After 30 years, E. M. Remark will look back. The Black Obelisk is a reflection of the Weimar Republic. The novel was written in 1956 about the events and people of 1923. He is topical for the present moment. Inflation, uncertainty about tomorrow, nationalist and fascist sentiments are sad signs of the present time.
Erich Maria Remarque fills her books with irony and humor, which save both him and the reader from a pressing feeling of longing. This is a way of self-defense instead of a meaningless cry for salvation.
Thirty years later
Remarque’s heroes return to his young years, when he, like the main character, worked as a teacher, played the organ, sold tombstones for some time, watched the fascist youths raise their heads, and as they gradually gain strength.
The main character is Ludwig Bodmer. He serves in a tombstone sales office with his friend, with whom they ate from the same bowl at the front, Georg Krol. Both make every effort to keep the company afloat in conditions of hyperinflation, when the rate changes several times during the day until the exchange closes. You can even light it with this money, which the main character does, they are so devalued. Money could then be weighed. This is well remembered Remarque. The "Black Obelisk" gives a clear idea of the complete impoverishment of some and other people who crawled out on the speculations. Fellow soldiers live one day. But in those conditions it is impossible, even rather absurd, to make any plans. They have to contrive to purchase goods cheaper by playing bills. They adapted a little to this game, but how long will they last?
One of the novel's love lines
Georg Krol hit on a pretty neighbor who gladly displays all her charms in a window in broad daylight. She is not averse to spinning a novel, since her butcher husband is not at all interested in her. She married him, because she simply did not have enough money for food.
The husband, learning, as always, very late about the betrayal of his wife, with whom he is not going to leave, yet harbored evil at George. He will divorce his wife, but this will happen later. In the meantime, Vacek, that’s the name of her deceived husband, sympathizes with the Führer and, at the first opportunity, he finds a way to avenge George. Many years later, when the National Socialists come to power, Vacek will be able to send Georg to a concentration camp. There Georg Krol, who miraculously survived the war, will perish.
Heavenly love
It is impossible to live on one salary. Therefore, the main character Remarque sends to a psychiatric hospital to play on Sundays on the organ. The girl with a split consciousness, Genevieve, calls herself Isabella, and then she is beautiful, then Jenny. When she takes a second image, she changes even outwardly, and her beauty disappears, and she becomes cunning and evil. Isabella never calls Ludwig by his real name. Depending on the mood, she gives him the name Rolf or Rudolph. She was unrequitedly in love with Rudolph before she was admitted to the hospital. Isabella is a veil morgan, sensitive to all manifestations of life. She leads long conversations about her meaning with Ludwig, about poetry, about the moon.
Sudden transfiguration
But, suddenly recovering, she forgets everything. And conversations, and the feeling that arose between them. A well-bred girl listens to Ludwig in bewilderment and politely thanks for a good play on the organ. And that’s all. For Ludwig, this is a shock. Departing from Ludwig, this young wealthy Fraulein simply does not recognize him.
He is a stranger to her. Isabella’s recovery is tragic for Ludwig - the girl he loved almost dies for him. This is how Remarque's failed love shows. Black Obelisk is a novel where everything is doubled.
Earthly love
But, besides Isabella, Ludwig Bodmer was carried away by the gymnast Gerda Schneider who came to their town. Although their romance is full of tenderness, it has no continuation. Gerda is a clear and strong happiness for a while. This is understandable to both. She is a practical girl. From the poetless man who cannot give her anything, she leaves to the wealthy owner of the restaurant.
Ludwig Bodmer has no reason to stay in town. He is invited to work as a journalist in Berlin. He is leaving to return when the war against fascism ends.
Return
During the war, Ludwig was not in Germany. But he returned after her and visited the town of his youth. He met almost no one, and the city lay in ruins. As a keepsake, Ludwig bought only old postcards, although he did not differ in sentimentality. This is how Remarque Black Obelisk ends. The question remains how the protagonist will live on. Apparently, she will continue to seek true love. So, the novel “The Black Obelisk” ends with a farewell visit to the provincial town, a summary of which is described above.
Ludwig Bodmer
He belongs to that generation, which is called "lost." It fell into Verdun’s meat grinder and gas attacks, and saw nothing but a school bench and murder weapons in his youth.
The main character of the novel, the idealist Ludwig Bodmer, like many other protagonists of Remarque's works, somehow adapted to a peaceful life. But it is adapted. His friend and owner of the funeral home still screams at night when he dreams of war scenes. Ludwig could not fulfill the promise he made to his mother and become a teacher. He does not know how to exist in the wilderness without frontline comrades. He does not succeed in living a full human life. He cannot find a sweetheart. So, neither love nor family life with Ludwig Bodmer does not add up. But what remains? Clashes with those who want to revive Germany, to see its dominance over the world. But the Ludwigs are disunited, and they cannot cope with the power that covers their homeland. They can leave and fight from afar against fascism, as the hero of the novel did. This is their maximum.
Black Obelisk: reviews
The reader’s reviews admire the writer’s ability to convey the spirit of the era. Humiliated, impoverished, confused Germany is shown absolutely reliably. The country is full of bedlam. There are no spiritual values. Old ones have disappeared, and new ones have not yet appeared. The Black Obelisk is read both as a historical novel, showing the shaky economy of the country, and as a psychological thing. And also it is a literary classic and philosophical prose. Ludwig Bodmer seems completely positive to readers, without flaws. And the places of his work, the funeral home and the insane asylum, do not bother the readers. Ludwig, and this is considered natural, has no luck in love, since he is poor. And everyone around him is convinced that there is no love at all. There is only a sensual attraction. You just need to seize the moment.
But the romantic and philosopher does not want and cannot live like that. I did not like the images of women, because they were painted only in black and white, somehow predatory and greedy for pleasure. The book, according to readers, is written with sadness and humor.
Black Obelisk: Quotes
- Money is an illusion; everyone knows this, but many still cannot believe it.
- There is a grand sale of honest income, savings, decency.
- What you cannot get always seems to be better than what you have.
- Doubt is the flip side of faith.
- A rich speculator is more desirable than a worthy, but poor employee.
The story of the creation of the novel
By 1951, Remarque's creative life was paused. And then he meets Polett Goddard. After six years, they become husband and wife.
Having left the United States, they travel a lot around Europe, and then return to Remarque's house in Switzerland, in Porto Ronco. At this time, Erich Maria Remarque, whose books dispersed in huge print runs around the world, begins work on a new work. Inspiration has come and work is fast. The storyline is lined up the simplest. There is little dynamics. "The Black Obelisk" is a meditation novel. As usual, the writer reflects on eternal questions, on the meaning of life, on love, the war through which his heroes went. It is not clear to them how to live, but they always tried to maintain human relations. Ten years later, this time will be replaced by such a riot of madness, which the world has never known. The sprouts of this phenomenon are shown by Remarque in the Black Obelisk.