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The Black Obelisk
From the author of the masterpiece All Quiet on the Western Front, The Black Obelisk is a classic novel of the troubling aftermath of World War I in Germany.
A hardened young veteran from the First World War, Ludwig now works for a monument company, selling stone markers to the survivors of deceased loved ones. Though ambivalent about his job, he suspects there’s more to life than earning a living off other people’s misfortunes.
A self-professed poet, Ludwig soon senses a growing change in his fatherland, a brutality brought upon it by inflation. When he falls in love with the beautiful but troubled Isabelle, Ludwig hopes he has found a soul who will offer him salvation—who will free him from his obsession to find meaning in a war-torn world. But there comes a time in every man’s life when he must choose to live—despite the prevailing thread of history horrifically repeating itself.
A hardened young veteran from the First World War, Ludwig now works for a monument company, selling stone markers to the survivors of deceased loved ones. Though ambivalent about his job, he suspects there’s more to life than earning a living off other people’s misfortunes.
A self-professed poet, Ludwig soon senses a growing change in his fatherland, a brutality brought upon it by inflation. When he falls in love with the beautiful but troubled Isabelle, Ludwig hopes he has found a soul who will offer him salvation—who will free him from his obsession to find meaning in a war-torn world. But there comes a time in every man’s life when he must choose to live—despite the prevailing thread of history horrifically repeating itself.
434 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1956
About the author
Erich Maria Remarque
198 books5,607 followersExperiences of German-born American writer Erich Maria Remarque (born Erich Paul Remark) in World War I based
All Quiet on the Western Front
(1929), his best known novel.
People most widely read literature of author with pen name of Erich Paul Remark in the twentieth century.
German history of the twentieth century essentially marks biography of Remarque and fundamentally influences his writing: Childhood and youth, the Weimar Republic, and most of all his exile in Switzerland and the United States. The first publication attained worldwide recognition, continuing today.
Examples of his other novels also internationally published are: The Road Back (1931), Three Comrades (1936, 38), Arch of Triumph (1945), The Black Obelisk (1956), and Night in Lisbon (1962).
Remarque's novels have been translated in more than fifty languages; globally the total edition comes up to several million copies.
The complete works of Remarque are both highly interrelated with his Osnabrück background and speaking thematically of a critical examination of German history, whereby the preservation of human dignity and humanity in times of oppression, terror and war always was at the forefront of his literary creation.
AKA:
Έριχ Μαρία Ρεμάρκ (Greek)
Эрих Мария Ремарк (Russian)
People most widely read literature of author with pen name of Erich Paul Remark in the twentieth century.
German history of the twentieth century essentially marks biography of Remarque and fundamentally influences his writing: Childhood and youth, the Weimar Republic, and most of all his exile in Switzerland and the United States. The first publication attained worldwide recognition, continuing today.
Examples of his other novels also internationally published are: The Road Back (1931), Three Comrades (1936, 38), Arch of Triumph (1945), The Black Obelisk (1956), and Night in Lisbon (1962).
Remarque's novels have been translated in more than fifty languages; globally the total edition comes up to several million copies.
The complete works of Remarque are both highly interrelated with his Osnabrück background and speaking thematically of a critical examination of German history, whereby the preservation of human dignity and humanity in times of oppression, terror and war always was at the forefront of his literary creation.
AKA:
Έριχ Μαρία Ρεμάρκ (Greek)
Эрих Мария Ремарк (Russian)
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 514 reviews
January 29, 2024
This book is for literature, what Otto Dix did for painting.
That is to say, the novel treats the social dimension of the crisis of the 1920s in Germany in the same way that painters of objective realism did.
They denounce the abandonment of war invalids, the elites' indecent lifestyle, the Weimar Republic's headlong rush, and National Socialism's popularity.
In this novel, E.M. Remarque speaks of all the morgue of the crisis. The morgue is the proper sense since it is the undertakers' story, who prosper thanks to poverty and famine and punctuate their days with endless drunkenness.
The story is very cynical, structuring the novel to feel the delirious fever of these periods of inflation.
That is to say, the novel treats the social dimension of the crisis of the 1920s in Germany in the same way that painters of objective realism did.
They denounce the abandonment of war invalids, the elites' indecent lifestyle, the Weimar Republic's headlong rush, and National Socialism's popularity.
In this novel, E.M. Remarque speaks of all the morgue of the crisis. The morgue is the proper sense since it is the undertakers' story, who prosper thanks to poverty and famine and punctuate their days with endless drunkenness.
The story is very cynical, structuring the novel to feel the delirious fever of these periods of inflation.
July 29, 2024
Uber alles?
♠️ I’ve read seven novels by Remarque and he is always cynical but in this story he goes beyond all the others. Here we are living in the time of rampant inflation, the 1920s, and in a defeated, embittered Germany where National Socialism is on the rise. There is a real anger against what he perceives as the Germanic national psyche in these pages. Nazis who thrive on being Nazis and brutally racist are given good jobs and pensions shortly after the war. Those who resist Naziism or hide Jews are treated shabbily and go unemployed. Some are left to rot in jails or camps the Nazis place them in.
In all his other works I’ve read, but for All Quiet, there is a love affair that works out for most of the novel even if it inevitably ends in death or breakup. Here nothing works at all. There are two women and throughout the novel nothing clicks permanently between our male protagonist and the two ladies. To be sure, he is absolutely enraptured by the one, but she changes dramatically inside her own mind and soul when she heals from a mental illness and she does not even recognize him anymore.
Obelisk is a love story where love fails on many levels, not just between man and woman. It fails between humans and God, between humans and country, it fails between human and human. There are some sparks of light but not many. Indeed, this novel had fewer lyrical passages about beauty than his others. Most of it is written in solid tombstone granite.
A cynical work. But important in understanding Remarque and his Germany. In addition, he asks questions all must ask, especially the religious.
Sample 🕊️ The ministers consecrate the memorial; each for his own God. During the war when we had to attend divine services and the ministers of the various denominations prayed for the victory of German arms, I often reflected that in just this way the English, French, Russian, American, Italian, and Japanese men of God were praying for the victory of their armies and I used to picture God as a kind of hurried and embarrassed club president, especially when He had to listen to the prayers of the same denomination from enemy countries. For which should He decide? For the one with the most inhabitants? Or the one with the most churches? And what of His justice if He let one country win and the other, where the prayers were no less diligent, lose? Sometimes He seemed to me like a harassed, elderly emperor, ruling over many countries and forced to keep changing his uniform to receive different deputations—now the Catholic, now the Protestant, the Evangelical, the Anglican, the Episcopalian, the Reformed, according to which divine service happened to be going on at the moment. Or like an emperor reviewing the Hussars, the Grenadiers, the Artillery, and the Navy ♠️
♠️ I’ve read seven novels by Remarque and he is always cynical but in this story he goes beyond all the others. Here we are living in the time of rampant inflation, the 1920s, and in a defeated, embittered Germany where National Socialism is on the rise. There is a real anger against what he perceives as the Germanic national psyche in these pages. Nazis who thrive on being Nazis and brutally racist are given good jobs and pensions shortly after the war. Those who resist Naziism or hide Jews are treated shabbily and go unemployed. Some are left to rot in jails or camps the Nazis place them in.
In all his other works I’ve read, but for All Quiet, there is a love affair that works out for most of the novel even if it inevitably ends in death or breakup. Here nothing works at all. There are two women and throughout the novel nothing clicks permanently between our male protagonist and the two ladies. To be sure, he is absolutely enraptured by the one, but she changes dramatically inside her own mind and soul when she heals from a mental illness and she does not even recognize him anymore.
Obelisk is a love story where love fails on many levels, not just between man and woman. It fails between humans and God, between humans and country, it fails between human and human. There are some sparks of light but not many. Indeed, this novel had fewer lyrical passages about beauty than his others. Most of it is written in solid tombstone granite.
A cynical work. But important in understanding Remarque and his Germany. In addition, he asks questions all must ask, especially the religious.
Sample 🕊️ The ministers consecrate the memorial; each for his own God. During the war when we had to attend divine services and the ministers of the various denominations prayed for the victory of German arms, I often reflected that in just this way the English, French, Russian, American, Italian, and Japanese men of God were praying for the victory of their armies and I used to picture God as a kind of hurried and embarrassed club president, especially when He had to listen to the prayers of the same denomination from enemy countries. For which should He decide? For the one with the most inhabitants? Or the one with the most churches? And what of His justice if He let one country win and the other, where the prayers were no less diligent, lose? Sometimes He seemed to me like a harassed, elderly emperor, ruling over many countries and forced to keep changing his uniform to receive different deputations—now the Catholic, now the Protestant, the Evangelical, the Anglican, the Episcopalian, the Reformed, according to which divine service happened to be going on at the moment. Or like an emperor reviewing the Hussars, the Grenadiers, the Artillery, and the Navy ♠️
January 31, 2012
The third book of Remarque I have read so far. After this one, I can loudly say, no, not just say, I can scream and shout, not can but will - Erich Maria Remarque is trully my fav. writer. Even now I'm astonished with his words, words which break through my tiny ironic skull and lied down everywhere. And that's something. What makes this more perfect? Words where read at the end while listening to the great sounds of Bach's air.
November 21, 2021
Erich Maria Remarque (1898-1970) is best known for his WWI novel, "All Quiet on the Western Front" (1929), and rightfully so. However, for the rest of his career he wrote more books about the aftereffects of the war than the war itself. He was in a position to know about both, since at age eighteen he was drafted into the army, and was badly wounded. He then lived through the years of postwar economic depression in his defeated country.
"The Black Obelisk" (1956) is an excellent representative of those postwar books. It is set in a small German city in 1923, five years after Germany’s defeat in what at the time was called The Great War (Time magazine would rename it World War I in 1939 when the world was on the precipice of an even greater global conflagration.)
Ludwig Bodmer, a twenty-three year old ex-veteran, is employed by a small company that sells cemetery monuments and stones. It is true that sales in a time of widespread illness exacerbated by hunger and poverty are nevertheless brisk. However, if the company doesn’t receive pay in advance the sale price will not cover the company’s expenses. This is due to the fact that the German economy is in the throes of galloping, runaway inflation.
The people of the defeated nation, at least the honest ones, are struggling to survive. When they acquire any money at all they rush to spend it because its value depreciates hourly. Only on the weekends, because the stock exchanges are idle, does the value of the German mark remain stable.
With the German society in such a turbulent state and on the verge of collapse, the people begin to look for drastic changes in the government, hoping for one that will take steps to alleviate the dire conditions in which they live. Unfortunately, it is the National Socialists (Nazis) that they turn to. The country is then confronted with the twin threats of economic turbulence and extreme nationalism.
We know how all that ends.
However, as with Remarque’s other books, it isn’t all doom and gloom. I know that it might seem counterintuitive, but there is much humor in the plot. Well, I have to admit that there isn’t much plot, but there is much humor. True, it tends to be dark, which is to be expected – even slapstickish in a few cases -- but it gives the reader a break from the unrelenting misery of the German working class struggling not just from day-to-day, but from hour-to-hour.
There are also interludes in which Ludwig, who has become extremely cynical of it all, engages in thought-provoking conversations indulging in much philosophical theorizing, often with a friend, who is also his employer, and with a priest, a doctor, and a woman who is a patient in a mental hospital. His interactions with the patient and their discussions provide the book with its most interesting and best written passages.
The story is almost totally character driven and the characters are fully developed – even the minor ones. As I mentioned, it isn’t a page turner. If plot is your thing, this is not your book, but if you are more interested in strong characterizations, then it could be yours.
Finally, pay no attention to the anonymous reviewer on Kirkus, who wrote that “[t]his is one Remarque novel that, for my money, could have been inferred [?] in the German language, unpublished here. I found it not only distasteful, but boring …. It is an unsavory portrait of the little man of Germany under duress – and even more of the “little woman.” Ouch!
It is too bad that the reviewer has neither a sense of the absurd nor a sense of humor, especially one that is slightly warped. Possession of those two traits might have led the reviewer to write a more positive review. I know it helped me.
"The Black Obelisk" (1956) is an excellent representative of those postwar books. It is set in a small German city in 1923, five years after Germany’s defeat in what at the time was called The Great War (Time magazine would rename it World War I in 1939 when the world was on the precipice of an even greater global conflagration.)
Ludwig Bodmer, a twenty-three year old ex-veteran, is employed by a small company that sells cemetery monuments and stones. It is true that sales in a time of widespread illness exacerbated by hunger and poverty are nevertheless brisk. However, if the company doesn’t receive pay in advance the sale price will not cover the company’s expenses. This is due to the fact that the German economy is in the throes of galloping, runaway inflation.
The people of the defeated nation, at least the honest ones, are struggling to survive. When they acquire any money at all they rush to spend it because its value depreciates hourly. Only on the weekends, because the stock exchanges are idle, does the value of the German mark remain stable.
With the German society in such a turbulent state and on the verge of collapse, the people begin to look for drastic changes in the government, hoping for one that will take steps to alleviate the dire conditions in which they live. Unfortunately, it is the National Socialists (Nazis) that they turn to. The country is then confronted with the twin threats of economic turbulence and extreme nationalism.
We know how all that ends.
However, as with Remarque’s other books, it isn’t all doom and gloom. I know that it might seem counterintuitive, but there is much humor in the plot. Well, I have to admit that there isn’t much plot, but there is much humor. True, it tends to be dark, which is to be expected – even slapstickish in a few cases -- but it gives the reader a break from the unrelenting misery of the German working class struggling not just from day-to-day, but from hour-to-hour.
There are also interludes in which Ludwig, who has become extremely cynical of it all, engages in thought-provoking conversations indulging in much philosophical theorizing, often with a friend, who is also his employer, and with a priest, a doctor, and a woman who is a patient in a mental hospital. His interactions with the patient and their discussions provide the book with its most interesting and best written passages.
The story is almost totally character driven and the characters are fully developed – even the minor ones. As I mentioned, it isn’t a page turner. If plot is your thing, this is not your book, but if you are more interested in strong characterizations, then it could be yours.
Finally, pay no attention to the anonymous reviewer on Kirkus, who wrote that “[t]his is one Remarque novel that, for my money, could have been inferred [?] in the German language, unpublished here. I found it not only distasteful, but boring …. It is an unsavory portrait of the little man of Germany under duress – and even more of the “little woman.” Ouch!
It is too bad that the reviewer has neither a sense of the absurd nor a sense of humor, especially one that is slightly warped. Possession of those two traits might have led the reviewer to write a more positive review. I know it helped me.
December 27, 2023
4/5
Pildau klasikos skaitinių spragas ir Obeliskas puikiai tiko pošventiniam laikotarpiui – ir humoras, ir istorija, ir ironija, ir šiek tiek rimties, ir ryškūs, įsimintini veikėjai – nuo pagrindinių iki epizodinių. Remarkas puikiai valdo žodį (bet jums nereikia, kad aš tai pasakyčiau, gi patys žinot) ir skaityti malonu – ypač tuos gyvenimiškus pastebėjimus, kurie tikslūs ir aktualūs net ir dabar, kur „o prie ko čia žydai?“ ir ta žymioji frazė apie vieno mirtį kaip tragediją, o daugelio – kaip statistiką (vėlgi, patys puikiai žinot). Įdomiausia man buvo skaityti apie visokius prasisukimo būdus, kuriuos infliacijos metais žmonės pramoksta, nes kitaip negali išgyventi. Talonų prisipirkimai, kad valgytumei bene nemokamai, vekseliai ir susitarimai kitą nugirdant, darbas už maistą ir gėrimus, nes taip labiau apsimoka, nei kad gauti tikrą algą.
Ir nors supratau to prasmę ir esmę, man balas krito už pasažus psichiatrinėje – na, jei Liza, Gerda ir kitos romano moterys patiko, tai Izabelė ir jos liga, nors ir buvo tarsi užuovėja nuo viso Vokietijoje (ir Europoje) vykstančio šūdo, šviežias požiūris ir kita realybė, mane tiesiog žmogiškai nervino. Ne Remarko kaltė, tik mano asmeninės preferencijos, kad tie pusiau vaikiški klausimai truputį užkniso. O šiaip knyga pilna tokių anekdotų, kuriuos galima cituoti (ir nieko keisto, kad daugelis tai ir daro), o tą moteriškę, traukiančią vinius su užpakaliu, gi tikrai būtų sunku pamiršti. Todėl džiaugiuosi perskaičiusi, o jei ir jūs tokie kaip aš ir turit spragų, siūlau Obelisko nepraskipint – tiek dėl eilinio įsitikinimo, kad istorija taip baugiai linkusi kartotis, tiek dėl nemirtingo stiliaus ir tiesų, kurias skaitant sunku nepriskirti Remarko prie tų įžvalgių truputį ekstrasensų. O iš tiesų gi tiesiog velniškai įžvalgių.
Pildau klasikos skaitinių spragas ir Obeliskas puikiai tiko pošventiniam laikotarpiui – ir humoras, ir istorija, ir ironija, ir šiek tiek rimties, ir ryškūs, įsimintini veikėjai – nuo pagrindinių iki epizodinių. Remarkas puikiai valdo žodį (bet jums nereikia, kad aš tai pasakyčiau, gi patys žinot) ir skaityti malonu – ypač tuos gyvenimiškus pastebėjimus, kurie tikslūs ir aktualūs net ir dabar, kur „o prie ko čia žydai?“ ir ta žymioji frazė apie vieno mirtį kaip tragediją, o daugelio – kaip statistiką (vėlgi, patys puikiai žinot). Įdomiausia man buvo skaityti apie visokius prasisukimo būdus, kuriuos infliacijos metais žmonės pramoksta, nes kitaip negali išgyventi. Talonų prisipirkimai, kad valgytumei bene nemokamai, vekseliai ir susitarimai kitą nugirdant, darbas už maistą ir gėrimus, nes taip labiau apsimoka, nei kad gauti tikrą algą.
Ir nors supratau to prasmę ir esmę, man balas krito už pasažus psichiatrinėje – na, jei Liza, Gerda ir kitos romano moterys patiko, tai Izabelė ir jos liga, nors ir buvo tarsi užuovėja nuo viso Vokietijoje (ir Europoje) vykstančio šūdo, šviežias požiūris ir kita realybė, mane tiesiog žmogiškai nervino. Ne Remarko kaltė, tik mano asmeninės preferencijos, kad tie pusiau vaikiški klausimai truputį užkniso. O šiaip knyga pilna tokių anekdotų, kuriuos galima cituoti (ir nieko keisto, kad daugelis tai ir daro), o tą moteriškę, traukiančią vinius su užpakaliu, gi tikrai būtų sunku pamiršti. Todėl džiaugiuosi perskaičiusi, o jei ir jūs tokie kaip aš ir turit spragų, siūlau Obelisko nepraskipint – tiek dėl eilinio įsitikinimo, kad istorija taip baugiai linkusi kartotis, tiek dėl nemirtingo stiliaus ir tiesų, kurias skaitant sunku nepriskirti Remarko prie tų įžvalgių truputį ekstrasensų. O iš tiesų gi tiesiog velniškai įžvalgių.
April 28, 2024
Knygoje yra viskas, ko reikia geram romanui: įdomus siužetas, humoras (ir šviesus, ir juodas, ir pro ašaras), ryškūs veikėjai, nepriekaištingas stilius ir įtaiga, kad autorius ne fantazuoja, o kažką panašaus yra patyręs, matęs, todėl kūrybos akte perleisdamas per save, nepriekaištingai užburia skaitytoją ne tik tikėti tuo, ką parašo, bet ir verčia nejučiom dalyvauti veiksme. Kai Remarkas rašė šį romaną, jam artėjo keturiasdešimtmetis ir po karo buvo praėję 20 metų. Gal todėl ši knyga alsuoja nostalgija, todėl pavadinime žodžiai "pavėluota jaunystė"? Kai rašytojas myli savo herojus, kartu su jais kenčia ir džiaugiasi, knygos sėkmė garantuota. Ir gerai knygai nereikia ilgų pristatymų ar viliojimo siužeto vingiais.
Vertinu ją stipriu stipriu ketvertu. Kodėl ne penketu? Vis dėlto "Trys draugai" man patiko labiau...
Vertinu ją stipriu stipriu ketvertu. Kodėl ne penketu? Vis dėlto "Trys draugai" man patiko labiau...
March 3, 2024
Aș zice că e un roman al nebunilor, dovadă chiar alineatul care încheie romanul. Într-o epocă nebună doar cei nebuni supraviețuiesc.O cronică a anilor '20 a Germaniei interbelice, dar scrisă cu un umor fin și în același timp cu un realism cinic. Genială!
July 27, 2011
Despite Remarque's flawless sarcasm and sense of humor, his books are never an easy read. Only when reading Remarque one gets an irresistible urge to google "How to stop being afraid of death?"
This book tells a story about a young guy who survived WW1. He spent his youth at war and thus did not get to ask himself all the questions young people ask themselves.
There are two sides to this story. The first one tells about Ludwig's everyday life, describes the people he meets in the most hilarious ways, but the point is that this side of the story is aimed at making the reader feel how pointless those daily routines are, how insignificant it all is compared to the second side of the story. Now this part tells one of the oddest love stories I have read about. Ludwig falls for an insane woman, literally insane - she spends her days at a madhouse. At first she really does seem crazy, but as you read, you see more reason in her words and actions than in those of other Werdenbrück town inhabitants.
The Black Obelisk is a fount of quotes and a well of irony, but then it also introduces the reader to the consequences of war by describing people who have gone mad because of it, people who no longer fit into reality. Remarque managed to get us into the atmosphere of post-WW1 Germany, he let the reader understand the birth of Nazism there, showed us that there could be no other way for these people back then. It really did seem to be the right philosophy to choose after you've fought for a country whose economy just collapsed and left all veterans with nothing but hatred towards all nations supposedly guilty of their despair.
I have not read many Remarque's works, but I'd definitely suggest reading this one to everyone. It will be a slow read, a thought-provoking one, sometimes funny, sometimes depressing, but it'll plunge you in the early 1920s German mood for sure.
This book tells a story about a young guy who survived WW1. He spent his youth at war and thus did not get to ask himself all the questions young people ask themselves.
There are two sides to this story. The first one tells about Ludwig's everyday life, describes the people he meets in the most hilarious ways, but the point is that this side of the story is aimed at making the reader feel how pointless those daily routines are, how insignificant it all is compared to the second side of the story. Now this part tells one of the oddest love stories I have read about. Ludwig falls for an insane woman, literally insane - she spends her days at a madhouse. At first she really does seem crazy, but as you read, you see more reason in her words and actions than in those of other Werdenbrück town inhabitants.
The Black Obelisk is a fount of quotes and a well of irony, but then it also introduces the reader to the consequences of war by describing people who have gone mad because of it, people who no longer fit into reality. Remarque managed to get us into the atmosphere of post-WW1 Germany, he let the reader understand the birth of Nazism there, showed us that there could be no other way for these people back then. It really did seem to be the right philosophy to choose after you've fought for a country whose economy just collapsed and left all veterans with nothing but hatred towards all nations supposedly guilty of their despair.
I have not read many Remarque's works, but I'd definitely suggest reading this one to everyone. It will be a slow read, a thought-provoking one, sometimes funny, sometimes depressing, but it'll plunge you in the early 1920s German mood for sure.
June 24, 2022
I doubt I can write a review that does this book justice.
The story draws Germany in the early 1920s, so during the years soon after the First World War. Horrific war experiences remain to haunt those who have survived. Decadence reigns. Inflation holds the economy in its grip. The ambiance of the times is extremely well drawn by an individual who experienced them firsthand. Erich Maria Remarque was born in Osnabrück, Germany, on June 22, 1898, and died on September 25, 1970. You are not merely r-e-a-d-i-n-g about an era and a time. You are experiencing how life then must have felt. You are immersed.
Living during a time of inflation is expertly drawn. Scarily drawn.
The book drips with irony and sarcasm. Each and every sentence can be analyzed. What is being said outright and what is being implied? I love books that keep you thinking. The book keeps you thinking every step along the way.
Living in a time of inflation is not the sole theme. Sanity versus insanity is another. Here is a quote: “If she is sick, then all the rest of us are sicker.” Why a person might choose to marry or not is another theme. Comradeship is a third. Life and death and religion all play their role.
I don’t want to mislead you—there is laugh out loud humor too. Tricks, jokes played on acquaintances will have you laughing.
We are given a complete picture. At the end we are quickly told what happens to the characters all the way through the Second World War.
T. Ryder Smith narrates the audiobook. I was not thrilled with the narration. I dislike whispering and shouting; setting the proper volume is made difficult. The words also become harder to decipher. Nevertheless, the story wasn’t impossible to follow. I’m therefore willing to give the narration three stars even though I didn’t really like it.
The lines in this book are really good. They keep you thinking. Furthermore, the time and place are expertly drawn and humor is thrown in.
****************
*All Quiet on the Western Front 5 stars
*A Time to Love and a Time to Die 5 stars
*Three Comrades 5 stars
*The Black Obelisk 5 stars
*Arch of Triumph: A Novel of a Man Without a Country 4 stars
*The Road Back 4 stars
*The Night in Lisbon 3 stars
The story draws Germany in the early 1920s, so during the years soon after the First World War. Horrific war experiences remain to haunt those who have survived. Decadence reigns. Inflation holds the economy in its grip. The ambiance of the times is extremely well drawn by an individual who experienced them firsthand. Erich Maria Remarque was born in Osnabrück, Germany, on June 22, 1898, and died on September 25, 1970. You are not merely r-e-a-d-i-n-g about an era and a time. You are experiencing how life then must have felt. You are immersed.
Living during a time of inflation is expertly drawn. Scarily drawn.
The book drips with irony and sarcasm. Each and every sentence can be analyzed. What is being said outright and what is being implied? I love books that keep you thinking. The book keeps you thinking every step along the way.
Living in a time of inflation is not the sole theme. Sanity versus insanity is another. Here is a quote: “If she is sick, then all the rest of us are sicker.” Why a person might choose to marry or not is another theme. Comradeship is a third. Life and death and religion all play their role.
I don’t want to mislead you—there is laugh out loud humor too. Tricks, jokes played on acquaintances will have you laughing.
We are given a complete picture. At the end we are quickly told what happens to the characters all the way through the Second World War.
T. Ryder Smith narrates the audiobook. I was not thrilled with the narration. I dislike whispering and shouting; setting the proper volume is made difficult. The words also become harder to decipher. Nevertheless, the story wasn’t impossible to follow. I’m therefore willing to give the narration three stars even though I didn’t really like it.
The lines in this book are really good. They keep you thinking. Furthermore, the time and place are expertly drawn and humor is thrown in.
****************
*All Quiet on the Western Front 5 stars
*A Time to Love and a Time to Die 5 stars
*Three Comrades 5 stars
*The Black Obelisk 5 stars
*Arch of Triumph: A Novel of a Man Without a Country 4 stars
*The Road Back 4 stars
*The Night in Lisbon 3 stars
Read
May 20, 2018
Erich Maria Remarque (1898-1970)
Erst seit wir wissen, dass wir sterben müssen, und weil wir es wissen, wurde Idyll zu Drama, Kreis zur Lanze, Werden zu Vergehen und Schrei zu Furcht und Flucht zu Urteil.()
Erich Maria Remarque was a name known to me solely because of his famous Im Westen Nichts Neues (1928), which I avoided until recently because of its popularity and because I feared that some of the sentimentality of Lewis Milestone's Hollywood version(*) might have had its source in the book. I finally read Westen a few weeks ago, and it was admirable enough to send me to more of his books: the harrowing Nazi refugee novel Die Nacht von Lissabon (1962), in which is ensconced a most poignant and unusual love story and is at least as good as Anna Seghers' excellent Transit in evoking the desperation and dread of ordinary people chewed up by the interminable machinations of indifferent bureaucracies and spat back out to the impatient murderers on their tail; and now Der schwarze Obelisk (1956, available in English translation under the title The Black Obelisk).(+)
I have a certain intellectual grasp of the incredible German hyperinflation that peaked in 1923, but understanding the numbers and the economics is not the same as grasping what it was like for the unfortunate humans caught in that misery. Stefan Zweig's story Die unsichtbare Sammlung provided me with a glimpse of those unquiet waters, but Der schwarze Obelisk pushed me into the breakers, whence I now emerge snorting and dripping and shaking my head in wonder.
Like Westen and Nacht,(**) Obelisk incorporates much of Remarque's own life; the first person narrator, Ludwig Bodmer, has Remarque's age and all of his life experiences. He works for a small firm selling gravestones (as did Remarque himself) and the city in which the story is set - Werdenbrück - is clearly Remarque's hometown Osnabrück (which I know rather well, as I lived there for five years). In fact, I understand that Obelisk is a roman à clef of Remarque's Osnabrücker acquaintances.
Max Beckmann, Night (1918)
Though one comes to a clear appreciation of the tragedy of the hyperinflation for many people - the retired, the wounded veterans, everyone with a salary, pension and/or savings in cash - and of the remorse- and consciencelessness of those who gleefully crawled up to the top of the ant hill on the backs of the rest, Remarque strewed his text with multiple themes, one of which is suggested by the book's subtitle: Story of a Delayed Youth. Remarque's generation fought in the first world war upon leaving boyhood, were transformed in the bloody, stinking trenches into something completely different, and then found themselves caught in the accelerating catastrophe of hyperinflation and the spreading brown plague of Nazism (whose growing appeal to certain kinds of persons is displayed in Obelisk). Remarque's alter ego, Ludwig, oscillating between cynicism and idealism, is suspended in a state between child- and adulthood, a fact of which he is sometimes aware, which he mulls over again and again, along with the recurring motifs of identity and values - a commonplace among the young and unformed, but here pressurized by a most extraordinary situation. And, not unexpectedly in light of protagonists fresh from the trenches selling gravestones, another prominent motif is death: the event, the social consequences, and the many theories humankind has manufactured to try to deal with it, each of which is espoused by at least one of characters.
Despite the underlying seriousness of the book, it is rich with life and humor. In fact, there are hilarious passages and set pieces throughout the book. I had the impression that the aged Remarque was making fun of his young self, but with sympathy, not with regret or bitterness. Though there is tragedy and threat, most of the characters are of Remarque's generation, and the young can adapt to almost any circumstance with a certain amount of aplomb and continue behaving as do those in whom life's sources flow the swiftest.
After reading three of Remarque's books I know that I shall be visiting more, soon. For my taste he isn't a profound thinker or a gifted prose stylist like Mann, Böll or Handke, but there is more than enough thought and style to support the closely observed characters and engaging stories of twentieth century German life with which he regales the reader.
() Only since we know that we must die, and because we know it, idyll turned into drama, circle to lance, becoming to decaying and cry to fear and flight to judgment.
(*) At least in my memory - I haven't seen it since an age when I was even more allergic to sentimentality than I am now.
(**) As probably everyone knows, Remarque was a soldier in the trenches during World War I, was wounded and spent a lengthy rehabilitation in hospital just as the protagonist of Westen did. He was also a refugee from the Nazis, escaping to Switzerland in 1932, but as a prominent author he was not one of the unfortunate majority described so compellingly in Nacht.
(+) In the meantime I've read his Drei Kameraden (1936) - though beladen with a somewhat melodramatic ending, it is a hard-eyed portrait of life in late 1920's Berlin - Der Weg zurück (1931) - the sequel to Im Westen nichts Neues portraying the painful re-entry of the survivors of years of trench warfare into the political and social turmoil of a defeated Germany - and Arc de Triomphe (1945) - an expansive, multi-character look at the life of refugees from the many authoritarian regimes in 1938/9 Europe trying to survive in an increasingly threatened and threatening Paris. Though both deal with refugees from the Nazis, Arc de Triomphe and Die Nacht von Lissabon are very, very different books. As successful as the former is in its intentions and in keeping my rapt attention, at this point I must say that the latter's focus on a moving story of essentially three characters seems to have released Remarque's poetic gifts of language and insight; my judgment may be premature, but Die Nacht von Lissabon is Remarque's most artistically accomplished work.
January 22, 2021
У Црном обелиску пратимо исечак из живота Лудвига, младог повратника из Првог светског рата и његовог саборца, који раде у компанији која се бави продајом надгробних споменика.
На забаван начин приказују нам се њихове свакодневне згоде и незгоде, али је, у позадини, Ремарк дао сатиричан приказ немачког друштва пред успон нацизма. Сви су ту, и црноберзијанци, и они који жале за славном прошлошћу рајха, ратни ветерани, нацисти итд. Хиперинфлација дивља, назиру се друштвене промене и мрак нацизма. Иако је све врцаво, хумористично, остаје горак укус у устима.
Ипак, повремено ми се све чини превише наивним и као на брзину написаним, тако да је ово једна четворка на стару славу.
На забаван начин приказују нам се њихове свакодневне згоде и незгоде, али је, у позадини, Ремарк дао сатиричан приказ немачког друштва пред успон нацизма. Сви су ту, и црноберзијанци, и они који жале за славном прошлошћу рајха, ратни ветерани, нацисти итд. Хиперинфлација дивља, назиру се друштвене промене и мрак нацизма. Иако је све врцаво, хумористично, остаје горак укус у устима.
Ипак, повремено ми се све чини превише наивним и као на брзину написаним, тако да је ово једна четворка на стару славу.
February 21, 2023
Nie będzie to moja ulubiona książka tego autora, ale jestem pod ogromnym wrażeniem jej przenikliwości i trafności.
February 15, 2021
This book is exceptional. Remarque had a gift, an ability to write the mundane better than any other. His language is never overblown, every word has significance and serves a purpose, you will lose yourself in his novels.
Germany in the 1930's is not an easy topic but the delicacy with which Remarque handles it, the power in his language and the judgments he makes of the country, its people and of all mankind are faultless.
In many ways The Black Obelisk is an anti-bildungsroman, the character is already fully formed when we meet him and the world around him is actually degrading and falling apart. It's apocalyptic but there's no wailing or gnashing of teeth, this is real (in the same way All Quiet on The Western Front is real), people continue to struggle through their lives from day to day. The apocalyptic feeling is only heightened by the protagonist working at a tombstone company, hence the title.
Yet despite all the hardship, the characters still live, love and laugh. One of the best scenes in the novel finds the action in Karl Brill's house where piles of hyperinflated Marks are bet for and against his wife, the imperious Frau Beckmann, and her ability to pull a nail out of a wall with her buttocks. That and many other scenes will have you laughing out loud. By the end of this story you will realise it's the little transgressions and traditions, the pranks and mischief that keep people human. Reading this novel you begin to understand more intimately what Germany was like in the 30's, what the Great Depression did to everyone, and you can even feel the coming spectre of the Nazi party looming over everyone.
Germany in the 1930's is not an easy topic but the delicacy with which Remarque handles it, the power in his language and the judgments he makes of the country, its people and of all mankind are faultless.
In many ways The Black Obelisk is an anti-bildungsroman, the character is already fully formed when we meet him and the world around him is actually degrading and falling apart. It's apocalyptic but there's no wailing or gnashing of teeth, this is real (in the same way All Quiet on The Western Front is real), people continue to struggle through their lives from day to day. The apocalyptic feeling is only heightened by the protagonist working at a tombstone company, hence the title.
Yet despite all the hardship, the characters still live, love and laugh. One of the best scenes in the novel finds the action in Karl Brill's house where piles of hyperinflated Marks are bet for and against his wife, the imperious Frau Beckmann, and her ability to pull a nail out of a wall with her buttocks. That and many other scenes will have you laughing out loud. By the end of this story you will realise it's the little transgressions and traditions, the pranks and mischief that keep people human. Reading this novel you begin to understand more intimately what Germany was like in the 30's, what the Great Depression did to everyone, and you can even feel the coming spectre of the Nazi party looming over everyone.
March 26, 2022
Наскоро една п��зната беше публикувала закачлив статус по повод изящната словестност на Джеймс Джойс и ,,Одисей". Там един непознат човек беше отговорил така: ,,Не е важно какво разбираш от литературата, а какво разбираш за себе си чрез нея".
М-да, тази книга ми плесна един шамар по отношение на някои неща. В книгите на Ремарк има смърт, смърт, смърт, смърт и накрая завършват и кротко, и гръмко пак със смърт.
Сетих се и за ,,Чочарка" на Алберто Моравия. Там имаше надежда, защото войната не беше свършила, а тук заедно с войната, тя отдавна беше духнала. Там имаше пари, но нямаше храна. Тук имаше храна, но нямаше пари. Там имаше частица морал, тук всички бяха цинично покварени и някак до болка човешки. Войната убива тялото и това е най-безобидният и хубав начин, по който се спасяват от нея.
Живеем под едно небе, а в толкова различни светове.
Къде е любовта, когато има глад...
М-да, тази книга ми плесна един шамар по отношение на някои неща. В книгите на Ремарк има смърт, смърт, смърт, смърт и накрая завършват и кротко, и гръмко пак със смърт.
Сетих се и за ,,Чочарка" на Алберто Моравия. Там имаше надежда, защото войната не беше свършила, а тук заедно с войната, тя отдавна беше духнала. Там имаше пари, но нямаше храна. Тук имаше храна, но нямаше пари. Там имаше частица морал, тук всички бяха цинично покварени и някак до болка човешки. Войната убива тялото и това е най-безобидният и хубав начин, по който се спасяват от нея.
Живеем под едно небе, а в толкова различни светове.
Къде е любовта, когато има глад...
June 25, 2013
The Black Obelisk: http://readwithstyle.wordpress.com/20...
I continue with the absolutely amazing Erich Maria Remarque and of course with the topic of war. Unlike A Time to Love and a Time to Die, which is set during WWII, The Black Obelisk examines the period between the two wars. Set in a small German town, the novel portrays a period of hyperinflation, disillusionment, post-war suffering, and rising of nationalism through the eyes of Ludwig, a naive post-war veteran trying to find his place in a greedy and insensitive world. More philosophical than descriptive, Remarque again denounces war and condemns its terror, brutality and senselessness.
War is terrible. On that there are no two opinions. We have had an enormous amount of literature, both fiction and non-fiction on the subject so we know how it affects people, how it awakens their most animal traits, and how it destroys compassion, love, and emotions. But what about the period between the two wars? How did Germany and its people recover from the disastrous defeat and what spirits and thoughts led to a even more disastrous war? Didn’t Germans suffer enough? Didn’t they learn their lesson from WWI or did they think the new nationalistic movement was going to restore Germany’s fading glory? Remarque attempts to give us an answer in The Black Obelisk, where the insane, the disillusioned, the opportunistic, the impostors, the nationalists, the crippled, and the naive shape the richness of characters and moods in 1920s Germany.
Read more: http://readwithstyle.wordpress.com/20...
I continue with the absolutely amazing Erich Maria Remarque and of course with the topic of war. Unlike A Time to Love and a Time to Die, which is set during WWII, The Black Obelisk examines the period between the two wars. Set in a small German town, the novel portrays a period of hyperinflation, disillusionment, post-war suffering, and rising of nationalism through the eyes of Ludwig, a naive post-war veteran trying to find his place in a greedy and insensitive world. More philosophical than descriptive, Remarque again denounces war and condemns its terror, brutality and senselessness.
War is terrible. On that there are no two opinions. We have had an enormous amount of literature, both fiction and non-fiction on the subject so we know how it affects people, how it awakens their most animal traits, and how it destroys compassion, love, and emotions. But what about the period between the two wars? How did Germany and its people recover from the disastrous defeat and what spirits and thoughts led to a even more disastrous war? Didn’t Germans suffer enough? Didn’t they learn their lesson from WWI or did they think the new nationalistic movement was going to restore Germany’s fading glory? Remarque attempts to give us an answer in The Black Obelisk, where the insane, the disillusioned, the opportunistic, the impostors, the nationalists, the crippled, and the naive shape the richness of characters and moods in 1920s Germany.
Read more: http://readwithstyle.wordpress.com/20...
January 13, 2024
Mein Lesejahr 2024 startet mit einem der besten Bücher, das ich in meinem Leben je gelesen habe. Ich habe mir die ganze Zeit gedacht „Wie perfekt kann Remarque eigentlich schreiben“ und „Bitte hör nicht auf, Buch, so ein Lesen kommt nur selten vor im Leben“.
Es ist nicht das typische Remarque-Setting mitten in einem Krieg. Wir befinden uns im Jahr 1923. Deutschland ist in einer tiefen Krise nach dem verlorenen 1. Weltkrieg, mitten in einer Inflation und am Beginn des aufkeimenden Nationalsozialismus. In diesem Deutschland lebt der Ich-Erzähler Ludwig Bodmer. Er ist Mitte 20 und hat im 1. Weltkrieg kämpfen müssen. Auch deswegen trägt der Roman den Untertitel „Geschichte einer verspäteten Jugend“. Ludwig arbeitet als Grabsteinverkäufer und Organist. Er ist auf der Suche nach Liebe, nach Menschlichkeit, nach Freundschaft, nach dem Sinn des Lebens. Auf dieser Suche verliebt er sich in die schizophrene Genevieve…
101 Jahre später leben wir in einem ganz anderen Deutschland mit ähnlichen Entwicklungen und Herausforderungen. Allein deswegen, und auch aufgrund seiner zeitlosen Themen, ist der Klassiker schon ungeheuer zeitgemäß. Dazu kommt noch Remarques unvergleichlicher Schreibstil: markig, sarkastisch und doch feinfühlig, nachdenklich. Ein Buch, dass ich jeder/jedem in die Hand drücken würde, ohne Sorge zu haben, dass sie/er nicht reinkommt. Ich habe lange nicht mehr so viel in einem Buch herummarkiert. Ludwig Bodmer, der sympathische Moralist mit trockener Schnauze, gehört nun zu meinen liebsten literarischen Figuren. Großartig! Ein Buch fürs Leben.
Es ist nicht das typische Remarque-Setting mitten in einem Krieg. Wir befinden uns im Jahr 1923. Deutschland ist in einer tiefen Krise nach dem verlorenen 1. Weltkrieg, mitten in einer Inflation und am Beginn des aufkeimenden Nationalsozialismus. In diesem Deutschland lebt der Ich-Erzähler Ludwig Bodmer. Er ist Mitte 20 und hat im 1. Weltkrieg kämpfen müssen. Auch deswegen trägt der Roman den Untertitel „Geschichte einer verspäteten Jugend“. Ludwig arbeitet als Grabsteinverkäufer und Organist. Er ist auf der Suche nach Liebe, nach Menschlichkeit, nach Freundschaft, nach dem Sinn des Lebens. Auf dieser Suche verliebt er sich in die schizophrene Genevieve…
101 Jahre später leben wir in einem ganz anderen Deutschland mit ähnlichen Entwicklungen und Herausforderungen. Allein deswegen, und auch aufgrund seiner zeitlosen Themen, ist der Klassiker schon ungeheuer zeitgemäß. Dazu kommt noch Remarques unvergleichlicher Schreibstil: markig, sarkastisch und doch feinfühlig, nachdenklich. Ein Buch, dass ich jeder/jedem in die Hand drücken würde, ohne Sorge zu haben, dass sie/er nicht reinkommt. Ich habe lange nicht mehr so viel in einem Buch herummarkiert. Ludwig Bodmer, der sympathische Moralist mit trockener Schnauze, gehört nun zu meinen liebsten literarischen Figuren. Großartig! Ein Buch fürs Leben.
April 10, 2010
The best description of this book is the one that the author himself gave: The story of a belated youth.
For me, it is a novel about youth understood in the most poetic sense of the word and told in the most unpretentious manner possible.
It's a sincere story.
For me, it is a novel about youth understood in the most poetic sense of the word and told in the most unpretentious manner possible.
It's a sincere story.
April 30, 2022
Черният обелиск е свидетел на странно време: http://knigolandia.info/book-review/c...
397538На младини в този роман впечатлява любовта, тази оцветена в лудост любов под звуците на музиката на органа в параклиса на клиниката за душевноболни, или нейната пълна противоположност – палуващите двойки, които не се стесняват да се отдадат на страстите си върху подготените за продан надгробни паметници, които осигуряват известно прикритие на действията им. Същото място, където бог проговаря на бедния пияница ефрейтор Кнопф, който има неприятния навик да се облекчава върху бъдещите траурни символи. Или пък прелюбодеянието, което прескача улицата и трябва да бъде опазено в тайна. Тази любов, за която Ремарк далеч не само в този си роман пише така красиво: “Аз държа Изабела здраво в ръцете си. Тя трепери, поглежда ме и се притиска към мен, а аз я държа, ние се държим – двама чужди, които не знаят нищо един за друг, но се държат, защото се разбират погрешно,...
Издателство ФАМА
http://knigolandia.info/book-review/c...
397538На младини в този роман впечатлява любовта, тази оцветена в лудост любов под звуците на музиката на органа в параклиса на клиниката за душевноболни, или нейната пълна противоположност – палуващите двойки, които не се стесняват да се отдадат на страстите си върху подготените за продан надгробни паметници, които осигуряват известно прикритие на действията им. Същото място, където бог проговаря на бедния пияница ефрейтор Кнопф, който има неприятния навик да се облекчава върху бъдещите траурни символи. Или пък прелюбодеянието, което прескача улицата и трябва да бъде опазено в тайна. Тази любов, за която Ремарк далеч не само в този си роман пише така красиво: “Аз държа Изабела здраво в ръцете си. Тя трепери, поглежда ме и се притиска към мен, а аз я държа, ние се държим – двама чужди, които не знаят нищо един за друг, но се държат, защото се разбират погрешно,...
Издателство ФАМА
http://knigolandia.info/book-review/c...
March 30, 2009
Masterpiece! This book really impressed me with its original ideas about life and death, "crazy" and "normal" people, atheism and faith and with its ironic views about everything.
February 29, 2024
Nieko ner geriau uz sena gera klasika!
May 15, 2023
Somehow different from other Remarque's books, you do not find the serene atmosphere and the very likeable characters. Somehow I find this normal, as there were hard times for Germans after WWI and that's quite Mr. Remarque's goal, to show as that any war has long-term collateral casualties.
So this story is a fresco of that era more than anything else. One which deserves quite an attentive look...
So this story is a fresco of that era more than anything else. One which deserves quite an attentive look...
November 11, 2016
Sometimes there is a hole in me that seems to extend to the center of the earth. What could fill it? Yearning? Despair? Happiness? What happiness? Fatigue? Resignation? Death? What am I alive for? Yes, for what am I alive?
*
I want to think and at the same time that's the last thing in the world I want to do.
*
Everyone saves someone at least once. [...] Just as he kills someone at least once. Even though he may not know it.
*
But probably that's the way of the world—when we have finally learned something we're too old to apply it—and so it goes, wave after wave, generation after generation. No one learns anything at all from anyone else.
*
I am weary and weary of my weariness. Everything is beginning to be a little empty and full of leave-taking and melancholy and waiting.
*
Our damnable memory is a sieve. It wants to survive. And survival is only possible through forgetfulness.
*
I want to think and at the same time that's the last thing in the world I want to do.
*
Everyone saves someone at least once. [...] Just as he kills someone at least once. Even though he may not know it.
*
But probably that's the way of the world—when we have finally learned something we're too old to apply it—and so it goes, wave after wave, generation after generation. No one learns anything at all from anyone else.
*
I am weary and weary of my weariness. Everything is beginning to be a little empty and full of leave-taking and melancholy and waiting.
*
Our damnable memory is a sieve. It wants to survive. And survival is only possible through forgetfulness.
April 26, 2020
Liūdna skirtis su šia knyga, kol kas labiausiai patikusi iš visų Remarko skaitytų. Susigyvenau su herojumi. Visas veiksmas vyko herojuose, jų galvose, nebuvo per daug keistos meilės, kaip kad Triumfo arkoje. Taip pat ši knyga per daug nenudepresyvino, arba jau tiesiog pripratau prie Remarko stiliaus.
July 11, 2018
kai markėm galėjai prisidegti cigaretę
Juodasis obeliskas buvo turbūt antra mano skaityta Remarko knyga ir nuo tada tapo ne tik mėgstamiausia jo knyga, bet ir viena mėgstamiausių apskritai. Bet visa tai buvo senokai ir pamažu detalės išdilo iš atminties, nebeprisiminiau, kodėl tiksliai ji man patiko, liko tik mažos detalės apie obeliską, tarpukarį, infliaciją ir užpakaliu iš sienos ištraukiamą vinį. Taip galiausia ir pribrendo poreikis įspūdžius atgaivinti. Ir dar kartą įsitikinau, koks šedevras šis romanas yra ir kodėl jis šitaip man įstrigo.
Pirmiausia, Liudvigas. Jaunas pirmo pasaulinio karo veteranas, kuris pasakodamas apie trumpą, keletos savaičių savo gyvenimo tarpukario Vokietijoje tarpsnį, labai paprastai, bet labai įtaigiai demonstruoja prarastosios kartos tragediją. Remarkas nemažai knygų apie tai parašė, bet man labiausiai visgi imponuoja Liudvigo istorija. Jis jaunas, jauti jo norą džiaugtis gyvenimu, kuris iš jo buvo atimtas nė nespėjęs prasidėti, jauti jo prigimtinio, jaunatviško polėkio kovą su karo išugdytu surambėjimu ir skaudžiai suvoki, jog visa, ką jis jau dabar su šitokiu sunkumu išgyvena, jam teks ištverti dar kartą. O visų svarbiausia, jis tikrų tikriausias proto balsas visame tarpukario chaose ir jo akimis žvelgti į visą tą beprotybę yra gera, kiek tik tai įmanoma, nes drauge mintyse spardyti visiems į užpakalius daug smagiau ir netenka brandinti pykčio viduje vienai. O ir šiaip, ta besąlygiška meilė Liudvigui sodrina visus tos knygos pliusus ir aštrina visas temas.
O kiek daug šitam romanui duoda iš pradžių dešimtimis, tada šimtais tūkstančių, milijonais, o galiausiai milijardais skaičiuojamos markės! Infliacija šitame romane – tikrų tikriausia veikėja ir toli gražu ne antraeilė. Apie ją girdi kas trečiame puslapyje, ji kaip apsukriausia koketė vis įsisuka į nereikšmingiausias scenas ir jas paverčia tikriausia juodąją absurdo komedija, ir miršta romano kulminacijoje. Remarkas tokioje aplinkoje tiesiog klesti, taško savo perliukus į kairę, ir dešinę ir neįmanoma juo tokiomis aplinkybėmis nesižavėti.
Ir vėl knyga kupina daugybės žmonių likimų, sužalotų infliacijos ir karo. Išgirsti čia apie ant marškinių (paskutinio nuosavo daikto) pasikorusius senukus, kurie norėjo nusinuodytų dujomis, bet tos buvo atjungtos, apie daug kitų savižudybių, apie laiškanešį, kuriam buvo pernelyg sunku nešti blogas žinias žmonėms, todėl po to, kai gavęs tokių pats, jis išprotėjo, ėmės nešioti žmonėms įsivaizduojamas geras žinias – atvirukus, pranešimus apie laimėtas loterijas ir vis pasakojo, kad visi žuvę kareiviai greitai grįš namo. Greta visų šių tragedijų yra ir spekuliantai, sugebantys iš jų klestėti.
O kur dar į bendrą vaizdą nuostabiai įsipaišantis laidojimo verslas, leidžiantis labai žemiškai gvildenti mirties temą ar įpinti groteskiškų epizodų, arba psichiatrijos ligoninė, kurios viename skyriuje karas niekada nesibaigė ir kuri leido įpinti ne vieną metafizinį apmąstymą. Turbūt tai ir yra unikaliausia – supinti šitiek daug temų, kontekstų ir epizodų, pajungti juos visus bendram tikslui ir neperspausti Šis romanas sodrus, atrodytų, tiek perkrautas, kad tuoj tuoj kas nors iškris pro kraštą, bet viskas ten iki pat paskutinės detalės dera ir prisideda prie idėjos.
Idėjos, kuri ir šiandien yra beprotiškai svarbi. Galbūt prieš keletą metų ir būtų buvę galima manyt kitaip, bet šiandien aišku kaip niekada, kad pasaulis ir vėl kartoja tas pačias Juodajame obeliske atskleidžiamas klaidas. Pasižiūri į vokiečius, kurie nė pusei dešimtmečio nuo karo nepraėjus, žaizdų nespėjus užsigydyti jau vėl svajoja apie kitą karą, užtalžo tuos, kurie jo nenori ir kaltina visus išskyrus save dėl apgailėtinos savo padėties, ir negali patikėti tokiu idiotizmu. Bet tas idiotizmas dar niekis, gal jiems vieno karto pasimokyti neužteko, bet kaip galima nepasimokyti iš dviejų ir kartoti visiškai tas pačias klaidas tik kitu pavidalu ir vėl?! O, tarpukario vokiečių nacionalistai, kad jūs žinotumėt, kaip jūsų tėvynė šiandien klesti sumokėjusi už jūsų ir jūsų pirmtakų klaidas, kad jūs tik įsivaizduot galėtumėt, kokia pasaulis būtų dabar nuostabi vieta, jei jai nebūtų reikėję srėbti jūsų privirtos košės!
Na bet užteks apie karą. Lyg jo ir infliacijos nebūtų gana, Juodajame obeliske Remarkas paliečia ir religiją. O šituo atžvilgu Liudvigas cinizmo turi kaip reikiant, todėl asmeniškai man itin patiko skaityti visus tuos išvedžiojimus, kurių akivaizdoje daugelis kiša galvas į smėlį.
O galiausiai, Izabelė, Ženevjeva ar kaip ją norėtumėt vadinti. Remarko moterys visuomet neeilinės, bet šita aplenkia visas kitas šviesmečiais. Šizofrenikė mergina, kuri pasaulį mato visiškai kitu kampu, kuri mano, jog daiktams atsukus nugarą jie pabėga, leido autoriui dar kartą įtvirtinti savo kaip dialogų virtuozo reputaciją ir pateikti ne vieną iš pirmo žvilgsnio absurdišką, bet tiesos krislelį turintį dialogą, kuris suteikia peno apmąstymams.
Labai asmeniškai, iš šešių skaitytų Remarko romanų, šis kol kas atrodo geriausias. Remarkas brandus, atsigręžia į tarpukarį jau po antro pasaulio karo siaubų ir viską matydamas dar aštriau, per visą klaidų kartojimo prizmę, nokautuoja savo paprastumu, įžvalgumu ir universaliomis taikos idėjomis. Šis romanas kadais privertė susižavėti Remarku, o šiandien dar kartą priminė, kodėl aš šitą rašytoją taip branginu.
Juodasis obeliskas buvo turbūt antra mano skaityta Remarko knyga ir nuo tada tapo ne tik mėgstamiausia jo knyga, bet ir viena mėgstamiausių apskritai. Bet visa tai buvo senokai ir pamažu detalės išdilo iš atminties, nebeprisiminiau, kodėl tiksliai ji man patiko, liko tik mažos detalės apie obeliską, tarpukarį, infliaciją ir užpakaliu iš sienos ištraukiamą vinį. Taip galiausia ir pribrendo poreikis įspūdžius atgaivinti. Ir dar kartą įsitikinau, koks šedevras šis romanas yra ir kodėl jis šitaip man įstrigo.
Būtis slinko ramia vaga, organiškai vystėsi, kai viskas nuo pat vaikystės buvo tarpusavyje susiję. Karas tatai iš esmės pakeitė; nuo 1914 metų gyvename čia vieno, čia antro ar trečio gyvenimo skutais; jie nesusiję tarpusavyje, ir mes nepajėgiame jų sulipdyti. <...> mums jie visi susipynę: karo nutraukta vaikystė, bado metai ir apkvaitimo metai, apkasų metai ir gyvenimo geismo metai, – visi jie paliko pėdsakų, tebeaitrinančių širdį. Ne taip paprasta jais nusikratyti. Visados netikėtai išplaukia į paviršių nesuderinamai priešingi dalykai: vaikystės dangus ir žudymo įgūdžiai, prarasta jaunystė ir ankstyvo pažinimo cinizmas.
Pirmiausia, Liudvigas. Jaunas pirmo pasaulinio karo veteranas, kuris pasakodamas apie trumpą, keletos savaičių savo gyvenimo tarpukario Vokietijoje tarpsnį, labai paprastai, bet labai įtaigiai demonstruoja prarastosios kartos tragediją. Remarkas nemažai knygų apie tai parašė, bet man labiausiai visgi imponuoja Liudvigo istorija. Jis jaunas, jauti jo norą džiaugtis gyvenimu, kuris iš jo buvo atimtas nė nespėjęs prasidėti, jauti jo prigimtinio, jaunatviško polėkio kovą su karo išugdytu surambėjimu ir skaudžiai suvoki, jog visa, ką jis jau dabar su šitokiu sunkumu išgyvena, jam teks ištverti dar kartą. O visų svarbiausia, jis tikrų tikriausias proto balsas visame tarpukario chaose ir jo akimis žvelgti į visą tą beprotybę yra gera, kiek tik tai įmanoma, nes drauge mintyse spardyti visiems į užpakalius daug smagiau ir netenka brandinti pykčio viduje vienai. O ir šiaip, ta besąlygiška meilė Liudvigui sodrina visus tos knygos pliusus ir aštrina visas temas.
Susuku vamzdeliu dešimties markių banknotą, prikišu prie žarijų ir užsidegu juo cigarą.
O kiek daug šitam romanui duoda iš pradžių dešimtimis, tada šimtais tūkstančių, milijonais, o galiausiai milijardais skaičiuojamos markės! Infliacija šitame romane – tikrų tikriausia veikėja ir toli gražu ne antraeilė. Apie ją girdi kas trečiame puslapyje, ji kaip apsukriausia koketė vis įsisuka į nereikšmingiausias scenas ir jas paverčia tikriausia juodąją absurdo komedija, ir miršta romano kulminacijoje. Remarkas tokioje aplinkoje tiesiog klesti, taško savo perliukus į kairę, ir dešinę ir neįmanoma juo tokiomis aplinkybėmis nesižavėti.
Ir vėl knyga kupina daugybės žmonių likimų, sužalotų infliacijos ir karo. Išgirsti čia apie ant marškinių (paskutinio nuosavo daikto) pasikorusius senukus, kurie norėjo nusinuodytų dujomis, bet tos buvo atjungtos, apie daug kitų savižudybių, apie laiškanešį, kuriam buvo pernelyg sunku nešti blogas žinias žmonėms, todėl po to, kai gavęs tokių pats, jis išprotėjo, ėmės nešioti žmonėms įsivaizduojamas geras žinias – atvirukus, pranešimus apie laimėtas loterijas ir vis pasakojo, kad visi žuvę kareiviai greitai grįš namo. Greta visų šių tragedijų yra ir spekuliantai, sugebantys iš jų klestėti.
Visi matėm daugybę negyvėlių fronte, žinom, kad du su viršum milijonų mūsiškių beprasmiškai paguldė galvas – tai kodėl taip jaudinamės dėl vieno žmogaus mirties, o du milijonus jau baigiam pamiršti? Bet, matyt, todėl, kad pavienė mirtis visada yra tikra mirtis, o dviejų milijonų mirtis – tik statistika.
O kur dar į bendrą vaizdą nuostabiai įsipaišantis laidojimo verslas, leidžiantis labai žemiškai gvildenti mirties temą ar įpinti groteskiškų epizodų, arba psichiatrijos ligoninė, kurios viename skyriuje karas niekada nesibaigė ir kuri leido įpinti ne vieną metafizinį apmąstymą. Turbūt tai ir yra unikaliausia – supinti šitiek daug temų, kontekstų ir epizodų, pajungti juos visus bendram tikslui ir neperspausti Šis romanas sodrus, atrodytų, tiek perkrautas, kad tuoj tuoj kas nors iškris pro kraštą, bet viskas ten iki pat paskutinės detalės dera ir prisideda prie idėjos.
Karas, kurio 1918 metais nekentė beveik visi kareiviai, gyviems likusiems pamažėle tapo didžiausiu gyvenimo nuotykiu. Jie sugrįžo į kasdienybę, kuri visiems atrodė lyg tikras rojus, kol vyrai gulėjo apkasuose ir keikė karą. Dabar ji vėl atvirto kasdienybe, su savo rūpesčiais ir nusivylimais, o karas pamažėle sušvito virš horizonto, tolimas, pergyventas ir dėl to, be jų valios ir beveik be jokių pastangų, pasidarė ne toks baisus, pagražintas ir melu apipintas. Masinės žudynės tapo nuotykiu, iš kurio pavyko išnešti sveiką kailį.
Idėjos, kuri ir šiandien yra beprotiškai svarbi. Galbūt prieš keletą metų ir būtų buvę galima manyt kitaip, bet šiandien aišku kaip niekada, kad pasaulis ir vėl kartoja tas pačias Juodajame obeliske atskleidžiamas klaidas. Pasižiūri į vokiečius, kurie nė pusei dešimtmečio nuo karo nepraėjus, žaizdų nespėjus užsigydyti jau vėl svajoja apie kitą karą, užtalžo tuos, kurie jo nenori ir kaltina visus išskyrus save dėl apgailėtinos savo padėties, ir negali patikėti tokiu idiotizmu. Bet tas idiotizmas dar niekis, gal jiems vieno karto pasimokyti neužteko, bet kaip galima nepasimokyti iš dviejų ir kartoti visiškai tas pačias klaidas tik kitu pavidalu ir vėl?! O, tarpukario vokiečių nacionalistai, kad jūs žinotumėt, kaip jūsų tėvynė šiandien klesti sumokėjusi už jūsų ir jūsų pirmtakų klaidas, kad jūs tik įsivaizduot galėtumėt, kokia pasaulis būtų dabar nuostabi vieta, jei jai nebūtų reikėję srėbti jūsų privirtos košės!
Nemenkinkite bažnyčios išminties! Ji – vienintelė diktatūra, nenuversta du tūkstančius metų.
Na bet užteks apie karą. Lyg jo ir infliacijos nebūtų gana, Juodajame obeliske Remarkas paliečia ir religiją. O šituo atžvilgu Liudvigas cinizmo turi kaip reikiant, todėl asmeniškai man itin patiko skaityti visus tuos išvedžiojimus, kurių akivaizdoje daugelis kiša galvas į smėlį.
– Tu klausinėji kaip vaikas.
– O kaip klausinėja vaikai?
– Taip kaip tu. Jie vis klausinėja ir klausinėja ir greitai prieina tokį tašką, kai suaugusieji nežino, ką atsakyti, ir sutrinka arba pradeda širsti.
– O kodėl jie pradeda širsti?
– Jie staiga pasijunta esą pilni kraupaus melo ir nenori, kad jiems tai būtų primenama.
O galiausiai, Izabelė, Ženevjeva ar kaip ją norėtumėt vadinti. Remarko moterys visuomet neeilinės, bet šita aplenkia visas kitas šviesmečiais. Šizofrenikė mergina, kuri pasaulį mato visiškai kitu kampu, kuri mano, jog daiktams atsukus nugarą jie pabėga, leido autoriui dar kartą įtvirtinti savo kaip dialogų virtuozo reputaciją ir pateikti ne vieną iš pirmo žvilgsnio absurdišką, bet tiesos krislelį turintį dialogą, kuris suteikia peno apmąstymams.
Labai asmeniškai, iš šešių skaitytų Remarko romanų, šis kol kas atrodo geriausias. Remarkas brandus, atsigręžia į tarpukarį jau po antro pasaulio karo siaubų ir viską matydamas dar aštriau, per visą klaidų kartojimo prizmę, nokautuoja savo paprastumu, įžvalgumu ir universaliomis taikos idėjomis. Šis romanas kadais privertė susižavėti Remarku, o šiandien dar kartą priminė, kodėl aš šitą rašytoją taip branginu.
– Todėl mes ir pralaimėjom karą. Per intelektualų ištižimą ir per žydus.
– Ir per dviratininkus.
– Kuo čia dėti dviratininkai?
– O kuo čia dėti žydai?
June 5, 2014
গল্পের শুরু হয় ১৯২৩ সালে, জার্মানিতে। ওয়ারডেনব্রাক নামের একটি ছোট্ট শহরে। সে সময় মুদ্রাস্ফীতির দারুণ অভিশাপে দিশেহারা হয়ে পড়েছে জার্মানির জনগণ। এক ডলারের দাম হয়েছে ছত্রিশ হাজার মার্ক, আর সে দাম বেড়েই চলেছে প্রত্যেক ঘন্টায়! গল্পের প্রধান চরিত্র লাডউইগ বডমার নামের এক তরুণ, সে প্রথম বিশ্বযুদ্ধে লড়াই করেছে, বয়স তার বিশের কোঠায়। লাডউইগ কাজ করে এক কবরফলক তৈরির দোকানে, দোকানের মালিক তার অভিন্নহৃদয় বন্ধু জর্জ। এনিয়ে সে হীনমন্যতায়ও ভোগে, সে মনে করে মানুষের মৃত্যুর সুযোগ নেয় তারা। লাডুইগ ব্যবসায়ী হলেও তার মনটা নরম, গোপনে সে কবিতা লেখে, আর গির্জার উন্মা��� আশ্রমে রবিবার অরগান বাজায়, কারণ রবিবার গির্জায় ভালো নাস্তা পাওয়া যায়!
এভাবেই শুরু হয় এরিক মারিয়া রেমার্কের উপন্যাস “দ্য ব্ল্যাক অবেলিস্ক”। রেমার্কের লেখা প্রতিটি উপন্যাসই ক্লাসিকের মর্যাদাপ্রাপ্ত। যুদ্ধের ময়দানের প্রত্যক্ষ চিত্র, সৈনিকদের মানসিকতা, দুঃখ, আনন্দ, ভালবাসা- সবই চমৎকার উঠে আসে তাঁর কলমে। রেমার্ক নিজে প্রথম বিশ্বযুদ্ধের সৈনিক ছিলেন, যুদ্ধকে দেখেছিলেন খুব কাছ থেকে, সঠিকভাবে। সেভাবেই তিনি তাঁর গল্পগুলো তৈরি করেন। যুদ্ধ-পরবর্তী বাস্তবতা নিয়ে তাঁর মত কাজ করেছেন খুব কম শিল্পীই। “দ্য ব্ল্যাক অবেলিস্ক”-ও তাঁর এ ধারার এক অনন্য সৃষ্টি হয়ে থাকবে।
উন্মাদ আশ্রমের ডাক্তার ওয়ারনিক এর সাথে ভালো বন্ধুত্ব আছে লাডউইগের, ওয়ারনিক তাঁকে পরিচয় করিয়ে দেন জেনেভিব টরোভান নামে এক তরুণীর সাথে। জেনেভিব সিজোফ্রেনিয়ায় আক্রান্ত, সে নিজেকে ‘ইসাবেল’ মনে করে। লাডুইগকে সে ডাকে ‘রুডলফ’ নামে। ধীরে ধীরে লাডুইগ রুডলফ হয়ে ‘ইসাবেল’ এর প্রেমে পড়ে যায়...
রেমার্ক খুব নিপুণতার সাথে এ উপন্যাসে যুদ্ধফেরত সৈনিকদের প্রকৃত অবস্থা বলেছেন। তারা এই সমাজের সাথে মিশে যেতে পারেনা। স্বাভাবিক জীবনকে তারা ভয় পায়, আবার ঘৃণাও করে। সবচে বেশি দুর্ভোগ থাকে আহত সৈন্যদের ভাগ্যে। সরকার তাদের জন্য পেনশনের ব্যবস্থা করেছে ঠিকই, কিন্তু মূল্যস্ফীতির অভিশাপে দুতিনদিন পর সে টাকা যখন তাদের হাতে আসে তখন তার আর কোন মূল্যই থাকে না।
১৯২৩ সালের জার্মানি তখন তাদের অবস্থার পরিবর্তনের জন্য প্রাণপণ প্রচেষ্টা চালাচ্ছে, আর এরই মাঝে জার্মানদের চোখে নতুন দিনের স্বপ্ন নিয়ে আবির্ভূত হন এক নেতা, অ্যাডলফ হিটলার। জনে জনে জাতীয়তাবাদীরা তার ভক্ত হতে থাকে।
লাডউইগের ভাগ্যের পরিবর্তন হল হঠাৎ-ই। বার্লিনের এক পত্রিকা অফিসে ওর চাকরি হয়ে যায়। লাডউইগ বডমার চলে যায় ওয়ারডেনব্রাক ছেড়ে, ওর প্রিয় বন্ধু জর্জকে ছেড়ে, ইসাবেলকে ছেড়ে। ইসাবেল অবশ্য ততদিনে আবার জেনেভিব হয়ে গিয়েছে। ও লাডউইগকে চিনতেও ও পারেনা।
পত্রিকা অফিসে ওর বেশ উন্নতি হয়, আর এরই মধ্যে শুরু হয়ে যায় দ্বিতীয় বিশ্বযুদ্ধ। যুদ্ধের পর, লাডউইগ আবার যায় ওর শহরে, ওয়ার্ডেনব্রাকে।
ওয়ার্ডেনব্রাকে ও ফেরে দীর্ঘ সতের বছর পর... পরিচিত মুখগুলোর কোনটাই আর ওর চোখে পড়ে না। ওয়ার্ডেনব্রাক এখন যুদ্ধে বিদ্ধস্ত, মৃত এক শহর। ও জানতে পারে ওর প্রাণের বন্ধু জর্জ যুদ্ধে মারা পড়েছে নাৎসিদের হাতে, পাগলাগারদের ডাক্তার ওয়ারনিক নিখোঁজ, জেনেভিব ওরফে ইসাবেলের খোঁজ কেউ জানে না। ও আবিষ্কার করে ওয়ার্ডেনব্রাকের কিছুই আর আগের মত নেই। শুধু একটুও বদলায়নি কবরস্থানটা। ও শুধু চিনতে পারে এক কালো বিশাল সমাধিফলক, অনেকদিন আগে ও আর জর্জ মিলে বিক্রি করেছিল ওটা। ওই ব্ল্যাক অবিলিস্কই মাথা উঁচু করে থেকে মৃতদের শহর ওয়ার্ডেনব্রাকের পরিচয় দিয়ে যাচ্ছে যেন...
বইটা আমি পড়েছি সেবার সংস্করণে, শেখ আব্দুল হাকিমের অনুবাদে। আব্দুল হাকিম যথারীতি ভালো অনুবাদ করেছেন। অনেকদিন মনে থাকবে এরিক মারিয়া রেমার্কের “দ্য ব্ল্যাক অবেলিস্ক”, যুদ্ধের পরের যুদ্ধের গল্প...
এভাবেই শুরু হয় এরিক মারিয়া রেমার্কের উপন্যাস “দ্য ব্ল্যাক অবেলিস্ক”। রেমার্কের লেখা প্রতিটি উপন্যাসই ক্লাসিকের মর্যাদাপ্রাপ্ত। যুদ্ধের ময়দানের প্রত্যক্ষ চিত্র, সৈনিকদের মানসিকতা, দুঃখ, আনন্দ, ভালবাসা- সবই চমৎকার উঠে আসে তাঁর কলমে। রেমার্ক নিজে প্রথম বিশ্বযুদ্ধের সৈনিক ছিলেন, যুদ্ধকে দেখেছিলেন খুব কাছ থেকে, সঠিকভাবে। সেভাবেই তিনি তাঁর গল্পগুলো তৈরি করেন। যুদ্ধ-পরবর্তী বাস্তবতা নিয়ে তাঁর মত কাজ করেছেন খুব কম শিল্পীই। “দ্য ব্ল্যাক অবেলিস্ক”-ও তাঁর এ ধারার এক অনন্য সৃষ্টি হয়ে থাকবে।
উন্মাদ আশ্রমের ডাক্তার ওয়ারনিক এর সাথে ভালো বন্ধুত্ব আছে লাডউইগের, ওয়ারনিক তাঁকে পরিচয় করিয়ে দেন জেনেভিব টরোভান নামে এক তরুণীর সাথে। জেনেভিব সিজোফ্রেনিয়ায় আক্রান্ত, সে নিজেকে ‘ইসাবেল’ মনে করে। লাডুইগকে সে ডাকে ‘রুডলফ’ নামে। ধীরে ধীরে লাডুইগ রুডলফ হয়ে ‘ইসাবেল’ এর প্রেমে পড়ে যায়...
রেমার্ক খুব নিপুণতার সাথে এ উপন্যাসে যুদ্ধফেরত সৈনিকদের প্রকৃত অবস্থা বলেছেন। তারা এই সমাজের সাথে মিশে যেতে পারেনা। স্বাভাবিক জীবনকে তারা ভয় পায়, আবার ঘৃণাও করে। সবচে বেশি দুর্ভোগ থাকে আহত সৈন্যদের ভাগ্যে। সরকার তাদের জন্য পেনশনের ব্যবস্থা করেছে ঠিকই, কিন্তু মূল্যস্ফীতির অভিশাপে দুতিনদিন পর সে টাকা যখন তাদের হাতে আসে তখন তার আর কোন মূল্যই থাকে না।
১৯২৩ সালের জার্মানি তখন তাদের অবস্থার পরিবর্তনের জন্য প্রাণপণ প্রচেষ্টা চালাচ্ছে, আর এরই মাঝে জার্মানদের চোখে নতুন দিনের স্বপ্ন নিয়ে আবির্ভূত হন এক নেতা, অ্যাডলফ হিটলার। জনে জনে জাতীয়তাবাদীরা তার ভক্ত হতে থাকে।
লাডউইগের ভাগ্যের পরিবর্তন হল হঠাৎ-ই। বার্লিনের এক পত্রিকা অফিসে ওর চাকরি হয়ে যায়। লাডউইগ বডমার চলে যায় ওয়ারডেনব্রাক ছেড়ে, ওর প্রিয় বন্ধু জর্জকে ছেড়ে, ইসাবেলকে ছেড়ে। ইসাবেল অবশ্য ততদিনে আবার জেনেভিব হয়ে গিয়েছে। ও লাডউইগকে চিনতেও ও পারেনা।
পত্রিকা অফিসে ওর বেশ উন্নতি হয়, আর এরই মধ্যে শুরু হয়ে যায় দ্বিতীয় বিশ্বযুদ্ধ। যুদ্ধের পর, লাডউইগ আবার যায় ওর শহরে, ওয়ার্ডেনব্রাকে।
ওয়ার্ডেনব্রাকে ও ফেরে দীর্ঘ সতের বছর পর... পরিচিত মুখগুলোর কোনটাই আর ওর চোখে পড়ে না। ওয়ার্ডেনব্রাক এখন যুদ্ধে বিদ্ধস্ত, মৃত এক শহর। ও জানতে পারে ওর প্রাণের বন্ধু জর্জ যুদ্ধে মারা পড়েছে নাৎসিদের হাতে, পাগলাগারদের ডাক্তার ওয়ারনিক নিখোঁজ, জেনেভিব ওরফে ইসাবেলের খোঁজ কেউ জানে না। ও আবিষ্কার করে ওয়ার্ডেনব্রাকের কিছুই আর আগের মত নেই। শুধু একটুও বদলায়নি কবরস্থানটা। ও শুধু চিনতে পারে এক কালো বিশাল সমাধিফলক, অনেকদিন আগে ও আর জর্জ মিলে বিক্রি করেছিল ওটা। ওই ব্ল্যাক অবিলিস্কই মাথা উঁচু করে থেকে মৃতদের শহর ওয়ার্ডেনব্রাকের পরিচয় দিয়ে যাচ্ছে যেন...
বইটা আমি পড়েছি সেবার সংস্করণে, শেখ আব্দুল হাকিমের অনুবাদে। আব্দুল হাকিম যথারীতি ভালো অনুবাদ করেছেন। অনেকদিন মনে থাকবে এরিক মারিয়া রেমার্কের “দ্য ব্ল্যাক অবেলিস্ক”, যুদ্ধের পরের যুদ্ধের গল্প...
January 31, 2024
"Всеки спасява веднъж някого. Точно както всеки убива веднъж някого. Дори когато не съзнава това."
"Отказвам се да й припомням. Стана така, както пред-чувствувах! Тя е оздравяла и аз съм се изплъзнал от ръцете й, както се изплъзва вестник от ръцете на спяща селянка. Тя не си спомня вече нищо."
"Известно време Изабела мълчи.
— Затова ли е толкова тъжна любовта? — пита тя.
— Любовта не е тъжна. Само прави хората тъжни, защото е неизпълнима и никой не може да я задържи.
Изабела се спира.
— Защо, Рудолф? — казва изведнъж много буйно тя и тропа с крака. — Защо трябва да е така?
Гледам бледното и, изопнато лице.
— Това е щастието — отговарям аз.
...
— Не може да бъде! Това не е нищо друго освен нещастие!
— Не е никакво нещастие — казвам въпреки това. — Нещастието е съвсем друго нещо, Изабела!
— Какво?
— Не е нещастие, че не можем никога напълно да се слеем. Нещастие е, че трябва постоянно да се напускаме, всеки ден и всеки час. Знаем това, но не можем да го спрем, то изтича през ръцете ни, а е най-скъпоценното не що, което съществува, и при все това не можем да го за държим. Винаги някой умира пръв. Винаги някой остава след него. Изабела вдига очи.
— Как можеш да напуснеш онова, което не притежаваш?
— Може — отвръщам с горчивина. — И още как може! Има много етапи, когато напускаш и когато те напускат, и всеки е болезнен, а много от тях са като смърт"
"Един живот никога не може да бъде спасен сам. Той винаги е свързан с няколко други."
"Отказвам се да й припомням. Стана така, както пред-чувствувах! Тя е оздравяла и аз съм се изплъзнал от ръцете й, както се изплъзва вестник от ръцете на спяща селянка. Тя не си спомня вече нищо."
"Известно време Изабела мълчи.
— Затова ли е толкова тъжна любовта? — пита тя.
— Любовта не е тъжна. Само прави хората тъжни, защото е неизпълнима и никой не може да я задържи.
Изабела се спира.
— Защо, Рудолф? — казва изведнъж много буйно тя и тропа с крака. — Защо трябва да е така?
Гледам бледното и, изопнато лице.
— Това е щастието — отговарям аз.
...
— Не може да бъде! Това не е нищо друго освен нещастие!
— Не е никакво нещастие — казвам въпреки това. — Нещастието е съвсем друго нещо, Изабела!
— Какво?
— Не е нещастие, че не можем никога напълно да се слеем. Нещастие е, че трябва постоянно да се напускаме, всеки ден и всеки час. Знаем това, но не можем да го спрем, то изтича през ръцете ни, а е най-скъпоценното не що, което съществува, и при все това не можем да го за държим. Винаги някой умира пръв. Винаги някой остава след него. Изабела вдига очи.
— Как можеш да напуснеш онова, което не притежаваш?
— Може — отвръщам с горчивина. — И още как може! Има много етапи, когато напускаш и когато те напускат, и всеки е болезнен, а много от тях са като смърт"
"Един живот никога не може да бъде спасен сам. Той винаги е свързан с няколко други."
November 25, 2023
Scritto nel '56, molti anni dopo la Repubblica di Weimar che fa da sfondo a questo romanzo, nella lettura si sente una potente vena autobiografica: Remarque espone la sua filosofia di vita e di convinto pacifismo, raccontando con sapiente cinismo gli anni dell'inflazione selvaggia, la tragedia che ha dato spinta al nazismo.
August 28, 2020
Über alles
Conoscevo Remarque come autore di una pietra miliare della narrativa bellica, “Niente di nuovo sul fronte occidentale”, formidabile romanzo emblema dell’antimilitarismo, che ha influenzato generazioni di scrittori e di lettori.
Devo oggi constatare che l’autore ha saputo riprodurre per i posteri, con efficacia non inferiore, lo spessore sociale e culturale dell’epoca successiva alla carneficina della Prima Guerra Mondiale, un periodo che, per quanto riguarda la Germania, viene abitualmente definito “Repubblica di Weimar”; è un momento storico-politico che subì alcuni tra i più gravi problemi economici mai sperimentati nella storia di una democrazia occidentale, iperinflazione rampante, massiccia disoccupazione, gravissima crisi della qualità della vita che condussero al collasso della nazione.
E’ doveroso fare questa premessa poiché l’aria del tempo permea gran parte di “L’Obelisco nero”, un romanzo povero di azione ma ricco di dialoghi e personaggi; tuttavia, che rispetto all’illustre predecessore, lo stile qui adottato da Remarque appare ben diverso, più ironico e scanzonato, a tratti addirittura umoristico con punte di grottesco che richiamano alla mente le contemporanee illustrazioni di Otto Dix o Georg Grosz.
La scelta stessa di un’agenzia di pompe funebri, in un’immaginaria cittadina tedesca del 1923, quale teatro delle vicende in cui agiscono Ludwig il protagonista narrante e i suoi amici, è fonte di contrasti e antinomie con il vitalismo che essi ostentano, intenti in gozzoviglie, sbronze memorabili, locali da ballo e bordelli dove concedersi un momento di oblìo dalle quotidiane galoppate del marco che sembra in ogni momento raggiungere quotazioni in milioni o miliardi, dando vita a transazioni e compravendite paradossali, a ritmo frenetico prima della prossima imminente svalutazione!
“Chi guadagna sono gli speculatori, i re della cambiale, gli stranieri che comprano vagoni di roba con un paio di dollari, i grandi imprenditori, i giocatori in Borsa, i quali tutti riescono ad accrescere all’infinito il valore delle loro azioni o delle loro proprietà. E’ la grande svendita del risparmio, del guadagno sudato e dell’onestà”
“L’Obelisco nero” (che trae il titolo dal monumento funerario più prezioso della ditta Kroli & figli) è caratterizzato anche da visioni drammatiche, come il corteo dei mutilati, le cui pensioni di guerra sono ridotte al di sotto della soglia di sopravvivenza, ed episodi da slapstick, come la spedizione collettiva al bordello di via della Stazione.
Alcune parentesi di calma, poesia e sospensione temporale sono riservate alle visite di Ludwig all’amata, eterea affascinante creatura ricoverata in una clinica per malattie mentali, la cui schizofrenia conduce a considerazioni surreali e filosofiche dai risvolti onirici e stranianti che Ludwig cerca di condividere. ”La panca sulla quale sono seduto è vicina all’aiuola di rose. Qui dentro tutto è giusto, tutto è pace: nessuno si preoccupa se il dollaro è salito in ventiquattr’ore di ventimila marchi. Nessuno quindi s’impicca per questo, come invece hanno fatto ieri notte giù in città…”
Va da sé che, come sappiamo dalla Storia e come quasi inevitabile in una situazione di tale sfacelo economico e sociale, l’ombra sinistra del nazismo comincia a manifestarsi nella mente dei meno propensi alla riflessione e più esposti alle reazioni emotive e all’anelito di rivalsa per la ferita ancora aperta della sconfitta bellica, così come nel formarsi delle prime “squadracce” che si aggregano nei quartieri. A questo i nostri protagonisti e tutti i loro compari nel finale non sanno opporre altro che una tipica cantata alla tedesca, un coro malinconico ma esuberante perché copiosamente annegato in un fiume di grappa e birra.
Conoscevo Remarque come autore di una pietra miliare della narrativa bellica, “Niente di nuovo sul fronte occidentale”, formidabile romanzo emblema dell’antimilitarismo, che ha influenzato generazioni di scrittori e di lettori.
Devo oggi constatare che l’autore ha saputo riprodurre per i posteri, con efficacia non inferiore, lo spessore sociale e culturale dell’epoca successiva alla carneficina della Prima Guerra Mondiale, un periodo che, per quanto riguarda la Germania, viene abitualmente definito “Repubblica di Weimar”; è un momento storico-politico che subì alcuni tra i più gravi problemi economici mai sperimentati nella storia di una democrazia occidentale, iperinflazione rampante, massiccia disoccupazione, gravissima crisi della qualità della vita che condussero al collasso della nazione.
E’ doveroso fare questa premessa poiché l’aria del tempo permea gran parte di “L’Obelisco nero”, un romanzo povero di azione ma ricco di dialoghi e personaggi; tuttavia, che rispetto all’illustre predecessore, lo stile qui adottato da Remarque appare ben diverso, più ironico e scanzonato, a tratti addirittura umoristico con punte di grottesco che richiamano alla mente le contemporanee illustrazioni di Otto Dix o Georg Grosz.
La scelta stessa di un’agenzia di pompe funebri, in un’immaginaria cittadina tedesca del 1923, quale teatro delle vicende in cui agiscono Ludwig il protagonista narrante e i suoi amici, è fonte di contrasti e antinomie con il vitalismo che essi ostentano, intenti in gozzoviglie, sbronze memorabili, locali da ballo e bordelli dove concedersi un momento di oblìo dalle quotidiane galoppate del marco che sembra in ogni momento raggiungere quotazioni in milioni o miliardi, dando vita a transazioni e compravendite paradossali, a ritmo frenetico prima della prossima imminente svalutazione!
“Chi guadagna sono gli speculatori, i re della cambiale, gli stranieri che comprano vagoni di roba con un paio di dollari, i grandi imprenditori, i giocatori in Borsa, i quali tutti riescono ad accrescere all’infinito il valore delle loro azioni o delle loro proprietà. E’ la grande svendita del risparmio, del guadagno sudato e dell’onestà”
“L’Obelisco nero” (che trae il titolo dal monumento funerario più prezioso della ditta Kroli & figli) è caratterizzato anche da visioni drammatiche, come il corteo dei mutilati, le cui pensioni di guerra sono ridotte al di sotto della soglia di sopravvivenza, ed episodi da slapstick, come la spedizione collettiva al bordello di via della Stazione.
Alcune parentesi di calma, poesia e sospensione temporale sono riservate alle visite di Ludwig all’amata, eterea affascinante creatura ricoverata in una clinica per malattie mentali, la cui schizofrenia conduce a considerazioni surreali e filosofiche dai risvolti onirici e stranianti che Ludwig cerca di condividere. ”La panca sulla quale sono seduto è vicina all’aiuola di rose. Qui dentro tutto è giusto, tutto è pace: nessuno si preoccupa se il dollaro è salito in ventiquattr’ore di ventimila marchi. Nessuno quindi s’impicca per questo, come invece hanno fatto ieri notte giù in città…”
Va da sé che, come sappiamo dalla Storia e come quasi inevitabile in una situazione di tale sfacelo economico e sociale, l’ombra sinistra del nazismo comincia a manifestarsi nella mente dei meno propensi alla riflessione e più esposti alle reazioni emotive e all’anelito di rivalsa per la ferita ancora aperta della sconfitta bellica, così come nel formarsi delle prime “squadracce” che si aggregano nei quartieri. A questo i nostri protagonisti e tutti i loro compari nel finale non sanno opporre altro che una tipica cantata alla tedesca, un coro malinconico ma esuberante perché copiosamente annegato in un fiume di grappa e birra.
February 13, 2022
Di Remarque avevo già letto Niente di nuovo sul fronte occidentale, un libro che mi era piaciuto moltissimo e che mi aveva distrutta (d'altronde credo che per leggerlo senza groppo alla gola bisogna essere sociopatici).
Ma Remarque ha scritto tante altre cosette interessanti, tra cui l'obelisco nero, ambientato nella Germania degli anni venti tra l'impressionante svalutazione del Marco, una buona parte della poplazione che guarda ancora con una certa insistenza alla Germania gugliemina e la nascita del partito nazista. Aggiungiamo il fatto che il protagonista è un giovane reduce della guerra che lavora in un agenzia di pompe funebri e che fatica a trovare il proprio posto nel mondo.
Questo quadro potrebbe far pensare di trovarsi davanti a un romanzo cupo, un po' "depresso", e invece no. Le vicende del protagonista e degli indimenticabili colleghi e vicini sono spesso divertenti e grottesche. Non mancano però riflessioni interessanti e più serie.
Il romanzo è un ottimo quadro della società tedesca di quel periodo e anche i personaggi mi sono piaciuti molto.
Allora perché non 5 stelle? Il libro spesso non sembra avere una vera e propria trama e, arrivati a metà, se ne sente la mancanza.
Ma Remarque ha scritto tante altre cosette interessanti, tra cui l'obelisco nero, ambientato nella Germania degli anni venti tra l'impressionante svalutazione del Marco, una buona parte della poplazione che guarda ancora con una certa insistenza alla Germania gugliemina e la nascita del partito nazista. Aggiungiamo il fatto che il protagonista è un giovane reduce della guerra che lavora in un agenzia di pompe funebri e che fatica a trovare il proprio posto nel mondo.
Questo quadro potrebbe far pensare di trovarsi davanti a un romanzo cupo, un po' "depresso", e invece no. Le vicende del protagonista e degli indimenticabili colleghi e vicini sono spesso divertenti e grottesche. Non mancano però riflessioni interessanti e più serie.
Il romanzo è un ottimo quadro della società tedesca di quel periodo e anche i personaggi mi sono piaciuti molto.
Allora perché non 5 stelle? Il libro spesso non sembra avere una vera e propria trama e, arrivati a metà, se ne sente la mancanza.
June 2, 2013
Млад търговец на надгробни плочи, ветеран от Първата световна война, поет, пианист, Лудвиг открива своята сродна душа в лицето на душевноболната Изабел. В нейните възгледи за света, религията, любовта и смъртта сякаш има много повече мъдрост и истина, отколкото в тези на всички останали... Невъзможното, неосъществимо докосване на две души се развива пред историческия декор на Ваймарската република – хиперинфлацията, зараждането на нацизма, жаждата за реванш.
Всъщност „Черният обелиск“ е носталгичен роман за градчето Верденбрюк между двете световни войни. С особено чувство за ирония, Ремарк създава колоритна социална панорама на епохата, предшестваща Третия райх. Дърводелецът на ковчези, който се страхува от призраци, агресивният касапин на коне и невярната му съпруга, труженичките в местния публичен дом са само част от широкия спектър персонажи, с който читателят се среща.
Препоръчвам на всички почитатели на Ремарк.
Всъщност „Черният обелиск“ е носталгичен роман за градчето Верденбрюк между двете световни войни. С особено чувство за ирония, Ремарк създава колоритна социална панорама на епохата, предшестваща Третия райх. Дърводелецът на ковчези, който се страхува от призраци, агресивният касапин на коне и невярната му съпруга, труженичките в местния публичен дом са само част от широкия спектър персонажи, с който читателят се среща.
Препоръчвам на всички почитатели на Ремарк.
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