All Quiet on the Western Front

Remarque’s evocation of the horrors of modern warfare has lost none of its force * The Times *Remarque is a craftsman of unquestionably first rank * New York Times Book Review *There are some books that should be read by every generation… Remarque’s story of German trench soldiers of the 1914-18 war gains even more authority in the context of the loss of life in wars that still rageBrian Murdoch’s new English translation shows that Remarque’s evocation of the horrors of modern warfare has lost none of its force * The Times *The book conquers without persuading, it shakes you without exaggerating, a perfect work of art and at the same time truth that cannot by doubtedThis harrowing narrative is unexpectedly beautiful, more pensive than angry * Irish Times *Its extraordinary appeal may stem from Remarque’s success in universalising the soldiers’ experience — that the war was the same for all who fought * Daily Telegraph *The power to move people by words, to arouse their sensibilities as well as their minds, was Erich Maria Remarque’s to an extraordinary degree * New York Times *[A] masterpiece… For the first time a writer gave a raw, pitiless account of men killing each other, by any means possible… its unrelenting honesty makes it hard to read it as anything else * Economist *

Erich Maria Remarque was a German author and veteran of the First World War. He was born in 1898 in Osnabrück, Germany. At the age of 18 he was conscripted into the German army. During his service he was wounded by shrapnel in the left leg, right arm and neck. Following the war he worked as a primary school teacher, and later as a librarian, a journalist and a technical writer.

Among Remarque’s published novels were All Quiet on the Western Front, The Road Back, Three Comrades and Arch of Triumph. His works were publicly burned by the Nazi German government, and in 1947 he and his first wife became naturalised citizens of the United States. Four years earlier, his sister had been executed at the behest of Hitler’s ‘People’s Court’.

Remarque adapted the book Ten Days to Die, about Hitler’s final days, as a screenplay, and he also wrote for the stage. His last novel was The Night in Lisbon, published in 1962. During his lifetime Remarque married twice and had love affairs with the actresses Hedy Lamarr, Marlene Dietrich and Greta Garbo.