The Clown

1963 novel by Heinrich Böll
VisualArtwork literary_work Q514002
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Summary

The Clown is a literary work[1]. It ranks in the top 4% of literary work entities by monthly Wikipedia readership (1,937 views/month).[2]

Key Facts

  • Author: Heinrich Böll[3]
  • Publisher: Kiepenheuer & Witsch[4]
  • Depicts: outsider[5], Catholicism[6], rebel[7], Nazism[8], sexual morality[9], square[10], family[11], lovesickness[12]
  • Language of work or name: German[13]
  • Country of origin: Germany[14]
  • Inception: 1963[15]
  • Publication date: 1963[16]
  • Characters: Hans Schnier[17]
  • Has edition or translation: The Clown[18]
  • Narrative location: Bonn[19], Cologne[20]
  • Main subject: burgher[21], Allied-occupied Germany[22]
  • Title: Ansichten eines Clowns[23], Me syrin e një klouni[24], Vazgledite na edin kloun[25], Pailazo baten aburuak[26], Klaunovy názory[27], En clowns opgør[28], Meningen van een clown[29], The clown[30], Erään klovnin mietteitä[31], La grimace[32], Opinións dun pallaso[33], Klounis t'valt'axedva[34], Egy bohóc nézetei[35], Trúðurinn[36]
  • First line: Es war schon dunkel, als ich in Bonn ankam, ich zwang mich, meine Ankunft nicht mit der Automatik ablaufen zu lassen, die sich in fünfjährigem Unterwegssein herausgebildet hat: [...][37]
  • Set in period: 1940s[38], 1950s[39]
  • Last line: Ich erschrak, als die erste Münze in meinen Hut fiel: es war ein Groschen, er traf die Zigarette, verschob sie zu sehr an den Rand. Ich legte sie wieder richtig hin und sang weiter.[40]
  • Derivative work: The Clown[41]
  • Form of creative work: novel[42]

Why It Matters

The Clown has Wikipedia articles in 10 language editions, a strong signal of global cultural recognition.[43] It is known by 13 alternative names across languages and contexts.[44]

References

Programmatic citations — every numbered marker resolves to a verifiable graph row below.

Direct Wikidata claims

  1. [3] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  2. [4] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  3. [5] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  4. [6] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  5. [7] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  6. [8] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  7. [9] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  8. [10] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  9. [11] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  10. [12] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  11. [13] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  12. [14] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  13. [15] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  14. [16] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  15. [17] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  16. [18] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  17. [19] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  18. [20] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  19. [21] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  20. [22] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  21. [23] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  22. [24] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  23. [25] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  24. [26] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  25. [27] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  26. [28] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  27. [29] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  28. [30] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  29. [31] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  30. [32] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  31. [33] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  32. [34] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  33. [35] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  34. [36] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  35. [37] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  36. [38] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  37. [39] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  38. [40] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  39. [41] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  40. [42] ↑ . wikidata.org.

Class ancestry

  1. [1] ↑ . Wikidata. wikidata.org.

Aggregate / graph-position facts

  1. [2] ↑ . Wikimedia Foundation. dumps.wikimedia.org.
  2. [43] ↑ . Wikidata sitelinks. wikidata.org.
  3. [44] ↑ . Wikidata aliases. wikidata.org.

📑 Cite this page

Use these citations when quoting this entity in research, articles, AI prompts, or wherever provenance matters. We aggregate Wikidata + Wikipedia + authoritative open-data sources; the stitched, scored, cross-referenced view is what 4ort.xyz contributes.

APA 4ort.xyz Knowledge Graph. (2026). The Clown. Retrieved October 15, 2026, from https://4ort.xyz/entity/the-clown
MLA “The Clown.” 4ort.xyz Knowledge Graph, 4ort.xyz, 15 Oct. 2026, https://4ort.xyz/entity/the-clown.
BibTeX @misc{4ortxyz_the-clown_2026, author = {{4ort.xyz Knowledge Graph}}, title = {{The Clown}}, year = {2026}, url = {https://4ort.xyz/entity/the-clown}, note = {Accessed: 2026-10-15}}
LLM prompt According to 4ort.xyz Knowledge Graph (aggregator of Wikidata, Wikipedia, and authoritative open-data sources): The Clown — https://4ort.xyz/entity/the-clown (retrieved 2026-10-15)

Canonical URL: https://4ort.xyz/entity/the-clown · Last refreshed:

Edit History

Rolling log of changes to this entity's Wikidata record. Values shown reflect the current state of each edited property — follow the history link to see the precise diff for any edit.

  1. 6d ago · HedgeHog · 2026-10-11 view diff on Wikidata ↗
    Wikipedia languages → ['bg', 'ckb', 'cs', 'de', 'en', 'eo', 'es', 'eu', 'fa', 'fr', 'gl', 'he', 'it',
    Sitelink count → 21
    Bookbrainz work id → 3223ae70-e9ba-4e57-98c9-0fd7bd43281f
    Claims rich → —
    "/* wbcreateclaim-create:1| */ Bookbrainz work id: 3223ae70-e9ba-4e57-98c9-0fd7bd43281f, [[:toollabs:quickstatements/#/batch/290269|batch #290269]]"
  2. 23w ago · KaleemBot bot · 2026-05-06 view diff on Wikidata ↗
    Language of work or name → German
    Inception → +1963-00-00T00:00:00Z
    Publisher → Kiepenheuer & Witsch
    Country of origin → Germany
    + 17 other properties edited (see Wikidata diff for full list)
    "/* wbeditentity-update:0| */ Added [[wikipedia:ur:دی کلوون (ناول)]]"
Live feed via Wikidata EventStreams. New edits appear within minutes of being made on Wikidata.