Erich Maria Remarque
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| Born: | June 22, 1898 Osnabrück, Germany |
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| Died: | September 25, 1970 Locarno, Switzerland |
| Occupation: | Novelist |
| Nationality: | German |
| Influences: | Immanuel Kant, Karl May, Frank Wedekind, Rainer Maria Rilke |
Erich Maria Remarque (June 22, 1898 – September 25, 1970) was the pseudonym of Erich Paul Remark, a German author.
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[edit] Life and work
Erich Paul Remark was born in Osnabrück into a working-class Roman Catholic family. At the age of eighteen he went as a soldier to the front lines of World War I, where he was wounded by stray shell fragments. After the war he changed his last name to Remarque, which had been the family-name until his grandfather. He worked at a number of different jobs, including librarian, businessman, teacher, journalist and editor.
In 1929, Remarque published his most famous work, All Quiet on the Western Front (Im Westen nichts Neues) under the name Erich Maria Remarque (changing his middle name in honor of his mother), the novel described the utter cruelty of the war from the perspective of a twenty-year-old soldier. A number of similar works followed; in simple, emotive language they realistically described wartime and the postwar years. An opposite view is found in Storm of Steel (In Stahlgewittern) by Ernst Jünger.
In 1933, the Nazis banned and burned Remarque's works, and issued propaganda stating that he was a descendant of French Jews and that his real last name was Kramer, his original name spelled backwards. This is still listed in some biographies despite the complete lack of proof. He had been living in Switzerland since 1931, and in 1939 he emigrated to the United States of America with his first wife, Ilsa Jeanne Zamboui, whom he married and divorced twice, and they became naturalized citizens of the United States in 1947. He married the Hollywood actress Paulette Goddard in 1958 and they remained married until his death in 1970. Goddard left a bequest of $20m to New York University to fund an institute for European study which is named after Remarque.
In 1948 he went to Switzerland, where he spent the rest of his life until his death at age 70. He is interred in the Ronco cemetery in Ronco, Ticino, Switzerland, where Goddard is also interred.
[edit] Well-known novels
- Die Traumbude (1920) Debut novel
- Im Westen nichts Neues (All Quiet On The Western Front)(1929)
- Der Weg zurück (1931)
- Drei Kameraden (1937)
- Liebe deinen Nächsten (1941)
- Arc de Triomphe (1946)
- Der Funke Leben (1952)
- Zeit zu leben und Zeit zu sterben (1954)
- Der schwarze Obelisk (1956)
- Der Himmel kennt keine Günstlinge (1961)
- Die Nacht von Lissabon (1963)
- Schatten im Paradies (published posthumously, 1971)
[edit] Remarque in English translation
- All Quiet on the Western Front; and its film adaptations All Quiet on the Western Front (film)
- The Road Back
- Three Comrades (novel); its film adaptation Three Comrades (film)
- Flotsam
- Arch of Triumph; its film adaptations Arch of Triumph (1948 film) and Arch of Triumph (1985 film)
- The Spark of Life
- A Time to Love and a Time to Die
- The Black Obelisk
- Heaven Has No Favorites
- The Night in Lisbon
- Shadows in Paradise
- Full Circle
His books have been translated into at least 58 languages.
[edit] Further reading
- Mariana Parvanova, "... das Symbol der Ewigkeit ist der Kreis." Eine Untersuchung der Motive in den Romanen von Erich Maria Remarque. Tenea, Berlin, ISBN 3-86504-028-4 (in German)
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| NAME | Remarque, Erich Maria |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Remark, Erich Paul |
| SHORT DESCRIPTION | German Novelist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | June 22, 1898 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Osnabrück, Germany |
| DATE OF DEATH | September 25, 1970 |
| PLACE OF DEATH | Locarno, Switzerland |
