted ones, not willing to oppress other people while the "Buffalo" worshippers enclose the aggressors, the indifferent mass, the ones who try to subjugate, the accomplices of Totalitarianism. The main culprit is Paul von Hindenburg, referred as "The Big Buffalo". The novel begins with Robert Faehmel's secretary's description of Robert and the knowledge that something is out of the ordinary of her routine life. Robert is an architect who is meticulous in everything he does. An old school friend of Robert had shown up and Leonore, his secretary at the office, sent him to the Prince Heinrich Hotel where Robert always is from the hours of 9:30 to 11:00. This is to cause trouble for the entire Faehmel family, whi...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=5430388 ... Read more

Product Description
Chapters: Other Losses, Heinrich Böll, Pope Benedict Xvi, Hans-Dietrich Genscher, Joachim Helbig, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Fort Lawton Riot, Hyazinth Graf Strachwitz Von Gross-Zauche Und Camminetz, Heinrich Severloh, Friedrich Guggenberger, Paul Egger, Werner Heubeck, Kazuo Sakamaki, Hans Georg Dehmelt, Hardy Krüger, Werner Drechsler, Maximilian de Angelis, Johannes Kunze, Horst Günther. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 149. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Pope Benedict XVI (Latin: ; Italian: ; German: ; born Joseph Alois Ratzinger on 16 April 1927) is the 265th and current Pope, by virtue of his office of Bishop of Rome, the head of the Catholic Church and, as such, Sovereign of the Vatican City State. He was elected on 19 April 2005 in a papal conclave, celebrated his Papal Inauguration Mass on 24 April 2005, and took possession of his cathedral, the Basilica of St. John Lateran, on 7 May 2005. A native of Bavaria, Pope Benedict XVI has both German and Vatican citizenship. He succeeded John Paul II. After a long career as an academic, serving as a professor of theology at various German universities, he was appointed Archbishop of Munich and Freising and cardinal by Pope Paul VI in 1977. In 1981, he settled in Rome when he became Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, one of the most important offices of the Roman Curia. At the time of his election as Pope, he was also Dean of the College of Cardinals, and as such the primus inter pares among the cardinals. Like his predecessor, Benedict XVI is theologically conservative and his teaching and prolific writings defend traditional Catholic doctrine and values. During his papacy, Benedict XVI has advocated for Europe to return to fundamental Christian values in response to increasing de-Christianisation and secul...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=39660 ... Read more