The best books of Remarque are included in the golden fund of world literature. His most famous works are devoted to the events of the First World War, or rather, how destructive it was for ordinary people. Remarque's works are simple and touching. They made a splash in their time, many of them were successfully made into films, and today they enjoy the well-deserved love of readers.
short biography
Remarque's best books are largely autobiographical. The future famous writer was born in 1898 in a simple family in Lower Saxony. His relatives had French roots. The boy was extremely capable of learning, he was the best in the class, in addition, he showed an undoubted musical talent: he played the piano beautifully, so he even predicted the career of a successful musician.
Studying at the university was interrupted due to the outbreak of war. Erich Remarque, whose best books reflected the horror of those years, fought at the front, was wounded and demobilized. His subsequent life turned out to be very complicated, which was also subsequently reflected in the works. In Berlin, the writer tried many professions until he finally became a journalist in a sports newspaper. This determined his literary career.
In 1919, Remarque published his novel "A Woman with Young Eyes." This work went unnoticed, largely due to the fact that it was literally lost in tabloid literature. However, the author still found his reader a few years later.
“On the Western Front Without Change”
This novel made a splash among the readership and literally turned out to be a breakthrough. Contemporaries and critics immediately appreciated the simple, restrained, laconic, but surprisingly piercing and therefore believable style of the young author. The best books of Erich Maria Remarque are distinguished by this very feature that makes him so recognizable. Modern readers also very highly appreciate this work.
Almost all book lovers say that the writer managed to very truthfully portray the events of front-line life, largely due to the fact that the narration is conducted in the first person. Sometimes the narrator calls himself “we” in the plural, thereby expressing the general grief that befell the common people.
However, according to the comments and reviews, it can be seen that readers appreciate the work most of all because in it the author raises eternal questions about life and death, about how severe emotional upheavals completely break a person and separate him from society. After all, even to those who could survive, existence seems senseless and empty.
Criticism
Remarque's best books, however, are not always accepted by modern readers with unconditional enthusiasm. Of course, everyone recognizes the talent of the writer, many say that, despite the tragic ending, the works are imbued with optimism. However, part of the audience notes that the narrative spirit is rather pessimistic. This also applies to the novel under consideration.
Some readers did not like the death of the protagonist (albeit heroic). Apparently, this point of view was shared by artists. It was not for nothing that in the film adaptation of the novel the question was raised of making the ending happy. However, there are few such claims, but they are interesting, because they reflect a different approach when evaluating the writer's work.
"Three comrades"
This work was published in 1936. The best books of Remarque are, in principle, recognizable by the spirit and style of the narrative. The novel in question was no exception. Almost all literary scholars put him in first place among all the works of the author. Readers loved this work because it depicts the eternal theme of friendship. I also liked how the writer depicted the readiness of his heroes at any moment to come to the rescue, their self-sacrifice and mutual assistance. Readers note that the novel is full of events and semantic references, point to the undoubted talent of the author in the description of many human destinies in the war years. Many emphasize that it was in this work that the writer reached the peak in the image of the “lost generation” contemporary to him.
Opinions about the heroes
Remarque, whose best books are the subject of this review, in this novel deduced three types of characters. Otto is a life character, Gottfried is a romantic and a dreamer, Robbie is the most ordinary, unremarkable person, who, however, is so attractive to the writer: he is completely lost in the background of his friends.
Readers point out that the strongest side of the work is that the writer had a particularly clear idea: the three comrades cannot exist without each other, while one of them is alive, others will live. Many liked it as a writer brought together these completely different people who, during the crisis, found a common language and love. However, they cannot get rid of the memories of the past that poison their lives.
Negative reviews
Erich Maria Remarque, whose best books once struck the readership with their truthfulness and simplicity, in the novel under consideration followed approximately the same spirit as in previous works. Therefore, critical reviews of this essay are about the same: readers do not like the pessimistic spirit of the work. Some of them indicate that the author showed too much negativity: sadness, longing, experiences of the actors make, in their opinion, a rather painful impression. Some critics even reproached the author for the fact that he often described his characters for drinking.
Others did not like the scene of the meeting between Robbie and his girlfriend Pat, in which the hero drank too much alcohol, which, in fact, disrupted the meeting. Nevertheless, almost all readers acknowledge that the characters deserve sympathy and respect, as representatives of the “lost generation”.
"Triumphal Arch"
Among the writers of the 20th century, depicting the horrors of war, was Erich Maria Remarque. The best books of the writer with the advent of the Nazis in Germany were declared pacifist and banned, and subsequently burned. These events forced the writer to leave his homeland. In 1932, Remarque left the country and lived in Switzerland until 1939. During this period, he met with the famous actress M. Dietrich, which many critics consider the prototype of the heroine of this novel, published in 1945.
According to readers, the features of the author’s hard life are clearly discerned in him: the difficult fate of a physician forced to work in exile, a painful love for an actress, which turned out to be inappropriate under current circumstances. Literary scholars argue that the novel is written in easy language and accurately conveys all the experiences of the author.
“Life on loan”
From 1939 to 1958, the writer lived in Switzerland. At this time, he survived a divorce, a new serious love affair and married again. Since the best books of Remarque are autobiographical, all these events could not but reflect on his new novel above. According to many readers, the text of the work is rather complicated. They note that there is almost no plot in the novel, and the narrative itself is a chain of philosophical discussions about love, life and death, which not everyone liked.
Readers emphasized that the dialogues are too pretentious, therefore reminiscent of moral maxims, which deprives the composition of the truthfulness and vitality, so characteristic of the author's early works. Nevertheless, a touching love story set forth in such a language made this work quite popular, although not the best work of the author.
"Return"
The best books of Remarque, reviews of which are generally very positive, are devoted not only to the lost generation, but also to human attempts to adapt to peaceful life after the end of the war. It was this idea that formed the basis of the novel "Return", whose hero returns home and is lost in society, he tries to find himself, falls in love with a girl in whom he wants to find moral support. However, she turns out to be of easy virtue, because of her the hero goes to prison.
When commenting on this work, readers pay attention to one curious fact: the author portrayed many secondary characters who, despite all the horrors of the war, still managed to get settled in this life. The latter feature was liked by book lovers who noted that this auxiliary plot line gives optimism to the narrative.