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Erich Maria Remarque

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Erich Maria Remarque
Erich Maria Remarque (1928)
Erich Maria Remarque (1928)
Born(1898-06-22)22 June 1898
Osnabrück, Germany
Died25 September 1970(1970-09-25) (aged 72)
Locarno, Switzerland
OccupationNovelist
NationalityGerman
Notable worksAll Quiet on the Western Front
Spouse1) Ilse Jutta Zambona (1925-1930; divorced)
2) remarried Ilse Zambona (1938-1957; divorced)
3) Paulette Goddard (1958–1970)

Erich Maria Remarque[1] (22 June 1898 – 25 September 1970), born Erich Paul Remark, was a German author, best known for his novel All Quiet on the Western Front.

Life and work

Erich Maria Remarque was born on 22 June 1898 into a working-class family in the German city of Osnabrück to Peter Franz Remark (b. 14 June 1867, Kaiserswerth) and Anna Maria (née Stallknecht; born 21 November 1871, Katernberg).

First World War

During World War I, Remarque was conscripted into the army at the age of 18. On 12 June 1917, he was transferred to the Western Front, 2nd Company, Reserves, Field Depot of the 2nd Guards Reserve Division at Hem-Lenglet. On 26 June, he was posted to the 15th Reserve Infantry Regiment, 2nd Company, Engineer Platoon Bethe, and was stationed between Torhout and Houthulst. On 31 July, he was wounded by shrapnel in the left leg, right arm and neck, and was repatriated to an army hospital in Germany where he spent the rest of the war.[2]

Teacher

After the war he continued his teacher training and worked from 1 August 1919 as a primary school teacher in Lohne, at that time in the county of Lingen, now in the county of Bentheim. From May 1920 he worked in Klein Berßen in the former County of Hümmling, now Emsland, and from August 1920 in Nahne, which has been part Osnabruck since 1972. With his application for leave of absence from teaching this period ended on 20 November 1920.

Other jobs

Erich was a memeber of the DMHS "Lets mess with the page" club. Continental Rubber Company, a German tyre manufacturer.[3]

Novelist

Remarque in Davos, 1929.

At the age of 16, Remarque had made his first attempts at writing; this included essays, poems, and the beginnings of a novel that was finished later and published in 1920 as The Dream Room (Die Traumbude). When he published All Quiet on the Western Front, Remarque changed his middle name in memory of his mother and reverted to the earlier spelling of the family name to dissociate himself from his novel Die Traumbude.[4] The original family name, Remarque, had been changed to Remark by his grandfather in the 19th century.

In 1927, Remarque made a second literary start with the novel Station at the Horizon (Station am Horizont), which was serialized in the sports journal "Sport im Bild" for which Remarque was working. It was published in book form only in 1998. His best known work, All Quiet on the Western Front (Im Westen nichts Neues), was written in a few months in 1927, but Remarque was not immediately able to find a publisher.[5] The novel, published in 1929, described the experiences of German soldiers during World War I. A number of similar works followed; in simple, emotive language they described wartime and the postwar years.

In 1931, after finishing The Road Back (Der Weg zurück), Remarque bought a villa in Porto Ronco, Switzerland, planning to live both there and in France. [citation needed] On 10 May 1933, the German government, under the initiative of the Nazi propaganda minister, Joseph Goebbels, banned and publicly burned Remarque's works. Remarque finally left Germany to live at his villa in Switzerland. The Germans continued to decry his writings and produced propaganda claiming that he was a descendant of French Jews and that his real last name was Kramer, a Jewish-sounding name, and his original name spelled backwards. This is still cited in some biographies despite the complete lack of evidence. The Nazis also claimed, falsely, that Remarque had not done active service during World War I. In 1938, Remarque's German citizenship was revoked and then in 1939 after he and his ex-wife were remarried to prevent her repatriation to Germany, they left Porto Ronco, Switzerland for the United States of America.[6] They became naturalized citizens of the United States in 1947.

In 1943, the government arrested his sister, Elfriede Scholz, who had stayed behind in Germany with her husband and two children. After a short trial in the "Volksgerichtshof" (Hitler's extra-constitutional "People's Court"), she was found guilty of "undermining morale" for stating that she considered the war lost. Court President Roland Freisler declared, "Ihr Bruder ist uns leider entwischt—Sie aber werden uns nicht entwischen" ("Your brother is unfortunately beyond our reach—you, however, will not escape us"). Scholz was beheaded on 16 December 1943, and the cost of her prosecution, imprisonment and execution—495,80 Reichsmark—was billed to her sister Erna.[7]

His next novel, Three Comrades (Drei Kameraden), spans the years of the Weimar Republic, from the hyperinflation of 1923 to the end of the decade. Remarque's fourth novel, Flotsam (in German titled Liebe deinen Nächsten, or Love Thy Neighbour), first appeared in a serial version in English translation in Collier's magazine in 1939, and Remarque spent another year revising the text for its book publication in 1941, both in English and German. His next novel, Arch of Triumph, first published in 1945 in English, and the next year in German as Arc de Triomphe, was another instant best-seller and reached worldwide sales of nearly five million.

Switzerland

In 1948, Remarque returned to Switzerland, where he spent the rest of his life. There was a gap of seven years — a long silence for Remarque — between Arch of Triumph and his next work, Spark of Life (Der Funke Leben), which appeared both in German and in English in 1952. While he was writing The Spark of Life Remarque was also working on a novel, Zeit zu leben und Zeit zu sterben (Time to Live and Time to Die). It was published first in English translation in 1954 with the not-quite-literal title A Time to Love and a Time to Die. In 1958, Douglas Sirk directed the film A Time to Love and a Time to Die in Germany, based on Remarque's novel. Remarque made a cameo appearance in the film in the role of the professor.

In 1955, Remarque wrote the screenplay for an Austrian film, The Last Act (Der letzte Akt), about Hitler's final days in the bunker of the Reich Chancellery in Berlin, which was based on the book Ten Days to Die (1950) by Michael Musmanno. In 1956, Remarque wrote a drama for the stage, Full Circle (Die letzte Station), which played successfully in both Germany and on Broadway. An English translation was published in 1974. Heaven Has No Favorites was serialized (as Borrowed Life) in 1959 before appearing as a book in 1961 and was made into the 1977 movie Bobby Deerfield. The Night in Lisbon (Die Nacht von Lissabon), published in 1962, is the last work Remarque finished. The novel sold some 900,000 copies in Germany and was a modest best-seller abroad as well. [citation needed]

Marriages

His first marriage was to the actress Ilse Jutta Zambona in 1925.[8] Their marriage was stormy and unfaithful on both sides. Remarque and Zambone divorced in 1930, but fled together to his home in Porto Ronco, Switzerland in 1933 when the Nazis took over Germany; in May 1933, his novel All Quiet on the Western Front was burned in one of the first of the Nazi book burnings and it became clear that neither Remarque nor Zambona could return to Germany.[9]

During the 1930s, Remarque had relationships with Austrian actress Hedy Lamarr and then with Marlene Dietrich.[10] The love affair with Dietrich began in September 1937 when they met on the Lido while in Venice for the Film Festival and continued through at least 1940, maintained mostly by way of letters, cables, and telephone calls. A selection of their letters were published in 2003 in the book "Sag Mir, Dass Du Mich Liebst"("Tell Me That You Love Me")[11][12] and then in the 2011 play Puma.[13]

In 1938, Remarque and his ex-wife Zambone remarried each other in Switzerland as a protection to prevent her being forced to return to Germany and then they immigrated to the United States in 1939 where they both became naturalized citizens in 1947.[14] They divorced again on May 20, 1957, this time for good. Ilse Remarque died on June 25, 1975. [citation needed]

Remarque married actress Paulette Goddard in 1958 and they remained married until his death in Locarno on 25 September 1970, aged 72.[15] Remarque was interred in the Ronco cemetery in Ronco, Ticino, Switzerland. Goddard died in 1990 and was interred next to her husband. She left a bequest of $20 million to New York University to fund an institute for European studies, which is named in honor of Remarque.[16] The first Director of The Remarque Institute was Professor Tony Judt.[17] Remarque's papers are housed at NYU's Fales Library.[18] NYU also named an undergraduate dormitory building after her: Paulette Goddard Hall.

Casa Monte Tabor

Efforts to raise CHF 6.2M ($7M), to buy and save the villa of Erich Maria Remarque and Paulette Goddard from most certain demolition are underway. The intent is to transform the Casa Monte Tabor into a museum and home to an artist-in-residence program, focused on creativity, freedom and peace.[19]

List of works

Note: the dates of English publications are those of the first publications in a book form.

Novels

Im Westen nichts Neues, 1929 original version.

Other works

  • (1931) Der Feind; English translation: The Enemy (1930–1931); short stories
  • (1955) Der letzte Akt; English translation: The Last Act; screenplay
  • (1956) Die letzte Station; English translation: Full Circle (1974); play
  • (1988) Die Heimkehr des Enoch J. Jones; English translation: The Return of Enoch J. Jones; play
  • (1994) Ein militanter Pazifist; English translation: A Militant Pacifist; interviews and essays

See also

References

  1. ^ German pronunciation: [ˈʔeːʀɪç maˈʀiːaˑ ʀeˈmaʀk]; /ˈɛrɪk məˈriːə rəˈmɑːrk/
  2. ^ Remarque Frieden-Schiessen.
  3. ^ "Exactly as it happened... (the story of an encounter in Ticino with Remarque and the coach-built Lancia Dilambda, which, following the commercial success of All Quiet on the Western Front, he purchased in 1931 and retained till the late 1960s)". Motor. 3506: pages 26–30. date 30 August 1969. {{cite journal}}: |pages= has extra text (help); Check date values in: |date= (help)
  4. ^ Afterword by Brian Murdoch, translator of 1996 English edition of All Quiet on the Western Front. London: Vintage Books. 1996. p. 201. ISBN 978-0-09-953281-1.
  5. ^ Robertson, William. "Erich Remarque". Retrieved 2009-06-25. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters: |trans_title=, |month=, and |coauthors= (help)
  6. ^ "Finding Aid for Erich Maria Remarque Papers, 1938-1973." M.E. Grenander Department of Special Collections and Archives, University of Albany/ State University of New York. 2009. Accessed 31 July 2012. http://library.albany.edu/speccoll/findaids/ger077.htm
  7. ^ "Elfriede Scholz Obituary" (in German). Osnabrück Cultural Website. 15 December 2005. Retrieved 2009-06-25. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |trans_title= (help)
  8. ^ "Erich Maria Remarque". Retrieved 2009-06-25.
  9. ^ Taylor, Marvin J. The life and writings of Erich Maria Remarque. New York: Fales Library, New York University, 2011. Accessed 29 July 2012. http://www.nyu.edu/library/bobst/research/fales/exhibits/remarque/documents/bio6.html
  10. ^ Connolly, Kate. "Marlene and the wall." The Guardian, 18 April 2002. http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2002/apr/18/culturaltrips.germany
  11. ^ Fuld, Werner & Thomas F. Schneider (eds). "Dass Du Mich Liebst: Erich Maria Remarque - Marlene Dietrich Zeugnisse einer Leidenschaft ("Tell Me That You Love Me: Erich Maria Remarque-Marlene Dietrich. Evidence of a Passion). Koln: Kiepenheuer & Witsch, 2003.
  12. ^ http://www.spiegel.de/kultur/gesellschaft/marlene-dietrich-und-remarque-madonna-meines-blutes-a-149892.html
  13. ^ Jones, Kenneth. "Marlene Dietrich is Focus of Puma, a NJ Rep World Premiere Starting Feb. 24." Playbill. 24 Feb 2011. http://www.playbill.com/news/article/147946-Marlene-Dietrich-Is-Focus-of-Puma-a-NJ-Rep-World-Premiere-Starting-Feb-24. Accessed29 July 2012.
  14. ^ Bloom, Harold. "Chronology." Modern Critical Interpretations: Erich Maria Remarque's All Quiet on the Western Front. Philadelphia: Chelsea House Publishers, 2001. p. 157.
  15. ^ Dictionary of Literary Biography, Volume 56: German Fiction Writers, 1914–1945. A Bruccoli Clark Layman Book. Edited by James Hardin, University of South Carolina. The Gale Group, 1987. pp. 222–241
  16. ^ Lorch, Donatella. "Paulette Goddard Left N.Y.U. $20 Million." New York Times. 18 May 1990. Accessed 29 July 2012. http://www.nytimes.com/1990/05/18/nyregion/paulette-goddard-left-nyu-20-million.html
  17. ^ "About Us." Remarque Institute. New York University. No date. Accessed 29 July 2012. http://remarque.as.nyu.edu/page/history
  18. ^ Taylor, Marvin J. "Introduction."The life and writings of Erich Maria Remarque.New York: Fales Library, New York University, 2011. Accessed 29 July 2012.http://www.nyu.edu/library/bobst/research/fales/exhibits/remarque/documents/intro.html
  19. ^ La villa d'Erich Remarque en danger. sur swissinfo.ch (Nov2010).http://www.swissinfo.ch/ger/kultur/Remarque-Villa_im_Tessin_droht_der_Abbruch.html?cid=28722548

Further reading

  • Mariana Parvanová: „... das Symbol der Ewigkeit ist der Kreis“. Eine Untersuchung der Motive in den Romanen von Erich Maria Remarque. GRIN-Verlag, München 2010, ISBN 978-3-640-64739-2 (in German)
  • Mariana Parvanová: E.M.Remarque in der kommunistischen Literaturkritik in der Sowjetunion und in Bulgarien. ReDiRoma Verlag, Remscheid 2009, ISBN 978-3-86870-056-5 (in German)

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