Erich Maria Remarque - triumphal arch. Arc de Triomphe - Remarque Erich

History of writing

Write a novel Triumphal Arch» Erich Maria Remarque started in 1938. At the same time, work was underway on other books and their film adaptations.

At the same time, Remarque moved to New York. In America, the writer does not feel very comfortable, despite success in society and the attention of the most beautiful and famous women. He is irritated by the ostentatious tinsel of Hollywood and the exaggerated vanity of American stars. In addition, the local community of emigrants, led by Thomas Mann, does not like him.

Work on the novel has been going on for several years. Remarque is trying to obtain US citizenship. He is received in Washington and moves in theater and film circles.

At this time, in Germany, the Nazis execute Erich's sister, Elfriede Remarque (Scholtz).

The death of his sister so shocks the writer that immediately after finishing Arc de Triomphe, he begins writing a novel about the concentration camp, which he dedicates to the memory of Elfrida.

The novel began to be published in the magazine Kolyes in 1945. Literally immediately after the release of the first issue in Germany, Remarque's stepmother passed away, committing suicide.

Soon, “The Arc de Triomphe” was published in book form, published by the New York publishing house Appleton-Century. On German the novel is published in May 1946 in Zurich. Two years later, Arc de Triomphe will be filmed, and soon after the film's release, Remarque decides to return to Europe.

Plot

The novel takes place in 1939 in Paris. At the center of the story is a talented German surgeon who fled to France from Nazism. Forced to live illegally, without the right to work and without hope for tomorrow, Dr. Ravik operates on people instead of French surgeons, hides from the police, but cannot hide from the love that suddenly appeared in his life.

This unexpected love has no future, but does that really matter? Ravic is not only 15 nominal years older than Joan, he is a lifetime older than her. The heroes quarrel and reconcile again, but fate resolves everything with a simple and strong point: a bullet from a jealous admirer ends Joan’s life.

Reviews

"Arc de Triomphe" is one of the most famous novels Remark. The novel has a lot of fans for whom this bright book has literally become a reference book.

However, opinions are never clear-cut. Some critics noted the excessive pessimism of the work, but where would optimism come from for an illegal emigrant without a future on the eve of the great war?

The general opinion of readers and critics can be expressed in a short phrase: the novel “Arc de Triomphe” deserves to be included in the list best books XX century.

Quotes

“Love is not tarnished by friendship. The end is the end."

“No person can become more alien than the one you loved in the past.”

“Women should either be idolized or abandoned. Everything else is a lie."

“Whoever looks back too often can easily stumble and fall.”

“A woman grows wiser from love, but a man loses his head.”

“Repentance is the most useless thing in the world. Nothing can be returned. Nothing can be fixed. Otherwise we would all be saints. Life didn't mean to make us perfect. He who is perfect belongs in a museum.”

“Sometimes it’s easier to sleep with a man than to call him by name.”

“You can protect yourself from insult, but you cannot protect yourself from compassion.”

“There are no coincidences only in good literature, but in life they happen at every step, and, moreover, they are stupid.”

"Tolerance is the daughter of doubt."

“Cynics have the easiest character, idealists have the most intolerable character.”

One November night in Paris, Ravik stops a woman on a bridge. The stranger is in despair. Ravik first takes her to the driver's tavern, located next to the Arc de Triomphe, and treats her to Normandy apple vodka - Calvados, then to his room at the International Hotel. First half of the night main character The novel spends in the operating room with Dr. Weber and nurse Eugenie: he is trying to correct the consequences of an unsuccessful abortion in a young girl. The patient dies. On the way to the hotel, Ravik enters the Osiris brothel. There he drinks with the manager Rolanda and returns to the room.

Ravik spends the rest of the night with the woman. In the morning he learns that her lover died the day before. Together with a stranger, Ravik goes to the Verdun Hotel. He settles the issue of issuing a death certificate, helps a woman, whose name is Joan Madu, to return her things and money, pay the bill for the room, and move to another hotel - Milan.

One working day, Ravik tells Weber about his situation: he is an illegal immigrant who fled from Nazi Germany. In France, he is prohibited not only from working, but also from living, since he does not have a visa. Ravik cannot rent an apartment. He lives in Internationale because it does not require registration. In Germany, the hero was the chief surgeon of a large hospital. The name Ravik is a fictitious name, taken by him for the third time in order to avoid repeated arrest when discovered by the French authorities.

On Thursday, Ravik examines the girls at the Osiris brothel to see if they have sexually transmitted diseases. In the evening, he plays chess with a Russian emigrant - the doorman of the Scheherazade nightclub, Boris Morozov in the dining room of the International, quarrels with Spanish officers, and receives a wooden statuette of Madonna from Joan.

Ravik visits Joan and invites her to dinner at Belle Auror. Over coffee at the Colosseum, the woman talks about herself: she is an actress, grew up in Italy, her father was Romanian, her mother was English. Ravik invites her to talk to Morozov about work. The heroes drink all evening. Ravik spends the night in Joan’s room.

Hat seller Lucienne Martinet, saved by Ravik from the consequences of a botched abortion, is not too happy that she escaped death. She is thinking about how she can pay for the operation and the time spent in the clinic.

Sitting in a bistro, Ravik notices Haake on the street, the Gestapo man who killed Sibylla. In a conversation with Morozov, the hero learns that the Russian, like him, is waiting for the time when he can return to his country and pay off his father’s murderers.

Kat Hagstrom comes to Paris. Two years ago, Ravik removed her appendix, performing his first successful operation in the French capital. Two weeks ago, Kat divorced her husband, who became an Austrian fascist.

The owner of the International is preparing for new guests - Spanish Republicans: she changes the portraits of Nazi leaders to communists - Lenin, Trotsky and others. In the evening, Ravik has dinner at Scheherazade with Kat and sees Joan's beautiful and moving performance.

During the operation to remove the fetus, it turns out that Kat has cancer. Depressed, Ravik goes to Scheherazade, where he meets Joan. They go to a tavern near the Arc de Triomphe, after which they go to Ravik and spend the night together.

The Doctor visits Lucienne. The girl's boyfriend, Bobo, behaves extremely provocatively. In the evening, Joan confesses to Ravik that she has been “living” all day today. The heroes spend their second night together.

Ravic fails to tell Kat about cancer. The woman herself doesn’t ask him anything: she believes the doctor and thinks that everything is fine with her.

Midwife Madame Boucher - fat woman in a kimono - refuses to give 300 francs for Lucienne’s unsuccessful abortion. She sees that Ravik is an emigrant and invites him to work together. At night, the doctor realizes how Joan is “waiting” for him - with love. He leaves the hotel and returns only in the morning.

A boy, Jeannot, is brought to the clinic with his leg crushed by a car. Kat shares her dreams for the future with Ravik: she wants to have an old-fashioned family and children. At night, Joan confesses her love to the doctor and says that she is happy with him.

Jeannot's leg is taken away above the knee. He is glad that now Insurance Company will pay him a lifetime pension. In the evening, Ravik has dinner with Morozov and again sees Haake on the street. At night, the doctor recalls how the Gestapo man tortured him, trying to find out where two people wanted by the Nazis fled, how he was then sent to concentration camp, and then to the hospital, from which he subsequently escaped. Ravik wanders the streets, looking for Haake, then goes to Scheherazade and confesses his love to Joan.

The main character visits patients - Kat, Jeannot, examines prostitutes in Osiris. At night, Joan says that she is tired and wants a quiet life in her home. Ravik tells her about his illegal situation and promises to go to the resort together. At the next operation, which he performs instead of Durand, the doctor bargains for two thousand francs for the work versus the usual two hundred. Ravik operates on Leval, the main person in charge of emigrant affairs. At night, Ravik has a nightmare. Waking up, the doctor remembers the horrors of the Gestapo. Until the morning he talks with Joan and drinks Calvados.

In February 1939, Ravik and Joan travel to the French Riviera. They sunbathe, play in the casino, go to restaurants. Joan goes on a motorboat ride with new friends. Ravik thinks that she has already begun to quietly move away from him.

A week after returning from the sea, Ravik witnesses the tragic fall of a worker from the scaffolding. He ascertains his death and helps the injured woman, who was caught by a falling beam. The police arriving at the scene arrest Ravik.

After three months spent in Switzerland, Ravik returns to Paris. Morozov tells the doctor that Joan left Scheherazade five weeks ago. Ravik is looking for a woman in Milan, but does not find him. He asks Weber to give him a simple operation to remove appendicitis and only after that does he feel as if he has returned home.

Ravik meets Joan at Cloche d'Or. The separation only strengthened his love for this woman. Joan is furious that Ravik did not bother to find her during his two weeks in Paris. Nevertheless, she comes to his room, and the heroes spend the night together. In the morning, Joan says that she does not trust Morozov. At night, Ravik waits in vain for her at the Internationale, playing chess with Boris. Joan appears only two days later. She calls Ravik at the clinic and asks him to come.

In Joan's apartment, Ravik says that he is not going to share her with another man. In the evening, a woman comes to his room and asks permission to stay. Ravic loves her too much to allow this.

Kat Hagstrom returns from Italy. She tells the doctor about the unprecedented militancy that has awakened in the Italians. Kat knows she's sick.

At the Triumph cafe, Ravik meets Lucienne. The girl became a prostitute. She offers herself to Ravik, for free. From the cafe the doctor goes to the Louvre, then, without realizing it, to Joan. Under her windows, Ravik understands that together with love he has found life.

At the restaurant, the doctor runs into Haake. The latter does not recognize Ravik: he sees him as a compatriot with whom he can talk. The doctor fails to kill Haake, as he and his friends leave for Berlin. The Gestapo man promises to return in two weeks.

Duran asks Ravik to correct the consequences of the unsuccessful operation. The doctor agrees to operate only after Durand admits his mistake.

Kat asks Ravik to accompany her on a trip to the Montforts' costume ball. At night, Joan comes to the doctor and arranges a scene of jealousy for him. Ravik does not have the strength to let go of the woman he loves.

The Montforts' ball is ruined by rain. Ravik and Kat are driving a car through wet Paris. The Doctor can't seem to concentrate on developing a plan to kill Haake.

Joan calls Ravik at four in the morning and begs him to save her. Arriving at his beloved, the doctor realizes that she again tried to play on his feelings. Ravik asks Joan to leave him alone. He says that there was love between them, and therefore there will be no more friendship.

Rolanda leaves Osiris to get married and open her own cafe with the money she received after the death of her aunt.

While waiting for a call from Haake, Ravik begins to get nervous. The doctor understands that until he gets rid of the Gestapo, he cannot operate on patients. Morozov helps Ravik guard Haake's call and gets him a car for the murder. The doctor meets a Gestapo man by chance - in Osiris. He invites him to go to an elite brothel, takes him to the Bois de Boulogne and kills him. Ravik takes the body of the Gestapo man to the Saint-Germain forest. There he buries the corpse in a hole, having previously undressed and disfigured Haake’s face. The doctor hides the murdered person’s belongings in the ground several kilometers from the body. Ravik burns the Gestapo documents and brand marks from his clothes.

The novel was published in 1945 in the United States. The German edition appeared a year later. In 1948, Arc de Triomphe was first filmed, starring Ingrid Bergman. In 1985, the novel was filmed for the second time. the main role goes to Anthony Hopkins. The 1948 film adaptation was considered more successful.

The novel takes place in France on the eve of World War II. Ravik, a German surgeon and veteran of the First World War, lives in Paris without citizenship or documents, under constant threat of deportation from the country. The surgeon operates on patients, replacing less qualified French colleagues. Ravik was forced to flee Germany because he organized the escape of two innocent people. For this, the surgeon ended up in the Gestapo, where he endured monstrous torture. The surgeon's girlfriend, Sibylla, was also arrested and later died in prison. Ravik is hiding in France. It was believed that life in this country would be much easier for emigrants.

One November night, the surgeon meets a stranger. The woman is desperate. Ravik brings her to his place. The stranger's name is Joan Madu, she is an actress by profession. Joan's lover died. The surgeon helps the woman get a death certificate, her money and belongings, and pay the bill for the room.

Ravik tells his colleague Weber that he is an illegal immigrant from Germany. He has no right not only to work, but also to simply stay in France. The surgeon lives in a hotel where registration is not required, since he cannot rent an apartment. Ravik also reports that in his homeland he held a significant position in one of the large hospitals. He hides his real name.

Joan and Ravik become lovers. The woman admits that she is very tired of the life she is forced to lead and would like to live peacefully in her own home with her loved one. The surgeon explains that this is impossible: he is in the country illegally and has no rights. Throughout the entire story, the lovers either quarrel or make up. One of the biggest quarrels occurred after Ravik was arrested, expelled from the country, and then returned to Paris after three months in Switzerland.

On the streets of the French capital, the surgeon meets his old enemy - Gestapo man Haake. Ravik hunts for Haake for a long time until they finally meet. The fascist does not recognize the surgeon, but is very happy that he met a compatriot in a foreign country. Subsequently, Ravik managed to meet his enemy again. The surgeon offers the Gestapo man a joint visit to an elite brothel, and he himself takes him to the Bois de Boulogne, where he kills him. The surgeon then takes Haake to the Forest of Saint-Germain. Ravik disfigured the body of his enemy and destroyed documents and belongings.

At the end of the novel, Joan is shot by her next lover. The woman is mortally wounded, but removing the bullet will only hasten her death. Joan and Ravik last time They confess their love to each other, then the doctor gives her a lethal injection to save her from further suffering. During the next arrest, Ravik does not resist the police and even gives his real name.

Characteristics

The real name of the surgeon is Ludwig Fresenburg. This is a very ambiguous character, revealing himself to the reader with different sides.

On the one hand, Ravik, aka Ludwig Fresenburg, is presented as positive hero. In Nazi Germany, Ravik held a high position. To maintain his high position, it was enough for him to simply agree with the policies of the new authorities, or at least look at their actions “through his fingers.” However, Ravik could not make a deal with his own conscience. He did not want to allow innocent people to suffer and die. The surgeon takes a risk by hiding the unfortunate ones. Ravik understands perfectly well how this could end for him, but does not back down. As a result, the main character loses everything: a high position, the location of authorities, his beloved girl and his homeland.

Having miraculously survived, Ravik begins new life in Paris. The torture that the surgeon had to endure in Germany did not harden the protagonist or change his character. Ravik still remains an honest man capable of selflessly helping those in need. Having met a stranger at night, Ravik tries to take on all her problems without expecting anything in return.

However, the author does not deny: torture, concentration camps and wanderings could not help but leave their mark. Remarque shows the German surgeon from another, less pleasant side. The reader learns that Ravik is vindictive and vindictive. Having met his old enemy in Paris, the surgeon begins to develop a murder plan. The hatred he felt for Haake did not disappear even after several years. Ravik coldly and without a shadow of pity kills the Gestapo man and mutilates his corpse. The author does not support his hero in his actions, but does not condemn him either. For a person who has lost the most precious thing, it is quite natural to feel hatred towards the one who deprived him of everything.

Joan Madu

Presumably, the author was inspired to create the image of Joan by Marlene Dietrich. Shortly before the outbreak of World War II, Remarque and Dietrich lived in Paris.

Ravik does not attach much importance to meeting an unfamiliar woman who needs his help. The surgeon helps people every day. Help to a stranger It’s completely natural for him. However, Madu gradually enters his life. The rapprochement between Joan and Ravik began with mutual sexual attraction. However, gradually the surgeon begins to understand that Joan can be not only a passionate lover, but also a sincere interlocutor. Madu, like Ravik, has neither homeland nor relatives. Joan grew up in Italy, with a Romanian father and English mother. Since childhood, Mada has been surrounded by “strangers.” Now she again finds herself among “strangers,” this time in another country.

We bring to your attention one more outstanding work Erich Maria We bring to your attention another outstanding work by Erich Maria Remarque “Shelter of Dreams”, which tells about a quiet boarding house where patients live a measured life, without delving into the problems of the world around them.

Our next article is devoted to the biography of the famous prose writer Erich Maria Remarque, a representative of the writers “ Lost Generation”, who created many talented works that are still popular today.

The lives of both main characters have long been meaningless and have turned into a routine struggle for survival. Both lost their loved ones. Only after meeting each other do Ravik and Madu feel that their lives finally have meaning. They give themselves over completely to the new feeling. But after a short period of time, quarrels begin between the lovers. Joan is tired of uncertainty. She wants to find a stable place in this world, despite the fact that the war breaking out in Europe is pushing the world into chaos. Joan has waited too long for her happiness to wait any longer. She wants to have a family and be a legal wife with whom she can appear in society, and not a random mistress who they want to hide from prying eyes.

Main symbol novel is the Arc de Triomphe. This landmark of Paris is not as popular as the Eiffel Tower, but is also widely known. Not all readers understand why the author chose the Arc de Triomphe to give the title to the novel. She is not actor and does not play a particularly significant role in the work. However, Remarque opted for it, and not for the more familiar Eiffel Tower. He also did not use the name of one of the main characters for the title.

First of all, the author is trying to divert the public's attention from the stereotypical image of Paris. Even in the minds of those readers who have never been to the French capital, this city is associated with pleasure, unbridled fun and forbidden pleasures. These are the associations that the Eiffel Tower can evoke. The author wants to show Paris from a completely different side. On the eve of World War II, the French capital continues to be a city of dreams. But now they come to it not for pleasure, but for the sake of saving lives. Immigrants from Germany find shelter here. These were mainly Jews, as well as those who did not share the views of the fascists who came to power.

By calling his novel “Arc de Triomphe,” Remarque carefully makes it clear that, despite all the efforts of the fascists, victory will not be theirs.

The novel “Arc de Triomphe” by Erich Maria Remarque: summary

Only worthy copies are kept in the nooks and crannies of memory, only real manuscripts, works and sleepless nights of talented hands who wrote what was imprinted on the marble slabs of the soul.

Books like this are like a drug psychotropic drug, eat into your brain and make you come back to them again and again. And over the years, on the shelves of memory, like on the shelf of an old woman’s bathroom, there are drug books that you won’t part with even on your deathbed.

Among other such second-hand book addictions, on my shelf is

And I will tell you in my short monologue why it has become my biggest addiction to date.

Arc de Triomphe is not just a novel. This is a multifaceted story, riddled with thoughts and feelings. This is the very work that you parse into quotes from your life, a puzzle of emotions and life positions, have become eternal.

This is the story of a military surgeon, whose caution and foresight replaced his happiness and carelessness and a woman enjoying fleeting victories; the story of girls from brothels, in which there is more humanity, “than among those who have never slept with a man”, the cynicism of colleagues and the transience and extraordinary value of human life.

Philosophy book about the decline of European civilization in the Second world war(when the main character compares Europe with a herd of walruses, which lay in hundreds on the shore and did nothing, watching as the hunters, one after another, killed their relatives) - “The tired and formless twilight of the gods. Faded banners of human rights... Peoples, as if slowly being driven to the slaughter, like sheep. A sheep will be sacrificed and the fleas will be saved. As always…"

Each chapter of this book with extraordinary precision, as if with a hammer, knocks out the truth in your head about life, relationships between loved ones, colleagues, strangers, about what is truly valuable, not fleeting and not superficial. The author’s ability to convey the contrast between beauty and wretchedness, as if between the lines, evokes genuine admiration ( “...Van Gogh, Gauguin, Cezanne. All three canvases actually hung without frames. They glowed on the dirty wallpaper, like windows into some other world...")

A fine line of intellectuality, education and sensuality permeates every page of this work. The whole simplicity and simultaneous complexity of the plot is that, in fact, there are no main characters, since each hero of the Arc de Triomphe teaches the reader through the prism of his life on the other side of the binding.

Surgeon Ravik teaches honor, mercy, perseverance and the ability to withstand difficulties, teaches that revenge is a completely inedible dish.

Joan - the desire to live, to live life to the fullest, do not be afraid to show your emotions, stick to your position and do not strive to change it under the pressure of circumstances.

Rolanda and Morozov - true friendship and loyalty, despite danger and depressing circumstances.

Midwife Madame Boucher - that the world is full of injustice, but even from such situations you can benefit.

Boy Jeannot - how, at times, they can differ true values of people.

Kat - the thirst for life, the subtle instinct to appear in right time, at the right moment and on time.

This book leaves behind a taste of an immense feeling that can break all barriers and unite millions of completely different people– this book gives birth to love!

I don't want to tell you the plot! Banality is not for Remarque’s works!

I invite you to plunge into the unusually subtle intellectual and philosophical world of his works!

Start with the “Arc de Triomphe” and, take my word for it, you will fall in love with the crystal web of his phrases and thoughts, which will sound like a magical melody in your heart!