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Erich Maria Remarque (1898-1970)
pseudonym for Erich Paul Remark
German novelist, who became famous with his pasifistic
novel IM WESTEN NICHTS NEUES (tr. All Quiet on the Western Front, 1929),
the most
representantive novel dealing with World War I.
Remarque was born in Osnabrück, Lower Saxony, into
modest circumstances. He drafted into German army at the age of 18 and
was wounded several times.
Remarque began his writing career as a sporting journalist.
Fame came with his first novel, All Quiet on the Westerns Front, which
touched a nerve of the time and
sparkled off a storm of politival controversy. Its sequel
DER WEG ZURÜCK (The Way Back) appeared in 1931.
Remarque left Germany in the early 1930s. He went first
to Switzerland and moved later to the United States, where he made friends
among Hollywood stars,
including Paulette Goddard (1911-1990), whom he married
in 1958. After the war Remarque settled eventually back in Switzerland.
He died in Locarno, on
September 25, 1970.
In the 1930s Remarque's books were banned by the Nazis.
His later popular works, depicting the political upheavals of Europe, didn't
achieve the critical prestige of
his first novel.
All Quiet on the Western Front - the central character
is 19 years old school boy Paul Bäumer and the events are set in the
of WW I. Paul and his classmates are
encouraged by their teacher Kantorek to enlist the German
army. In the summer 1918 German front is pushed back, and the soldiers
are waiting for the end of the
war. In October, when there is nothing much to report
on the western front, Paul is killed. - The story is narrated in first
person in a cool style, a contrast to patriotic
rhetoric, recording the daily horrors of the war in laconic
understatement.
See also: Lennart Meri
First World War in literature: Jaroslav Hašek: The Good
Soldier Schweik; R.H. Mottram: The Spanish Farm Trilogy; Ford Madox Ford:
Paradise's End;
Arnold Zweig: The Case of Sergeant Grisha; Richard Aldington:
Death of a Hero; Robert Graves: Good-bye to All That; Ernest Hemingway:
A Farewell to
Arms; Siegfried Sassoon: Memoirs of an Infantry Officer;
Henry Williamson: The Patriot's Progress; Frederick Manning: The Middle
Parts of Fortune; John
Don Passos: Three Soldiers; e.e. cumming: The Enormous
Room; Henri Barbusse: Under Fire
Selected works:
IM WESTEN NICHTS NEUES, 1929
- All Quiet on the Western Front - Länsirintamalla ei mitään
uutta - film 1930, dir. by Lewis Milestone. Academy
Awards: best picture, Lewis
Milestone as director
DER WEG ZURÜCK, 1931 -
The Road Back - Paluutie - film 1937, dir. by James Whale, written by R.C.
Sheriff and Charles Kenyon
THREE COMRADES, 1937 - film
1938, dir. by Frank Borzage
FLOTSAM, 1941
ARC DE TRIOMPHE, 1946 - Arch
of Triump - Riemukaari - film 1948, dir. by Lewis Milestone
SPARK OF LIFE, 1952
ZEIT ZU LEBEN UND ZEIT ZU STERBEN,
1954 - A Time to Love and a Time to Die - Rakasta tänään,
huomenna... - film 1959, dir. by Douglas Sirk
DIE LETZTE STATION, 1956
DER SCHWARZE OBELISK, 1956 -
The Black Obelisk - Musta obeliski
DER HIMMEL KENNT KEINE GÜNSTLINGE,
1961 - Taivas ei tunne suosikkeja, suom. Markku Lahtela - film 1977, dir.
by Sydney Pollock
DIE NACHT VON LISSABON,1962
- The Night in Lissabon - Yö Lissabonissa
SCHATTEN IM PARADIES, 1971