SOURCE: A review of 18 Stories, in Studies in Short Fiction, Vol. 4, No. 1, Fall, 1966-67, pp. 355-57.

In the following essay, Smith explores the childlike aspects of Böll's short fiction.

Most of [18 Stories] show conflicting interpretations of the world. One set of characters, usually children or childlike adults, is concerned with natural forces and events, no matter how old. The opposing characters are wiser in the ways of the world. They are more concerned with the devious procedures and protective screens used by civilized people to protect themselves from life than with life itself. For example, in "Like a Bad Dream," the narrator (who has "married into the excavating business") is introduced by his wife to a simple method of bribery. Although he catches on only slowly ("perhaps I failed to grasp what was happening at the time"), he learns quickly enough that by the end of the...