Thinking-Training

Considered by many the greatest war novel of all time, All Quiet on the Western Front is Erich Maria Remarque’s masterpiece of the German experience during World War I. I am young, I am twenty years old; yet I know nothing of life but despair, death, fear, and fatuous superficiality cast over an abyss of sorrow. . . . This is the testament of Paul Bäumer, who enlists with his classmates in the German army during World War I. They become soldiers with youthful enthusiasm. But the world of duty, culture, and progress they had been taught breaks in pieces under the first bombardment in the trenches. Through years of vivid horror, Paul holds fast to a single vow: to fight against the principle of hate that meaninglessly pits young men of the same generation but different uniforms against one another . . . if only he can come out of the war alive. “The world has a great writer in Erich Maria Remarque. He is a craftsman of unquestionably first rank, a man who can bend language to his will. Whether he writes of men or of inanimate nature, his touch is sensitive, firm, and sure.”—The New York Times Book Review

"A new English translation by Brian Murdoch of the German war novel, All Quiet on the Western Front, by Erich Maria Remarque, with an introduction by historian Norman Stone, a bibliography, and chronology"--

This 1929 novel served as Remarque's attempt to confront and ultimately rid himself of the graphic and haunting memories of his time serving in World War I. A novel with autobiographical overtones, ""All Quiet on the Western Front"" traces the evolution of one man's powerful antiwar sentiments. This new title in the ""Bloom's Modern Critical Interpretations"" series features a fresh selection of full-length critical essays, in addition to a bibliography, a chronology of the author's life, and an introduction by esteemed scholar Harold Bloom.

Essay selections include a comparison of All Quiet on the Western Front to Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms, a comprehensive survey of the novel's popular and critical reception, an examination of the novel's often overlooked subtleties of tone, characterization, and plot, and Remarque's startling direct style and his relevance to twenty-first-century readers. Previously published essays offer a close reading of the novel and its themes of comradeship, and the devastating effects of war on those who live through them as well as an account of the production and reception of the 1930 film adaptation.

Considered by many the greatest war novel of all time, All Quiet on the Western Front is Erich Maria Remarque’s masterpiece of the German experience during World War I. I am young, I am twenty years old; yet I know nothing of life but despair, death, fear, and fatuous superficiality cast over an abyss of sorrow. . . . This is the testament of Paul Bäumer, who enlists with his classmates in the German army during World War I. They become soldiers with youthful enthusiasm. But the world of duty, culture, and progress they had been taught breaks in pieces under the first bombardment in the trenches. Through years of vivid horror, Paul holds fast to a single vow: to fight against the principle of hate that meaninglessly pits young men of the same generation but different uniforms against one another . . . if only he can come out of the war alive. “The world has a great writer in Erich Maria Remarque. He is a craftsman of unquestionably first rank, a man who can bend language to his will. Whether he writes of men or of inanimate nature, his touch is sensitive, firm, and sure.”—The New York Times Book Review

Published to commemorate the centenary of the birth of Erich Maria Remarque, author of "All Quiet on the Western Front", this is an account of the making of the Academy Award-winning film of the novel. When it first appeared in 1928, the book transformed the popular image of war; the film, directed by Lewis Milestone, was released the following year and was instantly acclaimed as a classic. It remains the quintessential view of World War I and of the brutality and waste of war. Like the novel, however, it suffered censorship internationally: it was banned in Italy, and in Germany following violent protests, and cut elsewhere, including Hollywood. This account covers the film's origins and production, and its fortunes on and after release. The author's five years of research included visits to archives around the world, viewings of all extant versions of the film, and interviews with people involved in its production. The book is illustrated with scenes from the film and contains extensive extracts from the screenplays.

The story of Hitler's formative experiences as a soldier on the Western Front - now told in full for the first time, presenting a radical revision of Hitler's own account of this time in Mein Kampf.

One of the great World War I antiwar novels—honest, chilling, and brilliantly satirical Based on the author's experiences on the Western Front, Richard Aldington's first novel, Death of a Hero, finally joins the ranks of Penguin Classics. Our hero is George Winterbourne, who enlists in the British Expeditionary Army during the Great War and gets sent to France. After a rash of casualties leads to his promotion through the ranks, he grows increasingly cynical about the war and disillusioned by the hypocrisies of British society. Aldington's writing about Britain's ignorance of the tribulations of its soldiers is among the most biting ever published. Death of a Hero vividly evokes the morally degrading nature of combat as it rushes toward its astounding finish. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.