Remarque's book “Arc de Triomphe” was written by the author in the middle of the last century with such strength and passion that it became a work beyond time. It immerses us in the infinitely multifaceted world of a living, suffering noble man who has become an outcast in his homeland and living in a foreign land on the eve of the global war.
He and his love, his talent, his inner world, as well as the fate of millions of other decent people, were trampled upon by his native country, transformed into a soulless dictatorship. A person under such conditions becomes a toy of fate, a sliver in the ocean of history.
We observe the same today. Is the Triumphal Arch written in the middle of the last century out of date? Reader reviews indicate the opposite. How many modern people who recognized the war in Afghanistan, Chechnya and other armed conflicts did not die, but broke psychologically, could not socialize? How many of them did not save love from drunkenness and the depths of unbelief, as happened with Ravik. Are these not our contemporaries?
Remarque, author of the book
How to characterize this novel? An extremely honest work about himself, about his inner world, "a piece of steaming conscience." For several generations, they have been admiring the book, on the cover of which is written: Erich Maria Remarque, “Arc de Triomphe”. The reviews of people who met her indicate that their readers did not just read, but, having checked their souls on the tuning fork, believed every line of this work.
After all, the creator of the novel wrote as if he felt and perceived what was happening with his whole being. So do graphomaniacs from literature, boasting of a perfect, but soulless syllable and flaunting cloyingly succulent artistic descriptions. The writer was very frank, he revealed his soul to the reader. The parallels are obvious: rogue Ravik and rogue Remarque, female actress Joan Madou and Marlene Dietrich.
This author, like no one who conveyed the spirit of the times in the middle of the last century, almost completely changed the consciousness of the whole post-war Europe with his frankness. His books have been top-selling in the Old World for three decades.
A novel beloved by many generations
It is no secret that, according to classical philosophy, we are also a lost generation, because we live in an era of change. Loneliness becomes our scourge. Much around - virtually, unsteady. Simple decency takes courage. Neoglobalism destroys centuries-old foundations. The susceptibility to social clichés leads to the fact that extremely disoriented people cease to understand not only common sense in politics. Many, worst of all, cease to believe in love, replacing it with all kinds of surrogates.
What can help us get out of such an absurd state? Remarque tells us, speaking of love, as a torch flying into the terrible abyss of the surrounding reality and illuminating its entire depth.
Many people of current and future generations will be helped to determine their true values ​​of life by reading the novel “Arc de Triomphe”. Testimonials of our contemporaries, weaned to hear the truth in the media, to trust the words of strangers testify: many of them keep the novel about the emigrant doctor in their libraries, periodically re-reading it. And it is so natural for people to thirst, like a sip of water in the heat, words of consolation, words of the truth suffered.
A similar review of the work “Arc de Triomphe” is not alone. An adult who has his personal life experience, having read Remark's thoughts about love, about fate, about life, discovers that what the writer said is in tune with the movements of his soul.
The plot and features of the translation of the novel
The plot in the literature means the actual actions that the heroes of the work carry out. For the novel Arc de Triomphe, it is expressed in the author’s description of the illegal German émigré, brilliant surgeon Ludwig Fresenburg, who fled to a neutral country from Nazi persecution, in Paris. He is hiding under the assumed name of Ravik. Qualification allows a refugee to earn a living by secretly operating in a French clinic. Exhausted by troubles, he lives as if by inertia. Love transforms him. However, the woman who aroused this feeling in Ravik is an actress by nature. She is windy in relationships and not designed for family comfort.
Remarque's novel, popular in the Old and New Worlds, was first published in the USA in 1945. The following year, German readers met him. In Russia, the book was published by Schreiber and Kremnev (1978) and in 2014 by Rudnitsky. Experts say that Remarque’s works are difficult to translate. The point is in a creative manner, the ultimate imagery of thoughts. The classic borrowed expressive elements of stylistic expression from colloquial speech.
Ravik, like Remarque, is a refugee from Nazi Germany
About himself, about his inner world, wrote the novel "Arc de Triomphe" by Remarque. Press reviews immediately after its publication came down to one thing: one of the greatest novels of the 20th century was created. A classic of German descent, like his hero Ravik, hated war. She took her mother and sister from Remarque, and her beloved girl from Ravik.
The former World War I front-line soldier, the future writer, miraculously survived the wounds received in the battle. Doctors then identified his condition as hopeless. Mother Mary saved. She arrived, took the 18-year-old hero home and went out, cured. And the next year she herself died, because the mother’s heart could not stand the shock received. The future writer after that changed “Paul” to “Maria” in his name in order to carry his mother’s name for the rest of his life.
There is an analogy between the author and the hero in social status. Before the Second World War, after the publication of the novel “On the Western Front without Change,” Remarque was a famous and recognizable European writer. According to the novel, his hero Ravik also succeeded, he was considered one of the leading surgeons in Germany.
Under the fascist regime, the writer was subjected to real persecution; his younger sister Elfrid Scholz was guillotined for anti-Hitler statements. The older sister was sent a bill for the unhappy stay in prison with a demand to urgently pay .. It was said that her brother Henri had hid so far, but in the end he would suffer the fate of Elfrida.
According to the plot of the novel, Ravik saved two compatriots doomed to death, for which he was locked in the dungeons of the Gestapo. In order to break the detainee, his bride Sybil was also arrested, who was tortured and raped, and the girl took herself with her.
The atmosphere of pre-war France
Why is the novel called “Arc de Triomphe”? Reviews of the book readers make various assumptions. What is the allegory here? Indeed, for France, this building is a symbol of victory, glee. The work of Remarque is filled with tragedy.
Indeed, in the course of the novel, the arch is mentioned several times, namely in its special, plot-forming moments. Is it only in these intersperses in the outline of the narrative that the title of the book is linked to Paris?
The writer talks about the capital of France, living and having fun madly, as if by inertia. A premonition of an impending war is already floating in the air, however, it is customary to remain silent about this. In the course of the novel, only a few strokes of his own, the Remarque artist shows a multifaceted picture of the surrounding life.
Amazed by the completeness of artistic complementary characters. Luxurious lady Kat Hegstrom, who is eaten by cancer inside. Kid Geno, who lost his leg, but rejoices, because he will be able to open a shop and live trading on insurance benefits. Girls with reduced social responsibility, who are afraid to get to the hospital, because they will spend the money they previously earned.
Ravik at the beginning of the novel. A man without a future
How to start a new life when everything inside is burnt out? When you are in exile, and arbitrariness and violence is happening in your homeland?
This question is answered in Remarque's The Arc de Triomphe. The reviews of readers who accepted his revelation express this conceptual idea of ​​how to “believe in yourself”, to feel “not a grain of sand in history, but a person.”
The hero of Remarque secretly earns a living in France as a surgeon, who performs brilliantly and talentedly. He is an illegal immigrant and can be arrested and expelled back to Germany at any time. Ravik is morally suppressed; he feels himself to be a man without a future. His free time is associated with calvados and smoky restaurants.
And this man throughout the novel manages to again believe in himself, to rise above that crazy world where he abides. Based on the difficult experience of his life, Remark crystallized and formulated the conclusion that Man is stronger than Fate. Having entered into battle with her, he is able to change her, often even when he is one step to despair.
Parallel: Ravik's Love - Remarque's Love
Suddenly embraces the love of the protagonist of the novel "Arc de Triomphe". Reader's comments about the feelings of Ravik and Joan are consonant with the author's: the suffering persecuted doctor finally found his refuge, his home in the excited loving heart of another person. And this love revives his soul, incinerated by suffering and loss. Even despite the fact that Joan, an actress by nature, is not faithful to him, frivolous.
Many literary lovers agree that in order to understand many of the nuances of true love, one does not have to go into the maxim of philosophers, just read Remarque. Expensive is the thought of time that dies continuously, and loving people continue to live forever.
Ravvik's Revenge
At the same time, the novel “Triumphal Arch” poses a difficult philosophical question for the reader. Reviews of the book concerning them sometimes contain diametrically opposite views. We ask at least one of these questions: can there be a murder for the good?
It would seem no, by no means! However, let’s touch the outline of the author’s story. The Gestapovets Haaki, interrogating the protagonist in the SS casemates, arrested a man completely unrelated to this matter - his bride. Mocking her, the fascist brought Sybil to suicide. Undoubtedly, a lot of human blood was on Haaki’s hands.
The exhausted Ravik, who illegally emigrated to France, longed for reprisal against the Gestapo executioner. And so it happened. An officer of the German special services carried out a secret mission in Paris and at the same time had fun with prostitutes in his spare time. He was noticed by the protagonist of the novel and put his plan into action. At the same time, the avenger feels that he has performed a sacred action, realizing that by killing a villain, he saved dozens of people from death in the future.
The book is saturated
It was not easy for many readers to read the novel Arc de Triomphe. Reviews of the work of readers hitherto not encountering serious literature sometimes come down to the idea that this book is special. Let us explain this idea: the novel is so full of various brightly presented topics, so organically and expressively conveys them that it makes the reader strain his spiritual strength.
Reading about the suffering of Ravik, it is impossible to remain in a complacent mood. In Remarque’s lines there is only a truth that is salty from tears, there is not a single gram of the notorious and praised by neoliberal scribes of cloying positivism. The writer does not recognize halftones: “If Calvados is double, if sadness is sadness in everything ...”
Indeed, often reviews of the “Arc de Triomphe” by Remarque indicate that most readers were able to read the book not immediately, but gradually, in chapters. And that is the right way. After all, only comprehending Remarque's quotes about love takes time. And here for a thinking person there is no place for speed reading.
The Incredible Syllable of Remarque
Unusually even for himself wrote the novel "Arc de Triomphe" by Remarque. Reviews of fans of this book mention that even the trivial details of a work are transformed by a master’s pen into real masterpieces. Quite unexpectedly, in the course of the main exposition, the author suddenly gives thoughts that are striking in their depth. For example, faced with a philosophical quote: “Without love ... a man is a dead man on vacation”, many readers paused to comprehend this separate thought, divorced from the main context of the action.
Erich Remarque ("Arc de Triomphe") filled his novel with bright, colorful and sharp dialogues. Reader reviews compare their accuracy according to the phrase of Daniel Harms: “If you throw them out the window, the glass will break!” In particular, they speak concisely and vividly about religion and faith, about a just desire not to show off their thoughts. There are countless such dialogues in the novel. Indeed, you can sit down to read with a pen, writing out your favorite fragments.
Book - refrain of time
Not only about the fate of the German rogue émigré, Remarque wrote his novel (Arc de Triomphe). Reviews of the press book indicate that the book conveyed the spirit of the era of timelessness. Formally, the action takes place in a peaceful country, but it is felt that the formidable sword of war has already hovered over this deliberately carefree Parisian life.
The writer managed to feel and convey to the readers both the unsteady and fatal spirit of this time, to tell about people who “had the courage to live on the edge of the abyss”.
The book by Erich Maria Remarque “Arc de Triomphe” simply cannot leave the reader indifferent. It refers to those works that, when read, will certainly affect the human soul. Perhaps that is why, after a while, there is a need to reread the work.
Conclusion: why - the “Arc de Triomphe”?
Not for nothing ends with a quote that “in the darkness hid the triumphal arch”, a novel. Reviews of real connoisseurs of Remarque's work contain a hunch about the idea of ​​a work by Remarque.
Thinking objectively, there is no triumph in war, there are only victims. Bloodshed breaks the lives and destinies of people. Therefore, in a truly honest story about her, the theme of heroism is invariably overshadowed by the theme of suffering. The arch lurking in the darkness symbolizes the approach of disaster, global war.
However, the horror of her does not constrain Ravik, he boldly looks into the eyes of fate and is firm in his decisions. Love transformed the German surgeon, the inner core again revived in him. He, full of human dignity, is now ready to go to the test. And in this is the real triumph of the man of the unbroken, reborn.