Paul Baumer enlisted with his classmates in the German army of World War I. Youthful, enthusiastic, they become soldiers. But despite what they have learned, they break into pieces under the first bombardment in the trenches. And as horrible war plods on year after year, Paul holds fast to a single vow: to fight against the principles of hate that meaninglessly pits young men of the same generation but different uniforms against each other—if only he can come out of the war alive.\ "The world...
Considered one of the greatest war stories ever written -- and one of the classics of antiwar literature -- Remarque's 1929 masterpiece tells the story of young Paul Baumer, who enlists in the German Army in World War I and takes place with his comrades in the trenches.The world has gained a great writer in Erich Maria Remarque. He is a craftsman of unquestionably first rank, a man who can bend language to his will.
"Summer of 1918-Never was life in the line more bitter and more full of horror than in the hours of the bombardment, when the blanched faces lie in the dirt and the hands clutch at the one thought: No! No! Not now! Not now at the last moment!"\ —from All Quiet on the Western Front
Introduction 7Biographical Sketch 9The Story Behind the Story 17List of Characters 20Summary and Analysis 23Critical Views 52Brian Murdoch on All Quiet on the Western Front as a Weimar Antiwar Novel 52Brian Murdoch on Remarque and Homer 57A.F. Bance on the Novel's Best-seller Status 63Chris Daley on the Force of Silence in All Quiet on the Western Front 68Hildegard Emmel on All Quiet on the Western Front as a Weimar Novel 71Vita Fortunati on the Representation of World War I in Hemingway, Remarque, and Ford Madox Ford 75Dorothy B. Jones on the Film Version of the Novel 79Helmut Liedloff on A Farewell to Arms and All Quiet on the Western Front 83Alfredo Bonadeo on Paul Baumer's Relationship to German Culture 87Modris Eksteins on the Novel as a Postwar Commentary 92Hans Wagener on the Final Chapter of All Quiet on the Western Front 96Robert Baird on Hollywood's Ambivalence to World War I Novels 100Wilhelm J. Schwarz on Remarque's Memorial to the Unknown Soldier 105Works Erich Maria Remarque 110Annotated Bibliography 111Contributors 120Acknowledgments 123Index 125
\ The world has gained a great writer in Erich Maria Remarque. He is a craftsman of unquestionably first rank, a man who can bend language to his will.\ \