Boll holds up mirror to postwar Germany<\/p>\n
By Helly Minarti<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): A good author can act as an informal ambassador
\nfor his or her country, especially if conscience fuels the work
\nin reflecting the truth, sometimes in a very vivid and veracious
\nmanner. As a German Nobel prize winner for literature in 1972,
\nHeinrich Boll fits this category well in revealing postwar
\nGermany to the world. The German Cultural Center, Goethe
\nInstitute Jakarta, has thrown a special exhibition, discussion
\nand film session displaying his works in cooperation with the
\nGerman Department, Faculty of Letters, University of Indonesia.<\/p>\n
\"He has influenced the way of thinking of many people in
\nGermany, with his moral standard which he tried to apply to
\npostwar German society,\" said Rudolph Barth, Director of the
\nGoethe Institute.<\/p>\n
\"He has convinced many people that power is something which
\nhas to be viewed as suspicious,\" explained Barth.<\/p>\n
Boll, who had served in World War II for six years and even
\nexperienced being a prisoner of war himself, died in 1985 at the
\nage of 68.<\/p>\n
Power is certainly an abundant source of inspiration for many
\nextraordinary authors and Boll is not the only one who has
\noffered a critical perspective through his literary work. His
\napproach in capturing the changing psychology of the German
\nnation after the war was very unique. He had enjoyed widespread
\nsuccess both in former communist and in Western nations.<\/p>\n
The exhibition of Boll's work at the University of Indonesia
\nended last week. But the one at the Goethe Institute in East
\nJakarta runs through May 3. It is divided into six episodes
\nrelated to his political ideas and activities. It shows
\nphotographs, pieces of work, posters, and other Boll memorabilia.
\nThree films based on his three novels were also shown, both at
\nthe Goethe Institute and at the university. The first was Das
\nBrot der frueheren Jahren (The Bread of Our Early Years) which
\nexplores the uneasy reality in the life of a mechanic. The
\nsecond, Ansichten eines Clowns (The Clown), sets the significant
\nquestion of the artist's responsibilities vis-a-vis society. The
\nprotagonist is portrayed as one who deteriorates through
\ndrinking, from being a well-paid entertainer to becoming a
\nbegging street musician. The third film is the most successful in
\nterms of ringing the cash register and inviting controversy: Die
\nverlorene Ehre der Katharina Blum (The Lost Honor of Katharina
\nBlum) whose director is a one-time Oscar winner for a foreign
\nfilm, Volker Schloendorff.<\/p>\n
Boll is well-known for his satirical and ironic novels in
\ndepicting German life during and after World War II. Not only did
\nhe criticize the formal power institutions such as the court, the
\nparliament or certain individuals who held such social
\nprivileges, but also the church and even the conservative press.<\/p>\n
\"Most of his novels deal with the struggle of the hierarchy of
\nthe church, especially those in Western Germany, which at that
\ntime was dominated by the Catholic church,\" explained H.
\nSchroedter-Albers, who presented his paper about Boll titled Von
\nLamm zum Wolf (From Lamb to Wolf) at a discussion session during
\nthe exhibition.<\/p>\n
\"It's an expression taken from the Bible which he often used
\nin his novels to describe a group of innocent people as lambs.
\nSometimes he also used a wolf as a symbol of bad people. It's
\ninteresting how his action of attacking these wolves made himself
\na wolf, too. At least, to my understanding,\" said Albers.<\/p>\n
Controversy was indeed a part of Boll's charm. While never
\nfailing to make it clear that he held on to the Christian faith
\nwholeheartedly, Boll kept criticizing the German Catholic Church
\nas a powerful institution in postwar West German society. He
\nremained a believer in Catholic doctrine, yet he was against any
\ntendency of the people being suppressed by the church that had
\nnothing to do with original doctrine. Boll's thoughts have
\ninfluenced public opinion -- even a Cologne archbishop once asked
\nto meet him to discuss the matter further.<\/p>\n
Pacifist<\/p>\n
Even though he was a pacifist, he was once accused of giving
\nsupport to a terrorist movement. He argued for the just treatment
\nof German terrorists in the 1970s. Boll seemed fascinated by the
\nanarchistic idea of having no power existing in a society. \"He
\nwas definitely sympathetic to this idealistic utopia, but he
\nnever prescribed himself to violence,\" commented Barth. Instead,
\nhe had protested the Vietnam War with his antiviolence action,
\ngot involved in an antinuclear movement and also gave his support
\nto two ex-Soviet author's descendants.<\/p>\n
Boll never stopped alienating himself from various sectors of
\nGerman society. His polemical novel, The Lost Honor of Katharina
\nBlum, which shows the destruction of an innocent human being by
\njournalistic slander, clearly states Boll's strongest attack
\nagainst what he perceived as the most dangerous of modern
\nGermany's hypocritical and immoral institutions.<\/p>\n
From his early novels until the last one published after his
\ndeath, The Woman in the Riverside, Boll consistently brought up
\npostwar German society with its shadowy, Nazi past, and its
\npostwar wonder economy.<\/p>\n
\"Boll's strength lies not in his artistic literary language,
\nbut in his ideas,\" said Albers, a German teacher. It is also his
\ncapability in transferring his ideas in the most modest and
\nsimple way. \"His novels are so easy to understand and translate,
\nwhich I think is what makes people easily comprehend what's going
\non in postwar German society,\" said Albers. His books have been
\nthe most translated of German novels compared to other
\nsignificant German literary works after the war.<\/p>\n
Arpani, a senior from Jakarta Teaching Institute (IKIP) who is
\nmajoring in German, is one of Heinrich Boll's fans. \"He was so
\nbrave in presenting the societal problems of his time. He was
\nalso very creative,\" she said.<\/p>\n
Interpreting his seemingly many facets -- a shrewd-minded
\nauthor, a self-critical Catholic, a pacifist and finally an idea
\nmachine, raises the fundamental question, who was Heinrich Boll
\nactually? Quoting an intriguing line expressed by one of his
\npopular characters in his novel, The Clown, in response to the
\naforementioned question, perhaps it is Boll's own answer to the
\nquestion. \"I'm the clown. I collect moments.\" Only Boll has put
\nmore weight to historical moments of contemporary Germany,
\npresenting them in a twisted and veracious way. He sketched the
\n\"new\" Germany by unveiling crucial issues that underlie people's
\nconscience. \"It's a pity that he died only five years before
\nGerman unification. By that time, no one in Germany dared to
\nthink that reunification would happen,\" commented Albers.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/boll-holds-up-mirror-to-postwar-germany-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}