Heinrich Böll, Ansichten eines Clowns [The Clown]

Hannelore G. Mundt (University of Wyoming)
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“Essentially, it is the story of Theseus and Ariadne: Theseus in the labyrinth, Ariadne cuts off the thread and there he sits. And the labyrinth […] is the political German Catholicism” [Böll, Victor and Renate Matthaei (eds.),

Querschnitte: Aus Interview, Aufsätzen und Reden von Heinrich Böll

(Köln: Kiepenheuer & Witsch, 1977), pp. 116-17. My translation]. With these words Böll circumscribes the basic plot of

Ansichten eines Clowns

[The Clown, 1963], the author's first fictional work to become a bestseller. Böll re-casts this Greek myth to provide the framework for a multidimensional narrative.

Ansichten eines Clowns

is a love story, an artist novel, and a critical commentary on the religious and socio-political life of West Germany. These narrative threads are interwoven in…

2435 words

Citation: Mundt, Hannelore G.. "Ansichten eines Clowns". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 13 January 2009 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=11633, accessed 19 March 2024.]

11633 Ansichten eines Clowns 3 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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