On September 25, 1970, Erich Maria Remarque died.
His works have been translated into more than 60 languages, establishing him as a "master of lyrical naturalism". Erich Paul Remarque, who wrote under the pseudonym Erich Maria Remarque, was born on June 22, 1898 in Osnabrück, northern Germany, into the family of a bookbinder. Even in his youth, the future writer was keenly interested in world literature. He admired Zweig, Dostoevsky, Goethe and other prominent writers. Remarque received his primary and secondary education in a church school, after which he enrolled in a Catholic seminary.
With the outbreak of World War I, Remarque was sent to the front, where he received several serious wounds. He later captured all the horrors of that time in the novel "All Quiet on the Western Front" (1929), which became one of the best-selling books in Germany.
The novel was later made into a film and nominated for the Nobel Prize. In 1932, Remarque began work on his novel "Three Comrades", whose artistic problematic is related to the theme of the "lost generations" - the adolescents who ended up at the front, at the tender age of 14-18. Today, the book is considered one of the classics of German and world literature. This novel was also made into a film. After the end of World War I, Remarque changed various professions - for a short time he worked as a teacher, musician, merchant, etc. The events of this period are described in his novel "The Black Obelisk" (1956), which is considered one of the author's most vivid and mature novels.
Soon after that he married the dancer Ilse Jutta Zambona and although their marriage did not last long, Remarque took care of her until the end of his life. Jutta suffered from tuberculosis for many years. It was she that the writer subsequently used as a prototype in building many of the images of his heroines. In all likelihood, she also inspired him to create the image of Lilian Dunkirk in the novel "Life on Loan" (1959). In it, the author reveals himself to readers in the role of an experienced psychologist and philosopher, showing the eternal themes of love, life, death, freedom, time. Unlike Remarque's other novels, "Life on Loan" lacks any political motives.
Most of Remarque's novels were negatively perceived by the Nazi youth and were publicly burned. As a result of these events, in 1933 he moved to Switzerland. Soon after, he met the charming Marlene Dietrich, with whom he had a stormy romantic relationship. Over time, her image inspired the writer to create the image of the main character in the novel "The Arc de Triomphe" (1945), which was filmed twice and is considered one of his most famous novels.
In 1939, the writer moved to the United States. In honor of his older sister, who was sentenced to death by the Nazis in 1943, he wrote the novel "Spark of Life" (1952). Soon after, Remarque met Hollywood actress Paulette Godard (former wife of Charlie Chaplin), who helped him recover from the prolonged depression he developed during his relationship with Dietrich. After officially divorcing Jutta in 1957, he married Paulette. A year later, the couple moved to Switzerland, where they lived a happy life in peace and understanding.
The writer died in September 1970 in Switzerland. His novel "Shadows in Paradise" was published posthumously.
"What one cannot have always seems better than what one has. "Therein lies the romance and idiocy of human life.", says one of the most famous and widely read writers of the 20th century.