Heinrich Böll, by John F Deane
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Why did the local policeman visit the kitchen about mysterious German packages?
I was sitting on the window seat inside the kitchen window. At home in Bonakuri, Ackle Island. I was surprised when the local policeman had passed across the yard and knocked on the back door. He came in all friendly to the kitchen. But my father, who offered him a cup of tea. Which he most politely declined. I did not stir. They chatted amiably awhile. I was wondering if we were in trouble. But was reassured by the talk of weather. and whether the shoals of mackerel might be soon coming closer to shore.
What were the German book packets and why were they considered suspicious after the war?
There was a pause. This was it. There's a matter about these wee packets that come to you from Germany, Don. I've been sent to ask What's that all about? It was, I suppose, only a little over a decade since the war in the And somebody somewhere was suspicious. Books, Jimmy, books. They're novels in German. And I can't buy them here. They come straight from Germany. They're by Heinrich Bull, a great man, a great writer.
How did Heinrich Böll come to settle on Achill Island and what did he publish there?
My father picked up a book from the sideboard and showed it to him. It was Derzukwarpunktlich The train was on time. The policeman heaved a sigh of relief. Right so, sure. You're great to be able to read them in German. I'll be on my way, so good luck with the fishing. And he was gone. Heinrich Bull had fought much against his will amongst the horrors of World War two. After the war he searched for a place untouched by human conflict and still imbued with the strength of Catholic faith. He found such a place on Ackle Island, and eventually bought a house here. In nineteen fifty seven he published a sort of travel journal memoir. of his first years in Ireland and on ACL.
What does Böll’s travel‑journal memoir reveal about his early years in Ireland?
And my father sent away to Germany for it. It was called Erichis Tagebuch. And I remember how it arrived in a small brown package, and how my father at once began to translate parts of it, those touching on some of the people featured in the book whom we knew well. But he lives just three miles away. I mentioned to him. You can speak German. I'm sure he'd be delighted to know there was someone reading the book in German here on the island he's written about. But my father was too diffident. He did not want to interrupt the great man. The house Burl spent most of his summers in, and where he wrote most of his novels and stories, is now a house offered to other writers who come from all over the world. Against the whitewashed walls of the house you can see scarlet blinds across which sunlight plays in shifting games of shadows.
Here Bull would have sat.
How did Böll’s writing confront war memories and seek redemption on the island?
Watching through the window the white war horses out on Black Saw Bay, remembering body crushing tanks and the mirrors of blood. I can imagine him writing. Here Where nothing happens, where a ram blunders in through a hedge and a pregnant cat comes pleading to the back door. Writing He is laying to rest the ghosts that have followed him everywhere. Here where now only the scented heathers watch through the breath fogged window. He writes of war. and of the failure of the human spirit to pass beyond mere selfishness. And in his writing he finds a form of redemption. And because he is a writer, he offers us to his readers. That redemption.
What legacy did Böll leave for Ackley Island’s literary community and its future writers?
He sits at his table, grateful that he has found an innocence and a truth in the uncertain world. And he writes to set that innocence against the horrors to which he was witness. in the hope such evil would never happen again. In nineteen seventy two, Heinrich Böhl received the Nobel Prize for Literature And on Ackle Island glasses were raised in joy and pride to one who had become a treasured son of the island. I don't know if the policeman who had gently quizzed my father ever read Irish Tagebuch, the Irish Journal. But the small and well thumbed original that came in its brown paper package from Germany into our house was a great curiosity and an heirloom for many years. I may paraphrase another writer here There is a small corner of Ackle Island that will be forever German.
The writer who lived and worked here and loved the island with a lasting passion has left more than a house for other artists to share. He has left a courage and a commitment, a standard and a wealth of story that will forever bathe Ackle Island in the glory of great world literature.
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Chapters
6 chapters
1
Why did the local policeman visit the kitchen about mysterious German packages?
0:00–0:43
2
What were the German book packets and why were they considered suspicious after the war?
0:43–1:21
3
How did Heinrich Böll come to settle on Achill Island and what did he publish there?
1:21–2:16
4
What does Böll’s travel‑journal memoir reveal about his early years in Ireland?
2:16–3:24
5
How did Böll’s writing confront war memories and seek redemption on the island?
3:24–4:19
6
What legacy did Böll leave for Ackley Island’s literary community and its future writers?
4:19–5:47