Heinrich Böll, Gruppenbild mit Dame [Group Portrait with Lady]

Hannelore G. Mundt (University of Wyoming)
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In Böll’s long and highly productive career,

Gruppenbild mit Dame

[Group Portrait with Lady, 1971] stands out as his most ambitious novel and, as many critics believe, his magnum opus, which secured him the Nobel Prize in Literature one year later. It is Böll’s first novel to center on a female character, Leni Pfeiffer. In an interview, Böll mentioned that for some time he had wanted to write about the fate of a German woman of his own age who is burdened by and carries the whole weight of German history from 1922 to 1970 [Böll, Victor and Renate Matthaei (eds.),

Querschnitte: Aus Interview, Aufsätzen und Reden von Heinrich Böll

(Köln: Kiepenheuer & Witsch, 1977), 122]. As some of his earlier works are also set in this period,

Gruppenbild mit Dame

provides him with an…

2787 words

Citation: Mundt, Hannelore G.. "Gruppenbild mit Dame". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 13 January 2009 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=16217, accessed 28 March 2024.]

16217 Gruppenbild mit Dame 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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