The Bread of Those Early Years (novel)

The Bread of Those Early Years (German: Das Brot der frühen Jahre) is a 1955 novella by the West German writer Heinrich Böll. It concerns Walter Fendrich, a young man living alone in a post-war German city (probably based on Cologne), making ends meet as a washing machine repair man. The story takes place on a single March day in 1949 when Walter meets the daughter of a family friend, whom he is supposed to help settle into her student lodgings. So enraptured is he by Hedwig that he sees his whole life anew — the death of his mother, his relationship with his father, postwar privations and his negative experiences as an apprentice. Whether Walter can truly expect his epiphany to be life-transforming, however, is a question that will be in the reader's mind as the story unfolds.[1]

The Bread of Those Early Years
First edition
AuthorHeinrich Böll
Original titleDas Brot der frühen Jahre
CountryWest Germany
LanguageGerman
PublisherKiepenheuer & Witsch
Publication date
1955
Published in English
1957

The novella was adapted into a 1962 film with the same title.[2]

German text
  • Das Brot der frühen Jahre, Kiepenheuer & Witsch, 1955
  • Das Brot der frühen Jahre, Heinemann, with an introduction by James Alldridge, 1965 (reprinted 1981)

English translations
  • The Bread of those Early Years, translated by Leila Vennewitz, European Classics, 1994
  • The Bread of those Early Years, translated and illustrated by Rachel A H Beckett, unpublished, 2019 (for more information please email rahbeckett@gmail.com)
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References
  1. Afterword of Beckett translation (see under English translations).
  2. "Festival de Cannes: The Bread of Those Early Years". festival-cannes.com. Cannes Film Festival. Retrieved 2011-10-29.


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