TIME AND THE OTHERS. ‘BILLIARDS AT HALF-PAST NINE’ [‘BILLARD UM HALB ZEHN’] BY H. BÖLL
https://doi.org/10.31425/0042-8795-2018-2-247-271
Abstract
The article deals with the image of time of Heinrich Böll’s Billiards at Half-Past Nine. Undergoing transformation as the novel progresses from beginning to end, time is promoted beyond the formal meanings of the word to the book’s theme, key driver of its plot, and one of the novel’s main characters. The author examines the artistic techniques, composition, timeline, and topography related to this metamorphosis, as well as the writer’s typical stylistic methods.
To mention just a few, its dramaturgical substitution (whereby the role of the narrator is passed on from one character to another, and the scene moves across time); semantic surprise (an unexpected use of a word, or change of the topic of narration); spiral composition (description of past and present events in a cyclical rather than linear narration); the poetics of repetition and artistic laconicism.
In addition, the research looks at the novel’s position in time and space in accordance with M. Bakhtin’s classification.
About the Author
S. FominRussian Federation
Sergey Borisovich Fomin, literary critic, poet.
Academic interests include Russian and foreign literature of the 19th and 20th centuries.
References
1. Bakhtin M. M. Questions of Literature and Aesthetics. Studies of Different Years. Moscow: Khudozhestvennaya literatura, 1975.
2. Böll H. Nobel Prize Laureate’s Speech / Translated from German by S. Fridland // Böll H. Selected works. Moscow: Panorama, 1994. P. 482-484. (In Russ.)
3. Heidegger M. Hölderlin’s Hymns Germany and Rhein / Translated from German by O. V. Smirnov // Intelros. 2007. Issue 2. URL: http:// www.intelros.ru/readroom/vox/v2-2007/15230-gimny-gelderlina-germaniya-i-reyn.html.
4. Huizinga J. Homo Ludens. Articles on Cultural History / Trans., ed. and foreword by D. V. Silvestrov. Moscow: Progress-Traditsiya, 1997.
5. Virina G. L., Lipinskaya A. A. Chronotopes System in H. Böll’s Novels Billiards at Half-Past Nine and Women in a River Landscape // Professor S. A. Goncharov’s Online Workshop. 2001. URL: http://aseminar.narod.ru/bell.htm.
Review
For citations:
Fomin S. TIME AND THE OTHERS. ‘BILLIARDS AT HALF-PAST NINE’ [‘BILLARD UM HALB ZEHN’] BY H. BÖLL. Voprosy literatury. 2018;(2):247-271. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.31425/0042-8795-2018-2-247-271
Views:
504
Email this article 
