Resource Key
LEVEL 1
brief, basic information laid out in an easy-to-read format. May use informal language. (Includes most news articles)
LEVEL 2
provides additional background information and further reading. Introduces some subject-specific language.
LEVEL 3
lengthy, detailed information. Frequently uses technical/subject-specific language. (Includes most analytical articles)
Databases
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JSTOR This link opens in a new window
Scholarly resources on JSTOR include Archival and Current Journals, Books, and Primary Sources.
Introduction
In an era in which journalists will stop at nothing to break a story, Henrich Böll's The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum has taken on heightened relevance.
A young woman's association with a hunted man makes her the target of a journalist determined to grab headlines by portraying her as an evil woman. As the attacks on her escalate and she becomes the victim of anonymous threats, Katharina sees only one way out of her nightmare.
Turning the mystery genre on its head, the novel begins with the confession of a crime, drawing the reader into a web of sensationalism, character assassination, and the unavoidable eruption of violence.
Interview with Jost Vacano - Lost Honor of Katharina Blum
Jost Vacano. (2003). Interview with Jost Vacano - Lost Honor of Katharina Blum [Video file]. The Criterion Collection.
Biography
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Heinrich Böll. (2017). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved from http://school.eb.com.au.db.plcscotch.wa.edu.au/levels/high/article/Heinrich-B%C3%B6ll/80493
Heinrich Böll, in full Heinrich Theodor Böll , (born Dec. 21, 1917, Cologne, Ger.—died July 16, 1985, Bornheim-Merten, near Cologne, W.Ger.), German writer, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1972. Böll’s ironic novels on the travails of German life during and after World War II capture the changing psychology of the German nation.
Review
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Armster, C. (1988). Katharina Blum: Violence and the Exploitation of Sexuality. Women in German Yearbook, 4, 83-95. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org.db.plcscotch.wa.edu.au/stable/20688703
In this review Charlotte Armster comments Boll's short novel was viewed as having actual news value in that it possessed a direct tie to immediate political events in Germany. To Spiegel editors, the publication was seen as the continuation of a bitter public confrontation between Boll and the Springer-controlled press.