The Clown Author:Heinrich Boll Hans Schneir, a professional clown and mime, is an artist who specializes in capturing revealing incidents in people's lives and recreating them in pantomime. B way of reminiscing after a particularly disastrous performance, the clown gives a moving description not only of his own personal history but also of German society under Hitler and in ... more »the postwar period. The clown-narrator's ability to go to the heart of every human being and every issue with tenderness and compassion as well as devastating insight parallels Heinrich Boll's own artistry and immense writing talent. The reader is compelled to share Schneir's obsession with the existential condition of man and to understnad his revulsion and heartbreak at the Germany he has seen emerging from the war.« less