Name: Heinrich Böll
Year Won: 1972
Read: The Casuality
Original Language: German
Reason: "for his writing, which through its combination of a broad perspective on his time and a sensitive skill in characterization has contributed to a renewal of German literature"
About: The Casuality is a series of short stories mostly focusing on the perspectives of normal Germans (especially lowly soldiers) during WWII. They're beautifully written, but stark and depressing. (Which I guess makes sense?) There's a kind of horrible brutality to them - wealthy soldiers buy wounds to get them away from the front lines, soldiers murder an officer who's been promoting aggressive fighting, etc.
What I liked: The writing is beautiful and the themes, while depressing, are interesting, unique, and really powerful. If you want a sense that war is hell well...this collection definitely makes you feel that war is, indeed, hell. (And more so because of how it enables the terrible than just because of the freezing in trenches part.)
What I Disliked: These stories are dark and hard to read.
Should it have won a Nobel: Yes. Boll is a phenomenal writer and these stories feel fresh and unique the way so many others don't. He's phenomenal.
Next Up: "The Hanging Garden" by Patrick White
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