Remarque conjures a dark, horrific dimension of a gloomy life in the claustrophobic trenches of the bloody World War I front lines. He paints various scenes of violent death, sheer terror, tearful loss, and fading hope. His principal goal in this classic was to present the largely senseless slaughter, terror, and ultimate destruction that this war waged upon the lives, thoughts, and souls of common soldiers.
All Quiet on the Western Front is at once the chronicle of an entire generation destroyed by a slaughter of an inconceivable scale, and also the very personal tale of a young writer and poet who becomes estranged from his past self, his future dreams, his family, and perhaps most tragically of all, his dear friends.
All Quiet on the Western Front was Remarque's first novel, and caused an immediate sensation upon its publication. Indeed, even before the novel appeared in book form, advanced orders were pouring in at the rate of tens of thousands per day. The book caused considerable controversy in Remarque's native country, as the Nazis in World War II selected it as one of the first books that they burned, branding Remarque a traitor to his country.
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