Finally, the truth about war," reviewers proclaimed when All Quiet
on the Western Front was published in 1928, ten years after World
War I had ended. Shockingly direct, it painted a decidedly
unromantic portrait of the war in which Remarque had briefly fought
and quickly became an international sensation. Around the world,
readers who were still trying to comprehend the war and the
devastation it had wreaked across the land, society, and culture of
Western Europe found an answer in Western Front. And today, even
after eighty years and after tens of millions of soldiers have died
in wars, readers keep turning to the novel for answers. Edited and
with an introduction by Brian Murdoch, Professor Emeritus of German
at the University of Stirling in Scotland, this volume in the
Critical Insights series brings together a wide variety of
introductory and in-depth essays on Remarque's classic war novel.
Murdoch's introduction examines the novel's often overlooked
subtleties of tone, characterization, and plot, and Ruth Franklin,
writing on behalf of The Paris Review, reflects on Remarque's
startling direct style and his relevance to twenty-first-century
readers. For those encountering All Quiet on the Western Front for
the first time, a quartet of new introductory essays provide a
framework for building a deeper understanding of the novel. Thomas
Schneider situates it within the culture and politics of Weimar
Germany as well as early twentieth-century German war literature,
and Mark Ward offers a comprehensive survey of the novel's popular
and critical reception. Peter Hutchinson analyzes the intricacies
of Remarque's style and structuring, and Matthew J. Bolton compares
All Quiet on the Western Front with another iconic novel of World
War I, Ernest Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms. Next, a collection of
classic and contemporary essays dive into the novel's key contexts
and themes. A 1929 correspondence between Remarque and a British
general illuminates, in Remarque's own words, his intentions in
writing the novel. An excerpt from Hilton Tims's recent biography
of Remarque offers an account of the German public's sensational
response to All Quiet on the Western Front . Alan F. Bance, too,
takes up the public response to the novel, pinpointing various
facets that could simultaneously appeal to some readers and
alienate or enrage others. Modris Eksteins in turn contextualizes
the novel within the international postwar culture, particularly
against the war literature of the "lost generation." Offering close
readings of All Quiet on the Western Front are Harley U. Taylor,
Jr., Richard Arthur Firda, Richard Schumaker, Richard Littlejohns,
and Brian Murdoch. Taylor and Firda both consider how Remarque, who
spent only a few short months on the western front, succeeded in
rendering such a truthful account of trench warfare. Schumaker
examines Remarque's expert handling of perspective and time, and
Littlejohns uncovers the novel's greatest theme-the devastating
effects of wars on those who fight them and those who live through
them. Murdoch examines the theme of comradeship in both Western
Front and its sequel, The Road Back. Next, a selection of
comparative pieces place the novel beside German war literature and
the literature of the Weimar Republic. Ann P. Linder considers All
Quiet on the Western Front 's place within the body of German war
literature, and Kim Allen Scott compares Western Front with the war
memoir of Rudolf Georg Binding, who was later a Nazi sympathizer.
Finally, John Whiteclay Chambers II offers an account of the
production and reception of Lewis Milestone's 1930 film adaptation
of the novel, and Kathleen Norrie and Malcolm Read compare
Milestone's film with another antiwar film of the period, Westfront
1918. Rounding out the volume are an introductory biography of
Remarque, a chronology of this life, a list of his major works, and
a bibliography of resources valuable for those wishing to explore
this classic war novel in greater depth.
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