All Quiet On The Western Front by Erich M. Remarqu
One of the top 100 greatest books of all time is largely regarded to be Erich Maria Remarque’s All Quiet On The Western Front. A whole new generation of readers will undoubtedly get interested in this wonderful classic. For many courses and curricula, All Quiet On The Western Front is required reading. And for those who just like to read timeless works of great literature, Erich Maria Remarque’s masterpiece comes highly recommended. All Quiet On The Western Front, which was superbly produced and is published by Classic House Books, would make a wonderful present and belongs in every person’s personal collection.
All Quiet On The Western Front by Erich M. Remarqu
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It’s written incredibly well. Because it depicts the First World War from a German perspective, it is evocative. Although the National Theatre took the creative step of viewing it through a horse’s eyes, we always see it through British eyes. It’s true that War Horse, a drama based on a Michael Morpurgo novel, is the most amazing one. In the novel All Quiet on the Western Front, a German private soldier describes life on the front lines. It is a touching description of the privations and hardships he faces, demonstrating how innocent people were compelled to serve whether they wanted to or not.
Despite being billed as fiction, this book is actually the author’s views on his time serving as a young volunteer in the German Army during the First World War. Paul Baumer, the main fictitious character, stands in for the author. The tale opens with Paul comforting Franz Kemmerisch, a young volunteer and classmate who was dying in a field hospital after receiving a combat wound. Another battle fatality happened near the book’s conclusion, this time involving Stanislaus “Kat” Katczinsky, an older soldier who served as the author’s mentor. There was a hand-to-hand battle between them, where Paul murdered a French soldier in a trench. He observed the man’s death for several hours, slowly and painfully.
Then there came the account of the author’s injury and transportation to an army hospital with a number of his fellow soldiers. Regardless of whether they were necessary, amputations were preferred by the hospital’s surgeon general. Patients with critical diseases were frequently sent to the “death room.” It was quite uncommon to leave the dying room and come back. Fortunately, one of Paul’s teammates did think of it.
Albert Knopp, a friend of Paul’s, offered a really intelligent and sane proposal. He suggests that a declaration of war should resemble a festival with entrance fees and live music, similar to a bullfight. The ministers and generals of the two nations can then engage in combat in the arena while outfitted in bathing suits and armed with clubs. Whoever lives, his nation triumphs.
Compared to the current situation, when the wrong individuals engage in conflict, that would be a lot simpler and more equitable. Many people believe that ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT is the best war book ever written. However, it is unlikely that the author’s insight, gained through a difficult personal experience and poignantly expressed in the book, has had much of an impact on lowering the number of international conflicts between nations, which are being led by people who, in the words of Mark Twain, “…was made at the end of the week’s work, when God was tired.”
