FTP identify this work narrated by Robert Fahmel, a man who likes to escape his past by playing the title game in a work by Heinrich Boll.
During flashbacks the main character remembers his time as the creator of "a field of fire," while his mother feigns mental illness and wants to kill the leader of the "blue tunics," Ben Wackes. This eventually causes her to steal a pistol from her gardener and shoot the wrong man. Taking place over ten hours on September 6, 1958, much of it is dominated by opposing mentalities symbolized by the "lamb" and "buffalo." The latter is represented by Otto, who died near Kiev, while the protagonist's childhood friend, Alfred Schrella, represents the former and returns from exile late in the novel.  Its title refers to the protagonist's appointment with the bellboy Hugo at the Prince Heinrich Hotel and much of the story is taken up with the mystery about the destruction of the central family's masterpiece, St. Anthony's Abbey. Ultimately Joseph finds out that his own father demolished it.  FTP identify this work narrated by Robert Fahmel, a man who likes to escape his past by playing the title game in a work by Heinrich Boll.
During flashbacks the main character remembers his time as the creator of "a field of fire," while his mother feigns mental illness and wants to kill the leader of the "blue tunics," Ben Wackes.
Billiards at Half-Past Nine or Billard um halbzehn