On the Rationality of Poetry : : Heinrich Böll's Aesthetic Thinking.

• Superior document: Amsterdamer Publikationen Zur Sprache und Literatur Series ; v.122
• Author: Finlay, Frank.
• Place / Publishing House: Boston : : BRILL,, 1996.; ©1996.
• Year of Publication: 1996
• Edition: 1st ed.
• Language: English
• Series: Amsterdamer Publikationen Zur Sprache und Literatur Series
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (294 pages)

This study explores Heinrich Böll's 'aesthetic thinking', as it is expressed in the author's disparate and voluminous writings on literature. Böll's work in this field is situated in the multi-faceted context of social, political, and cultural developments in post-war Germany, and is shown to be an important adjunct to the novels and stories which were honoured with the Nobel Prize for Literature. An understanding of Heinrich Böll's 'aesthetic thinking' can illuminate the writer's fiction in an intriguing way. In particular, Böll's defence of the 'rationality of poetry' raises issues which reverberate in continuing debates on the social validity of literature.

Table of Contents

Intro -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Table of Contents -- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS -- 0. INTRODUCTION -- 0.0 The Aims of the Present Study -- 0.1 The Böll Scholarship -- 0.1.1 The Obituaries -- 0.1.2 Aspects and Trends since 1976 -- 0.1.3 The Heinrich Böll Foundation -- 0.1.4 Research into Böll's Theoretical Writings -- 0.2 Critical Premises -- 0.3 Outline of the Present Study -- 1. THE CENTRAL CONCERNS OF BÖLL'S AESTHETIC THINKING -- 1.0 Summary -- 1.1 The West German 'Restoration' 1945 - 1955 -- 1.2. Literary Trends -- 1.2.1 The 'junge Generation' -- 1.2.2 The Retreat from Realism -- 1.3 Böll's Early Theoretical Statements -- 1.3.1 'Trümmerliteratur' -- 1.3.2 A Poisoned Language -- 1.3.3 Form and Content -- 1.3.4 Reality and Imagination -- 2. THE MORALITY OF LANGUAGE -- 2.0 Summary -- 2.1 Language as a Bastion of Freedom -- 2.2 Böll's Critical Analysis of Language -- 2.2.1 'Keine so schlechte Quelle': Adenauer's Memoirs -- 2.2.2 'Bild-Bonn-Boenisch' -- 2.2.3 Essays, Speeches and Interviews -- 2.2.4 'Frauen vor Flußlandschaft' -- 2.3 The Question of Tradition: The Influence of Theodor Haecker -- 3. THE QUEST FOR A 'HOMELAND' -- 3.0 Summary -- 3.1 Enlightened Humanism -- 3.2 Commitment and 'Heimat' -- 3.3 'Eine Ästhetik des Humanen' -- 3.3.1 H.G. Adler's 'Eine Reise' -- 3.3.2 An Inhabitable Language -- 3.3.3 The Province -- 3.3.4 'Abfall' -- 3.3.5 A 'Theology of Tenderness' -- 3.3.6 Critical Humour -- 3.4 Böll's Programme in Miniature -- 3.5 Humour and Satire -- 4. HUMANE REALISM -- 4.0 Summary -- 4.1 'Geschaffene Wirklichkeit' -- 4.2 Other Theories of Realism -- 4.2.1 Böll's Reception of Büchner -- 4.2.2 The Literature of Edification: Böll's Critique of Socialist Realism -- 4.2.3 Böll and Solzhenitsyn -- 4.3 'Engagierte Literatur'? -- 4.3.1 Adorno's Aesthetics -- 4.3.2 The 'False Alternative': Böll's Position -- 5. THE RATIONALITY OF POETRY.

5.0 Summary -- 5.1 The Social and Political Climate in the 1960s -- 5.2 The 'Death' of Literature -- 5.2.1 Hans Magnus Enzensberger -- 5.2.2 Scepticism in Böll's Theoretical Writings -- 5.3 Böll's Defence of Literature -- 5.3.1 The Freedom of Art -- 5.3.2 The Rationality of Poetry -- 6. CONCLUSIONS -- 6.1 The Legacy for the Imaginative Works -- 6.2 The Legacy for Contemporary Literature -- 7. BIBLIOGRAPHY -- 7.1 Primary Sources: Heinrich Böll -- 7.2 Secondary Sources.