Erich Maria Remarque, “Spark of Life”: reviews and summary

Readers first got acquainted with Erich Maria Remarque’s novel “The Spark of Life” in January 1952. This publication was not released in Germany, which was the birthplace of the writer, but in America. That is why the first edition of Remark’s book “The Spark of Life” was published in English.

The plot of this novel, like all the writer's works, is based on real events. The author dedicated it to the memory of his younger sister, who died at the hands of the Nazis.

Facts from the biography of the writer

In 1931, Remarque had to leave Germany. The reason for this was the persecution by the ruling National Socialist Party, which came to power in those years. By this government, Remarque was deprived of German citizenship, which he was not able to restore in the future. In addition, in 1933 the writer's books in Germany were completely banned.

The Nazis, who did not have the opportunity to destroy the writer himself, decided to crack down on his sister Elfrida, who was a simple dressmaker and had nothing to do with literature or politics. According to the denunciation of one of the clients, the woman was arrested for anti-Hitler and anti-war statements. At trial, she was charged with attempting to undermine German defense. The woman's guilt was recognized, and in the autumn of 1943 she was executed. The writer learned about the death of his sister only after the war ended. In 1978, one of the streets of her hometown, Osnabrueck, was named after Elfrida.

History of the writing of the novel

All the actions of Remark’s book “The Spark of Life” take place in a concentration camp located near the town of Mellern, which actually does not exist. He was invented by the author. In reality, such a camp did not exist. When describing him in the book “The Spark of Life” by Erich Maria Remarque, Buchenwald was taken as a basis, about which in those years there was a lot of information. Mellern in this work is Osnabruck. It was him, his hometown, and the author took as a basis when writing the work.

While working on the novel, Remark used a large number of official reports and eyewitness accounts. That is why from the pen of the writer, who himself was not in the concentration camp, such a realistic work came out.

The theme of the book of Erich Maria Remarque, “The Spark of Life”, first touched on those events in the description of which the author did not have the opportunity to use his personal experience. Work on the work was begun in July 1946. It was then that Remarque learned about the execution of his sister.

The author devoted five years to writing the book. And even then, when she was not completely ready, he realized that he had touched on a topic that was a kind of taboo in Germany. Somewhat later, Remarque pointed this out in his unfinished novel called Shadows in Paradise.

After reviewing the manuscript of the book “The Spark of Life,” the Swiss publishing house decided to terminate the contract with the writer. That is why the first edition of the book came out in America.

Reviews on Remark's Spark of Life, written by literary critics of Germany, were extremely negative. The reaction of people who were victims of Nazism turned out to be positive. That is why the author issued several preface. Each of them served as an explanation of the concept of the novel and the study of its theme.

As for the USSR, here the novel “Spark of Life” was not published. The reason for this was Soviet censorship. She did not allow the work to appear in the country for an ideological reason. The fact is that in the book the reader could clearly trace the equal sign that the author placed between communism and fascism. The book was first published in Russian in 1992, after the collapse of the USSR.

Relevance of the work

Judging by the reviews of Remark’s Spark of Life, this book cannot be called a horror novel or a thriller. This is a woeful, but at the same time wise work about life and death, as well as good and evil. The book also tells how quickly and easily tidy and respectable employees, modest students, officials, merchants, bakers and butchers are able to turn into professional killers. From the novel, the reader also learns about the extent to which such a craft blends perfectly with exemplary family life, good manners and a love of music.

One of the main storylines of the book is a description of the personal life of SS Obersturmbannführer Bruno Neubauer, the camp commandant. The author describes his material concerns, family troubles, as well as those feelings and thoughts that arise in connection with his understanding of impending retribution. Those paintings of the novel that tell the reader about camp reality resonate with interesting and sometimes comical stories related to the civil life of a person who rules over prisoners. This allows you to see German fascism in a slightly different perspective, to learn about the personal experiences of people who identified themselves as "superhuman."

Of course, there are numerous reviews of Remark’s Spark of Life, which speak of the gloominess of the theme raised in the novel. However, according to critics, at all times, art sometimes has to be a kind of bitter pill, and not a sweet candy. It is beneficial for the spiritual health of a person. After all, even ancient people talked about the cleansing power of tragedy. Moreover, considering even a brief summary on the chapters of Remark’s Sparks of Life, we can conclude that this book, despite the difficult pictures that appear before the reader, is life-affirming. And this can be understood already from the very name of the novel.

Remarque wisely leads his reader through the purgatory he describes. However, his final point is a new understanding of life. The author does not try to squeeze a tear from us and also does not cry himself. Of course, it is not easy for him to maintain neutrality and impartiality, but he skillfully directs the feelings and thoughts of the reader in the right direction, while using gloomy humor and bitter irony.

Plot

Let's get acquainted with the summary of the "Spark of Life" Remarque. The novel takes the reader to Germany, in 1945. For ten years now, the former editor of one of the liberal newspapers has been in one of the fascist camps. The author does not name him. He is only a prisoner, whose number is 509. This person is in that zone of the camp where the Nazis are transferring prisoners who can no longer work. However, No. 509 retained a desire for will and a thirst for life. Neither many years of torture, nor bullying, nor hunger, nor the fear of death could break this man. Five hundred and ninth continues to live. Nor does he lose faith in liberation. He has comrades. These "veterans" stick together and help each other. The opposite of them is the so-called Muslims. These include prisoners who have completely submitted to their fate.

One of the quotes from The Sparks of Life by Remarque conveys feelings No. 509 well:

“Five hundred and ninth perceived Weber's head as a dark spot in front of the window. She seemed to him very large against the sky. The head was death, and the sky outside the window was unexpectedly life. Life, it doesn’t matter at all, where and what - in lice, beatings, blood - nonetheless, life, even for the shortest possible time. ”

The development of the plot occurs at a time when the war is coming to an end, and the defeat of the Nazi army is already very close. The prisoners are aware of this, hearing the sounds of bombers who occasionally raid the town of Mellern, where the camp is located. The prisoners want this, but at the same time they are even afraid to believe in their release.

Once, the camp administration was asked to give several prisoners, whom they intended to use for medical experiments. Among these people was No. 509. However, he boldly refused to become a participant in the experiments, only miraculously escaping death. After that, other prisoners saw in him a man who could organize resistance to the camp administration. This movement began to gradually develop and grow stronger. The prisoners procured food and weapons for themselves. Those who actively participated in the resistance and could move around the camp hid people from violence.

The prisoners found the meaning of life. They needed to survive at the cost of any effort to get out of the concentration camp.

The war was drawing to a close. The city was subjected to heavy bombing. The camp administration was losing its strength more and more. The civilian population of the town fled or died as a result of the bombing. The conditions in the camp became increasingly unbearable. The Nazis sometimes did not give out food at all. Political prisoners began to be brutally murdered.

Shortly before the moment when the camp was completely liberated, the Nazis dismissed the main part of the guard. However, there were especially zealous SS men who decided to set fire to the barracks in order to destroy the prisoners in them. A man with number 509, picking up a weapon, tried to resist this. During the battle, he managed to mortally wound Weber, who was the most brutal of the Nazis in the camp. During the fight, the courageous prisoner died.

The camp was liberated by the Americans. The surviving prisoners received freedom. The work of Remarque “The Spark of Life” ends with a description of the peaceful future of former prisoners. The writer prepared a happy life for all of them. For example, Lebenthal was able to agree on the opening of a tobacco shop. That is, he began to do what he loves the most. Berger, who was previously a doctor, again began to operate, although he was afraid that he had already forgotten this craft. But he continued to live in order to realize himself for everyone. One of the youngest prisoners - Bucher, met in a camp with a girl. They were released together, making plans for a joint life. Levinsky continued his communist activities. There was no place in the new life only No. 509. He died during the destruction of the main evil of the camp - the Nazi Weber.

Other people's fates

The reviews of Remark’s book “The Spark of Life” indicate that the reader’s soul cannot but be touched by descriptions of those terrible conditions that were created in the concentration camp for the prisoners contained in it. The author tells us about people of different nationalities and destinies who at this difficult moment do not behave the same. Some of them, failing to withstand bullying and torture, are themselves likened to the Nazis.

Others, despite the humiliation and atrocities, were able to maintain their best qualities and not to drop human dignity in those conditions when there is a struggle for their own existence through the betrayal of comrades and denunciations of them.

Camp leader

Judging by the reviews of Remark’s Spark of Life, readers are interested in yet another storyline of the work. In parallel with all the horrors of the concentration camp, the writer tells us about the personal life of his commandant, Bruno Neubauer. This Obersturmbanführer SS is occupied with thoughts about family problems. But at the same time, he daily scrupulously and thoroughly carries out his ruthless work. Bruno Neubauer takes real pleasure when he watches his soldiers scoff at defenseless people. And all this does not prevent this person from being a loving father and husband. All his aspirations are aimed at the prosperity and well-being of his family. However, he does not pay attention to the price at which these benefits are given to him.

Bruno is far from stupid. He perfectly understands that the Nazi empire is on the verge of collapse. But in this case, all his concerns relate only to his own well-being. Neubauer does not regret what he did. The main thing for him is the desire to avoid punishment for his inhuman acts.

The author does not contrast the two sides of Neubauer in the novel The Spark of Life, since they smoothly pass one into the other. That is why it is almost impossible to establish a certain border where one person ends and another begins.

Characteristics of the protagonist

Getting acquainted with the brief content of Remark’s Spark of Life, already at the very beginning we learn that the town where the concentration camp was located was bombed.

This event in the plot is a symbolic beginning of those changes that subsequently occurred not only in the life of all prisoners as a whole, but also each of them individually. They also touched on Koller - No. 509. Judging by the reviews of Remark's Spark of Life, the author revealed the character of his protagonist rather slowly. The change in this person is also gradually taking place. In the novel, he goes from a skeleton with a number that does not have a name to one of the brightest leaders, supporting hope for the future and the spirit of resistance.

Five hundred and ninth, a former journalist, remained true to himself even in the dungeons of the fascist camp. This political prisoner is a man with a clear mind and strong will. All his main character traits only doze off during the most difficult periods of life, but when it becomes possible, they regain strength. Thanks to the occasion and his qualities, from a large number of heroes of the “Spark of Life” Remarque, it is he who becomes the symbol of victory over the Nazis and freedom of prisoners. His first courageous act was the refusal to sign papers, on the basis of which he was to become the "patient" of the doctor Wiese. After all, everyone knew that none of the prisoners returned from the clinic of this sadist. Koller, along with Bucher (another prisoner and one of the main characters), the comrades escorted to death. When the first of them returned, he became the resurrected Lazarus for everyone else.

Koller, despite his terrible situation, remained completely true to himself. He did not join the party, and during a conversation with his main opponent, Werner told him that he was just as capable of imprisoning him as his party — to take power. Koller is convinced that any tyranny is evil. This statement is the most striking statement of the writer against communism, which he compared with fascism.

Judging by the reviews of the "Spark of Life" by Erich Remarque, readers' admiration for the main character is gradually growing throughout the plot of the novel. This man, despite his position as a prisoner, remains to the very end stronger than the Nazis. This idea is especially pronounced in the finale of the work.

Characteristic of Bucher

From the description of “Sparks of Life” by Remarque, it becomes clear that No. 509 is not the only hero of the work that deserves attention and admiration. In a way, Koller's successor is Bucher. This prisoner managed not only to survive, having escaped to freedom from the camp, but also with Ruth to become the representative of the generation that survived the war.

Judging by the reviews of the "Spark of Life" by Erich Maria Remarque, readers were very interested in following the development of relations between these young people. Ruth is a girl who miraculously escaped the gas chamber. She was saved only because of her appearance, but at the same time she became an object for the satisfaction of the soldiers. At a time when young people were in the camp, they wondered that in the case when the white house, located behind the fences, escapes during the bombing, everything in their life will be fine. And every day they watched an intact building. Only having freed themselves and left the camp, they learned that only the facade remained from the house. Everything else in it was smashed by bombing. A similar metaphor of the author, according to readers, has a rather subtle meaning.

Images of other heroes

In the novel The Spark of Life, the author introduces his reader to Agasfer, the boy Karel, Lebenthal, Werner, and other prisoners. Each of the images created by the author is interesting in his own way.

The characters of the work are the fascist overseers. The reader gets acquainted with what is happening and from their point of view. Using a similar approach to the presentation of the topic, the author tries to understand the motives of the actions of the Nazis, as well as how they justified their atrocities.

The main meaning of the novel

Despite the imaginative title of the work, its meaning is understandable even to those readers who are not inclined to philosophical reasoning. The sparks of life are what still burns in the souls of the prisoners of the concentration camp, who are more similar in appearance to corpses than to living people. The main thing that was taken away from each of these prisoners was the right to be considered a person.

The author asks a question that his readers are also considering: “Why do some people think that they have the right to mend arbitrariness over others?” Remarque argues that representatives of the "higher race" should not rule over those who, in their opinion, have the "wrong" nationality. After all, this happens contrary to all common sense.

The ideology of fascism does not recognize that all people are equal. What can prisoners do in this situation? How to prove that prisoners are also people? Yes, they are powerless, sick and exhausted. Nevertheless, even between life and death, the prisoners of the concentration camp find a way to show their human dignity.

But not all people are the same. Some prisoners have already managed to show their most base traits of character. In order to get a piece of bread and avoid punishment, they go on a betrayal of the same unfortunate as they themselves are. Remained among the prisoners and those who can be called real people. They reject betrayal and believe that, following such a path, they will become like their tormentors, descending to their level. It is much easier for them to die as a result of torture than to be on a par with fanatics. After all, letting the fascists kill the Human within themselves means final death. Such prisoners in the novel are viewed immediately. They constantly try to help their comrades and share the last piece with them. All this can be called the spark of life.

The reviews of some readers indicate that in the novel they did not like his excessive naturalism and pessimism. However, the author is not worth blaming for this. A man who lost his sister because of the Nazis could hardly write a cheerful piece. Nevertheless, Remarque did not pursue the goal of depicting the torture of prisoners in the most vivid colors. He only wanted to show his reader how easily ordinary, ordinary citizens can turn into cold-blooded professional killers, as well as how ridiculous the combination in one and the same person of craving for cruelty and love of music.

But the main thing in the work is a spark. That spark that remains in the souls of people, and which no one can extinguish. And although it seems very insignificant and small, it is from it that over time a real flame will certainly flare up. And this idea can be confirmed by some quotes from the book “Spark of Life”:

“It's strange how everything changes when there is hope. Then you live by expectation. And you are afraid ... "

“Our imagination does not know how to count. And the numbers do not affect the feeling - it does not become stronger from them. It can only count to one. But one is enough if you really feel. ”

"Hatred and memories destroy the self-struggling mortal danger as much as pain."

“What remains of people choking in the fiery whirlpool of war? What remains of people who have taken away hope, love - and, in fact, even life itself? What remains for people who simply have nothing left? Just a spark of life. Weak but inextinguishable. The spark of life, which gives people the power to smile on the verge of death. A spark of light - in pitch darkness ... "

“Almost any resistance can be broken; it is a matter of time and suitable conditions. ”

"Reckless courage is suicide."

“One must always think about the imminent danger. About today. And tomorrow - about tomorrow. All in order. Otherwise you can go crazy. ”

“Death is just as infectious as typhus, and alone, no matter how you resist, it’s very easy to bend when everyone around you does what’s dying.”

"Life is life. Even the most miserable. "

"You need to rely only on what you hold in your hand."

The article presented information about the novel by Erich Maria Remarque "Spark of Life", reviews of the book and the most famous quotes.