SOURCE: "Nothing Pretentious about Life and Art," in The Hudson Review, Vol. XL, No. 4, Winter, 1988, pp. 669-76.

In the following excerpt, Wilhelmus offers a mixed review of The Casualty.

Böll, well known to American audiences, resembles Hemingway in his blunt, uncompromising portrayal of the brutality of war, its occasional absurdity, its desperate humor, and its dehumanizing effects.

[The Casualty, a collection of stories] written between 1946 and 1952 (when BÖll was between the ages of 29 and 35), clearly predict the successful career to follow. In conception as well as execution they are journeyman pieces intended to establish the writer's credentials: his social consciousness and serious demeanor, his right to be considered in the same company as Brecht and Kafka, and—as a former soldier—his right to speak with bitter irony. Missing as yet is the more refined social comedy and thoughtful observation that will later shape stories like...