Erich Maria Remarque

Erich Maria Remarque , 1898-1970, German-American novelist, whose original name was Erich Paul Remark. From his experience of trench warfare during World War I, Remarque drew a grimly realistic picture of the horror of battle in his first novel and masterpiece, Im Westen nichts Neues (1929; tr. All Quiet on the Western Front, 1929), an immediate international success. When the Nazis came to power they ordered it burned. Remarque's next work was The Way Back (1931, tr. 1931), a sequel describing the attempt of Germans to come to terms with their postwar situation. Remarque lived in Switzerland after 1932 and emigrated to the United States in 1939. His later books include Three Comrades (1937, tr. 1938), Arch of Triumph (tr. 1946), A Time to Love and a Time to Die (tr. 1954), and Shadows in Paradise (1971, tr. 1972).

Bibliography: See biographies by C. Barker and R. W. Last (1979) and C. R. Owen (1984); studies by R. O. Glaser (1972) and J. S. White (1972)

Remarque, Erich Maria (1898–1970) German novelist, b. Erich Paul Remark. A World War I veteran, his best-known novel, All Quiet on the Western Front (1929), is a savage indictment of war. The sequel, The Road Back (1931), concerns Germany's post-war collapse and readjustment.