Billiards at Half-past Nine
Encyclopedia
Billiards at Half-past Nine (original title: Billard um halb zehn) is a novel written in 1959 by German author Heinrich Böll
. The entirety of the narrative takes place on the day of September 6, 1958 but the story stretches back through the use of flashbacks and the retelling of memories of the characters. It focuses on the Faehmel family's history starting from the end of 19th century until the present day of 1958. It reflects the opposition Böll, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1972, had to the period of Nazism
as well as his aversion to war in general.
Upstairs, Robert is telling the young bellboy, Hugo about his life and we find out that Nettlinger used to be a Nazi policeman. Robert and his friend Schrella, both of whom were schoolmates with Nettlinger, had opposed the Nazis, refusing to take "the Host of the Buffalo," a reference both to the devil and the Nazis. Schrella had disappeared after being beaten by Nettlinger and their gym teacher, Old Wobbly, also a Nazi policeman.
Nettlinger and Old Wobbly, we find out, have not just beaten Schrella and Robert, but corrupted Robert's brother Otto. Heinrich Faehmel, who married Johanna Kilb, had four children, of which Robert is the only one alive, Otto dying last in 1942 at the Battle of Kiev
. Johanna is now committed to a mental institution, going there after she tried to save some Jews from the cattle cars going to the extermination camps. It is now Heinrich's 80th birthday. Heinrich and Robert meet in a bar after going to visit Johanna, sitting down and talking for the first time in many years.
Meanwhile, Schrella has returned to Germany and talks with Nettlinger, who tries to make amends for his past life despite the fact that he has not really changed and remains an opportunist. Schrella goes to visit his old home.
We meet Joseph Faehmel and his girlfriend Marianne. Joseph has just learned that Robert was the one who destroyed the beautiful Abbey his grandfather had built and this greatly upsets him. Marianne tells him the story of her own family: her father was a Nazi who committed suicide at the end of the war; before that, he ordered Marianne's mother to murder the children after his death; her mother hanged Marienne's little brother but the arrival of some strangers prevent to do the same to Marianne who has been salvaged from death.
Johanna, who is still a hold of her wits as she ages, leaves the sanatorium with a pistol which she intends to use on Old Wobbly for his sins past. The entire family gathers in the Prince Heinrich Hotel for the birthday party and Johanna shoots at a Secretary of State
who was watching a military parade from a hotel's balcony. This act was intended to signal Johanna's inadaptation in a society ruled by "The Buffalo", whose members already forgot the horrors of the world. At the conclusion, Robert adopts the bellhop Hugo. A birthday cake which is shaped like the Abbey is carried in. Heinrich slices it and hands the first piece to his son.
. The main culprit is Paul von Hindenburg
, referred as "The Big Beast".
The effect of their actions is readily seen by the reader when most everything that actually happens in the novel has actually already happened in the characters' pasts. The connections between the different family members is also very strong because of the flashbacks and retellings. We do not simply hear about Heinrich, then Roberts and finally Joseph for instance, instead their stories are one, interwoven between each other until their story becomes the same. This is important reflection of what happens in the story as they all are linked to St. Anthony Abbey and to the wars and strife around them.
Böll's decision to have so many different narrators greatly affects the book. In the beginning, we first meet Robert through his secretary and then old Jochen; it is not until the third chapter when we actually become face to face with the protagonist. We meet Heinrich Faehmel in the first chapter, but only through the eyes of Leonore, the secretary. Our connection to characters is constantly being filtered by the narrator at the time. Though this could have the possibility of being subjective to the point of unreliability, the many points of view instead enhance the story. In some ways, the subjective retellings could be a reflection on the world the Faehmel family lived in: of their government and the Nazis trying to brainwash their country and its people.
In the story, however, the perspectives presented offer many different views of the characters. The relationship between father and son, husband and wife, friend and schoolmate and dissenter and blind-follower is not simply discussed but with the many different perspectives, given full access to. Through his father we see Robert, through Robert we see Schrella and through Schrella, Nettlinger. Everyone is described by not simply one narrator, but we are able to see the different sides and histories of each character.
, Germany. This is a direct reflection of Böll's personal history. Not only was Böll born in Cologne, but saw it taken over by the Nazis as well as the bombing of the entire city by the Allies towards the end of the war. Cologne was a cultural capital of Germany and the bombing not only destroyed the entire city, but killed 20,000 civilians.
Within the city, much of the action takes place in the Prince Heinrich Hotel, where Robert plays billiards every weekday. The Hotel, and more specifically the billiards room, is a place around which Robert structures his routine. After the unsettling stupidity of the war, Robert relishes his routine, habits he needs to make his life ordered again. He doesn't even really play billiards; "for some time now he had given up playing according to the rules, trying for runs, racking up points," (p. 31). For Robert, it's not about winning or losing, it's the physics of the game, of the action and reaction and the laws of science that stay constant no matter what. "Energy of the blow imparted to the ball by cue, plus a little friction, question of degree…and behold, impulse was converted into momentary figures," (p. 31) as the balls bounce off of each other. In the billiards room, Robert is able to do everything precisely how he wants in, in his ordered fashion, contrasting to the world outside the hotel where Robert had to deal with the unpredictable stupidity of war. Even when he was in the war, he reduced his demolitions to stress and give. "He's never been interested in the creative side of architecture," Joseph observes about his father. "Only in the formulas," (p. 192). Robert thus goes to the Hotel on his precise schedule to play a game of scientific certainty as he tries to escape from the memories of war and regain some sort of certainty in his life.
St. Anthony Abbey, though not a place where much of the plot takes place, is a setting that is pivotal in the Faehmel family. Heinrich Faehmel built it as a budding young architect. In fact, it was his first commission when he entered the design against better-known architects and won. Many years later, in the waning days of World War II, his son Robert demolished the Abbey. He was in the German Army under the command of a general, he called "off his rocker, and the only idea in his one-track mind was 'field of fire,' " (p. 63) the idea of destroying everything in your path. In this case, the Abbey "lay exactly between two armies, one German, the other American," (p.63). Although Robert said that the German army needed a field of fire "like a hole in the head," he destroyed it all the same, "just three days before the war ended" (p. 63), as a punishment for the monks who supported war. Later in the novel, Robert's son Joseph is presented as an architect who helps rebuilding the Abbey. After he learns that his father was the one who demolished it, he abandons the reconstruction project, not willing to participate any more. Even his career in architecture is in doubt. Although initially Heinrich is greatly affected by the Abbey's destruction (he had "walked through the rubble of the Abbey…mumbling what the peasants were mumbling, what Grandmother had always muttered in the air-raid shelter, whywhywhy" (p. 201)), he finally conciliates with it, regarding it like an insignificant loss as opposed to the ones that really matter, human lives. In the very end of the novel, at Heinrich's birthday party, there is a model of St. Anthony's made from cake. Joseph, and Robert's adopted son Hugo, bring the cake in and then Heinrich "cut off the spire of the Abbey first, and passed the plate to Robert," (p. 280). They have reconciled and their family history has become emblematic of Germany's history in the setting of St. Anthony Abbey.
The fictional St. Anthony Abbey is considered to refer to the actual Maria Laach Abbey
, against whose monks serious accusations of collaboration with the Nazi regime were made.
Heinrich Böll
Heinrich Theodor Böll was one of Germany's foremost post-World War II writers. Böll was awarded the Georg Büchner Prize in 1967 and the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1972.- Biography :...
. The entirety of the narrative takes place on the day of September 6, 1958 but the story stretches back through the use of flashbacks and the retelling of memories of the characters. It focuses on the Faehmel family's history starting from the end of 19th century until the present day of 1958. It reflects the opposition Böll, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1972, had to the period of Nazism
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
as well as his aversion to war in general.
Plot
The novel begins with Robert Faehmel's secretary's description of Robert and the knowledge that something is out of the ordinary of her routine life. Robert is an architect who is meticulous in everything he does. An old school friend of Robert had shown up and Leonore, his secretary at the office, sent him to the Prince Heinrich Hotel where Robert always is from the hours of 9:30 to 11:00. This is to cause trouble for the entire Faehmel family, which includes three generations of architects: Heinrich Faehmel, his son Robert and Robert's son Joseph. Through the old bellhop at the Prince Heinrich, Jochen, the reader learns that it is a man named Nettlinger who wants to see Robert, but Jochen refuses to let the man into the billiards room to disturb his patron.Upstairs, Robert is telling the young bellboy, Hugo about his life and we find out that Nettlinger used to be a Nazi policeman. Robert and his friend Schrella, both of whom were schoolmates with Nettlinger, had opposed the Nazis, refusing to take "the Host of the Buffalo," a reference both to the devil and the Nazis. Schrella had disappeared after being beaten by Nettlinger and their gym teacher, Old Wobbly, also a Nazi policeman.
Nettlinger and Old Wobbly, we find out, have not just beaten Schrella and Robert, but corrupted Robert's brother Otto. Heinrich Faehmel, who married Johanna Kilb, had four children, of which Robert is the only one alive, Otto dying last in 1942 at the Battle of Kiev
Battle of Kiev
The Battle of Kiev may refer to one of two battles of World War II:* Battle of Kiev , when two German Panzer Groups encircled a Soviet army in the city* Battle of Kiev , when the city was liberated by the Soviet 1st Ukrainian Front...
. Johanna is now committed to a mental institution, going there after she tried to save some Jews from the cattle cars going to the extermination camps. It is now Heinrich's 80th birthday. Heinrich and Robert meet in a bar after going to visit Johanna, sitting down and talking for the first time in many years.
Meanwhile, Schrella has returned to Germany and talks with Nettlinger, who tries to make amends for his past life despite the fact that he has not really changed and remains an opportunist. Schrella goes to visit his old home.
We meet Joseph Faehmel and his girlfriend Marianne. Joseph has just learned that Robert was the one who destroyed the beautiful Abbey his grandfather had built and this greatly upsets him. Marianne tells him the story of her own family: her father was a Nazi who committed suicide at the end of the war; before that, he ordered Marianne's mother to murder the children after his death; her mother hanged Marienne's little brother but the arrival of some strangers prevent to do the same to Marianne who has been salvaged from death.
Johanna, who is still a hold of her wits as she ages, leaves the sanatorium with a pistol which she intends to use on Old Wobbly for his sins past. The entire family gathers in the Prince Heinrich Hotel for the birthday party and Johanna shoots at a Secretary of State
Secretary of State
Secretary of State or State Secretary is a commonly used title for a senior or mid-level post in governments around the world. The role varies between countries, and in some cases there are multiple Secretaries of State in the Government....
who was watching a military parade from a hotel's balcony. This act was intended to signal Johanna's inadaptation in a society ruled by "The Buffalo", whose members already forgot the horrors of the world. At the conclusion, Robert adopts the bellhop Hugo. A birthday cake which is shaped like the Abbey is carried in. Heinrich slices it and hands the first piece to his son.
Themes
The major theme of the book is the conflict between the ones who received "The Host of the Beast" and their opponents, the receivers of "The Host of the Lamb". Although this separation can be seen as Nazi versus pacifists, it has a deeper meaning: the "Lamb" followers are the free-thinking, kind-hearted ones, not willing to oppress other people while the "Beast" worshippers enclose the aggressors, the indifferent mass, the ones who try to subjugate, the accomplices of TotalitarianismTotalitarianism
Totalitarianism is a political system where the state recognizes no limits to its authority and strives to regulate every aspect of public and private life wherever feasible...
. The main culprit is Paul von Hindenburg
Paul von Hindenburg
Paul Ludwig Hans Anton von Beneckendorff und von Hindenburg , known universally as Paul von Hindenburg was a Prussian-German field marshal, statesman, and politician, and served as the second President of Germany from 1925 to 1934....
, referred as "The Big Beast".
Form and structure
The majority of the story does not take place in the present, but rather we learn most of the plot through the use of flashbacks, characters remembering something from their past or relating a story from their life to another person. This complex plot structure allows the characters to be more fully explored as things do not simply happen to them, but are built upon and remembered in a certain way. Each character's story is given depth through the memories as their emotion comes through strongly as they remember events from years past. They, as well as the reader, know the significance of these events in their lives at the moment and thus can more accurately relay them.The effect of their actions is readily seen by the reader when most everything that actually happens in the novel has actually already happened in the characters' pasts. The connections between the different family members is also very strong because of the flashbacks and retellings. We do not simply hear about Heinrich, then Roberts and finally Joseph for instance, instead their stories are one, interwoven between each other until their story becomes the same. This is important reflection of what happens in the story as they all are linked to St. Anthony Abbey and to the wars and strife around them.
Point of view
The point of view of the novel is very important and the rotating first person perspective gives the story its deep insight. Fully eleven different characters provide a first person perspective in the novel and each chapter switches the point of view. The first is told by Robert's secretary, Leonore, the second by the old bellhop Jochen, the third by Robert, the fourth by Heinrich, the fifth his wife Johanna, the sixth by Robert again, the seventh by both Schrella and Nettlinger, the eighth by Joseph Faehmel and his fiancée Marianne, the ninth by Schrella, the tenth by both Robert and his daughter Ruth, the eleventh is again told from the perspective of Johanna, the twelfth and thirteenth by nearly every different character in the story. Some of these chapters are told in first person and others by third person omniscient and specifically follow the thoughts of a certain character.Böll's decision to have so many different narrators greatly affects the book. In the beginning, we first meet Robert through his secretary and then old Jochen; it is not until the third chapter when we actually become face to face with the protagonist. We meet Heinrich Faehmel in the first chapter, but only through the eyes of Leonore, the secretary. Our connection to characters is constantly being filtered by the narrator at the time. Though this could have the possibility of being subjective to the point of unreliability, the many points of view instead enhance the story. In some ways, the subjective retellings could be a reflection on the world the Faehmel family lived in: of their government and the Nazis trying to brainwash their country and its people.
In the story, however, the perspectives presented offer many different views of the characters. The relationship between father and son, husband and wife, friend and schoolmate and dissenter and blind-follower is not simply discussed but with the many different perspectives, given full access to. Through his father we see Robert, through Robert we see Schrella and through Schrella, Nettlinger. Everyone is described by not simply one narrator, but we are able to see the different sides and histories of each character.
Allusions/references to actual history, geography and current science
In the flashbacks and retellings, the setting shifts around a lot, but the majority of the plot takes place in the city of CologneCologne
Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...
, Germany. This is a direct reflection of Böll's personal history. Not only was Böll born in Cologne, but saw it taken over by the Nazis as well as the bombing of the entire city by the Allies towards the end of the war. Cologne was a cultural capital of Germany and the bombing not only destroyed the entire city, but killed 20,000 civilians.
Within the city, much of the action takes place in the Prince Heinrich Hotel, where Robert plays billiards every weekday. The Hotel, and more specifically the billiards room, is a place around which Robert structures his routine. After the unsettling stupidity of the war, Robert relishes his routine, habits he needs to make his life ordered again. He doesn't even really play billiards; "for some time now he had given up playing according to the rules, trying for runs, racking up points," (p. 31). For Robert, it's not about winning or losing, it's the physics of the game, of the action and reaction and the laws of science that stay constant no matter what. "Energy of the blow imparted to the ball by cue, plus a little friction, question of degree…and behold, impulse was converted into momentary figures," (p. 31) as the balls bounce off of each other. In the billiards room, Robert is able to do everything precisely how he wants in, in his ordered fashion, contrasting to the world outside the hotel where Robert had to deal with the unpredictable stupidity of war. Even when he was in the war, he reduced his demolitions to stress and give. "He's never been interested in the creative side of architecture," Joseph observes about his father. "Only in the formulas," (p. 192). Robert thus goes to the Hotel on his precise schedule to play a game of scientific certainty as he tries to escape from the memories of war and regain some sort of certainty in his life.
St. Anthony Abbey, though not a place where much of the plot takes place, is a setting that is pivotal in the Faehmel family. Heinrich Faehmel built it as a budding young architect. In fact, it was his first commission when he entered the design against better-known architects and won. Many years later, in the waning days of World War II, his son Robert demolished the Abbey. He was in the German Army under the command of a general, he called "off his rocker, and the only idea in his one-track mind was 'field of fire,' " (p. 63) the idea of destroying everything in your path. In this case, the Abbey "lay exactly between two armies, one German, the other American," (p.63). Although Robert said that the German army needed a field of fire "like a hole in the head," he destroyed it all the same, "just three days before the war ended" (p. 63), as a punishment for the monks who supported war. Later in the novel, Robert's son Joseph is presented as an architect who helps rebuilding the Abbey. After he learns that his father was the one who demolished it, he abandons the reconstruction project, not willing to participate any more. Even his career in architecture is in doubt. Although initially Heinrich is greatly affected by the Abbey's destruction (he had "walked through the rubble of the Abbey…mumbling what the peasants were mumbling, what Grandmother had always muttered in the air-raid shelter, whywhywhy" (p. 201)), he finally conciliates with it, regarding it like an insignificant loss as opposed to the ones that really matter, human lives. In the very end of the novel, at Heinrich's birthday party, there is a model of St. Anthony's made from cake. Joseph, and Robert's adopted son Hugo, bring the cake in and then Heinrich "cut off the spire of the Abbey first, and passed the plate to Robert," (p. 280). They have reconciled and their family history has become emblematic of Germany's history in the setting of St. Anthony Abbey.
The fictional St. Anthony Abbey is considered to refer to the actual Maria Laach Abbey
Maria Laach Abbey
Maria Laach Abbey is a Benedictine abbey situated on the southwestern shore of the Laacher See , near Andernach, in the Eifel region of the Rhineland-Palatinate in Germany. It is a member of the Beuronese Congregation within the Benedictine Confederation...
, against whose monks serious accusations of collaboration with the Nazi regime were made.
Film, TV or theatrical adaptations
Billiards at Half-past Nine was made into a film in 1965. It was entitled Nicht versöhnt oder Es hilft nur Gewalt wo Gewalt herrscht (Only Violence Helps Where Violence Rules) and was directed by Jean-Marie Straub.External links
- Autobiography by Heinrich Böll at nobelprize.org
- Britannica Article on Heinrich Böll
- The Heinrich Böll Foundation near the German Green Party
- English language edition of Billiards At Half-Past Nine (2010) published by Melville House Publishing: Brooklyn, NY.
- Internet Movie Data Base for Only Violence Helps Where Violence Rules (1965 film adaptation, 55 mins.)
- BBC Radio Adaptation
- College discussion guide with Family Tree, Cast of Characters, Symbols and Glossary (by Harold Marcuse at UCSB)
- Grinnell College discussion guide with Chapter Synopses