Customer Reviews (1)

chilling
A single stage setting in Berlin at the end of World War II, just being a combination of events on the night of April 30 to May 1, 1945, is supposed to be presented without intermission, but my reading of it was interrupted. People would like to have an understanding of what goes on in the world, but my own reaction to institutional thinking which goes to absurd extremes to maintain official powers is already voiced on page 15 by the main character telling the block warden after the all clear signal:

I don't care if you're Adolf Hitler now. As long as that door remains standing you'll knock on it. ... Read more

Product Description
A young German soldier of World War I tells of a generation of men who, even though they may have escaped shells, were destroyed by the war. ... Read more

Product Description
The full German text of Remarque's 1929 novel is accompanied by German-English vocabulary. Notes and a detailed introduction in English put the work in its social and historical context. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A timeless classic
This masterpiece of historical fiction, presented here in the original German, is a gritty, earthy account of a young soldier's struggle.(Note that this is not a translated edition.)Written in an episodic structure and graphically realistic, this book was ahead of its time and shocked contemporary audiences.Modern audiences, who are more used to explicit violence and realism, are less likely to be horrified. ... Read more

Product Description
A great novel about World War One. The tragedy that was World war one (only overcome by the hecatombs of the second one) produced a quantity of masterpieces of anti-warlike proclivity and one of the most famous was All quite on the western front, the story of the battles across the prosaic eyes of a few soldiers who fight and kill without knowing why they do it for. The idea that young people barely coming out of their adolescence have to go to the front and feel its horrors, created what was called a lost generation and the causes of it, from the point of view of those who were really fighting, is the foundation of this magisterial work, where the bitterness and the resignation are fundamental characteristics. ... Read more

Product Description
Life in a small German town during the great inflation in 1923. A continuation of "The Road back." Entertaining, philosophical and funny: Remarque at his best. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (14)

Weltschmerz, nostalgia and Irony
After few world war II novels he wrote, Remarque went back to hyper-inflation Weimar Republic in his home town Osnabruck.(although he used different name ,but we know that it's thin disguise). Protagonist of the book is Ludwig Bodmer ; 25 year old war veteran who works in his comrade Georg Kroll's tombstone company. While reading the book, it's not hard to know that Bodmer is no other than Remarque himself and book itself is successful and fabulously rich author's nostalgic auto- biography. Although aspiring to be poet, Ludwig's life is full of every day drab reality which is only worsens time passes mostly by nightmarish and surreal hyper inflation and political unreset derived from it. the only real or unreal part of his life is sunday mass in a local mental asylum where Ludwig works as an organ player for the sake of not only a bottle of wine but also aberration from his trivial existence.
There is a clear demarcation line here between Ludwig's everyday life and his time with inmmate Genevieve Terhoben a.k.a Isabell. Some readers will find the dialogue between two are utterly meaningless and a bit down part of the bookhowever, I find their series of dialogue and Remarque's intentional description of Ludwig's behavior after brief meeing with Isabelle truly makes him more than a writer of "Trivial Literature" ,since there is fairly skillful usage of contrast .Moreover, the part truly evokes the nostalgia and melancholy of lost time. In speaking of Remarque's use of contrast is not limited in Ludwig's life , but also between various charaters. Georg and Heinrich Kroll,Bambus and Hungermann,Isabel and Genevive, Wernicke and Bodendick.

One of the strongest point of this work is its humor and lively but bizzare characters as well as his skill to let characters develop themselves. That really works in this work. the other good point is that the this work encompasses the gamut of "ordinary" German live in a small city during the tumultous time so vividly.There are a couple episode that duly shows how terrible the notorous Weimar inflation was. Irony also works quite well. Shamful urinating of ex-non com Knopf on Black Obelisk symbolizes the true reason of demise of once stable Wilhelmian society .Also,the last deal Ludwig makes on Black Obelisk contains Remarque's sarcasm on modern Germany. The epilogue also shows how Remarque was throughly disillusioned by post-wwII Germany.The book has no prominent plot ,but as I said earlier it does not need any plot, because it was nothing other than the author's auto-biography. It's a very fine work and I strongly believe that it is Remarque's best work. It is unjustly underrated work ,so are all other Remarque's work. Read it. you won't regret .

Remarque at his finest
I am a big fan of Erich Maria Remarque. I would even go as far as to say he is my favorite writer of all time. I have read most of his books, but there are a few I have held off on to give me something to look forward to later in life, The Black Obelisk was one of those. Before I read The Black Obelisk, The Arch of Triumph and The Three Comrades tied for my favorite Remarque book. Now that I have read The Black Obelisk I can say without a doubt that it is my absolute favorite. It is a very intelligent book, and a rarity for a Remarque novel that it ends on an upbeat note(well,as upbeat as an ending can be with the impending doom of WWII shadowing over it).

If you like Remarque's books, you will find that The Black Obelisk does not disappoint. If you have never read a novel by Remarque before, this is a good one to begin with.

Perhaps Remarque's best?
If All Quiet on the Western Front is about those who died, The Black Obelisk is about those who survived. Ludwig has returned home to Germany after the war. He is a stonemason. The company's big order is for a monument to honour the small towns war dead: the black obelisk. The mode of the book is a gentle melancholy. Ludwig survived the trenches, most of his friends died, part of him died with them. Wise beyond his years, he sees how the German's fail to rise up from defeat. Instead they fall to petty bickering, thus setting the stage for the rise of nazism. Instead of being a tribute to those who fell, the black obelisk becomes an ominous pointer to what lies ahead.

Remarque's Best, My Favorite Book
This novel isn't for everyone but it is my favorite. Remarque does a wondrous job creating vivid characters in a small German city in the early 20s. Hyper-inflation, depression and a nation in despair after the humiliation and torment of the Great War, are well told themes. Ludwig is able to find humor through all this and although there is little plot, there is a great story-line. For me, this novel also explains how the horrible economic conditions could so rile a populace, that the small-minded minority embraces Hitler.

Remarque wrote one of the greatest war novels of all time, told great stories of on the run emigrees, and concentration camp horrors, but this book explains pre-Hitler life and thinking in Germany, and is a must read for any Remarque fan.

The Black Obelisk
This is one of my favorite books of all time.It definitely is a slow read, and really this is the only time I've ever thought of a book as one to be savored.Ludwig, the main character, is sensitive, genuine and astute, with an incredible sense of humor that is often surprising.I was really touched by this book.It exposes people for what they are, as it exposes life in those times.Absolutely incredible, but take it slow. ... Read more

Product Description
This digital document, covering the life and work of Erich Maria Remarque, is an entry from Contemporary Authors, a reference volume published by Thompson Gale. The length of the entry is 1372 words. The page length listed above is based on a typical 300-word page. Although the exact content of each entry from this volume can vary, typical entries include the following information:

• Place and date of birth and death (if deceased)
• Family members
• Education
• Professional associations and honors
• Employment
• Writings, including books and periodicals
• A description of the author's work
• References to further readings about the author