Adam and the Train: Two Novels

by Heinrich Böll, Leila Vennewitz (Translator)

Translation of: Wo warst du Adam? and Der Zug war pünktlich.
Caption titles: And where were you, Adam? The train was on time.

Genres: Germany, Fiction

288 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1970

About the author

Der deutsche Schriftsteller und Übersetzer gilt als einer der bedeutendsten deutschen Autoren der Nachkriegszeit. Er schrieb Gedichte, Kurzgeschichten und Romane, von denen auch einige verfilmt wurden. Dabei setzte er sich kritisch mit der jungen Bundesrepublik auseinander. Zu seinen erfolgreichsten Werken zählen "Billard um halbzehn", "Ansichten eines Clowns" und "Gruppenbild mit Dame". Den Nobelpreis für Literatur bekam Heinrich Böll 1972; er war nach 43 Jahren der erste deutsche Schriftsteller, dem diese Auszeichnung zuteil wurde. 1974 erschien sein wohl populärstes Werk, "Die verlorene Ehre der Katharina Blum". Durch sein politisches Engagement wirkte er, gemeinsam mit seinem Freund Lew Kopelew, auf die europäische Literatur der Nachkriegszeit. Darüber hinaus arbeitete Böll gemeinsam mit seiner Frau Annemarie als Herausgeber und Übersetzer englischsprachiger Werke ins Deutsche...

Heinrich Böll became a full-time writer at the age of 30. His first novel, Der Zug war pünktlich (The Train Was on Time), was published in 1949. Many other novels, short stories, radio plays, and essay collections followed. In 1972 he received the Nobel Prize for Literature "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." He was the first German-born author to receive the Nobel Prize since Hermann Hesse in 1946. His work has been translated into more than 30 languages, and he is one of Germany's most widely read authors.

Reviews

[Lysergius · Rating 3 out of 5]

This volume contains a couple of Boll's war stories. The writing is tight and the descriptions graphic. Fabulous.

[John Engelman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Adam and The Train includes two novels by Heinrich Boll. The jacket for this book describes Heinric Boll as a “distinguished German author.” From Google I learned that he won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1972. Earlier he fought in the Second World War, mainly against the Russians.

Consequently, I began reading And Where Were You Adam? With high hopes. The novel began well with a sympathetic description of an aging, tired German general who, unlike most German generals, had never won the Iron Cross because he had been unable to reverse the failing German fortunes in 1944, following the success of the British and American invasion of Normandy, and Russian advances on the eastern front.

Then the novel lags until Boll begins to describe a budding romance between a German soldier and a Jewish girl. Unfortunately, the German soldier does nothing to rescue the Jewish girl from a concentration camp commander who kills her.

At that point the reader is forced to endure another forty pages of dull prose until the novel ends with no resolution to the problems it introduces.


The Train Was on Time is about a German soldier named Andreas. He is traveling on a train from Paris to the east, where he will fight the Russians.

The story happens after the Battle of Stalingrad, but before the invasion of Normandy. Andreas expects Germany to lose the war, he expects to be killed, He frequently prays and is sympathetic toward Jews.

Along the way Andreas meets a prostitute named Olina. Olina is a Polish woman. Like most prostitutes she was forced into the trade by economic necessity. Like many prostitutes she had been raped. In her case she had been raped by German soldiers. She hates Germans but makes an exception for Andreas.

When Olina has a German client, she tries to learn classified information from him. She passes this information to the Polish resistance movement. Olina is beautiful and musically gifted. She should be doing other things than working as a prostitute.

When Olina learns that Andreas is a virgin she tells him that she wants to seduce him. Andreas feels romantic love for Olina, but no sexual desire. I have felt that way myself.

When the story ends, I am not sure if Andreas has been killed or not. Andreas and Olina deserve better in life than the situation Heinrich Boll puts them in.

[Judith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sometimes the tragedy in this book was so powerful that after reading it aloud, we could hardly speak or look at each other. The brilliant translation by Leila Vennewitz of the two novellas, Where were you Adam? and The train was on time, captured not only the horrors of WWII, but the situation of the Wehrmacht soldiers who were pawns in the brutal game of that war and solders who are pawns in all wars. "Adam" is episodic and takes place late in the war as units try to avoid the on-coming Russians, but "Train" is a single narrative in the Young Werther voice of Andreas, a sensitive, cultured young man who knows that he will die, soon, soon, soon, in 1943. The novella becomes a meditation on that "soon,"and we approach it with terror. Query: We missed understanding the connection between Andreas and a young priest, Paul, in whose closet Andreas has left his rifle as he prepares to go to Poland to kill more Jews and do God knows what else. Any help gratefully received.

[Tim Nelson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Two classic early works by Heinrich Böll both involving WWII.