“[A] gripping new translation.” —Samantha Power, from the Foreword
The novel that has done more than any other to inspire opposition to war, in a major new translation that captures its undiminished literary power for a new generation
With a Foreword by Samantha Power, the Pulitzer Prize–winning, New York Times bestselling war correspondent, human rights advocate, and former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations
A Penguin Classics Hardcover
Galvanized by youthful idealism and patriotic fervor, nineteen-year-old Paul Bäumer and his schoolmates enlist in the German army at the onset of World War I. But soon their dreams of heroism shatter beneath the first shells of the bombardment, as they find on the battle front not the glory they were promised but savage brutality.
The most influential war novel of all time, All Quiet on the Western Front has sold more than twenty million copies, been translated into more than fifty languages, and been adapted into three acclaimed films. In his Nobel Prize lecture, Bob Dylan included it among three books that have left an impression on him since elementary school: “This is a book where you lose your childhood, your faith in a meaningful world, and your concern for individuals. . . . I put this book down and closed it up. I never wanted to read another war novel again, and I never did.” In this brilliant new translation, the distinguished Harvard professor Maria Tatar draws on her lifelong engagement with German literature to give a new generation of readers an English version that comes closest to the lyrical tragedy of the 1929 original. It compels us to see with fresh eyes the abject horror of trench warfare, and to feel with a quickened heart the unbreakable bonds of friendship forged among Paul and his fellow soldiers as they fight not just for their country but also for their own survival. At a time when we are more divided than ever, Erich Maria Remarque’s classic novel reminds us that enemy soldiers who’ve been demonized by the rhetoric of war actually have much in common, giving it the potential to generate principled outrage about the senselessness of war for another hundred years.
“[A] gripping new translation . . . Human fallibility almost guarantees that All Quiet on the Western Front will be read generations from now. But with more conflict occurring now than at any time since the end of the Cold War, with global tensions among the superpowers rising, and with entire media ecosystems armed for informational warfare and demonization, we can be grateful that this new translation will help shape the moral architecture of future generations—driving home the urgent necessity of seeing our common humanity despite all that stands in the way.” —Samantha Power, from the Foreword
ERICH MARIA REMARQUE was born in Germany in 1898 and drafted into the German army during World War I. His novel All Quiet on the Western Front was published in 1928 and was an instant best seller. When the Nazis came to power, Remarque left Germany for Switzerland; he lost his German citizenship, his books were burned, and his films banned. He went to the United States in 1938 and became a citizen in 1947. He later lived in Switzerland with his second wife, the actress Paulette Goddard. He died in September 1970.
View titles by Erich Maria Remarque
“[A] gripping new translation.” —Samantha Power, from the Foreword
The novel that has done more than any other to inspire opposition to war, in a major new translation that captures its undiminished literary power for a new generation
With a Foreword by Samantha Power, the Pulitzer Prize–winning, New York Times bestselling war correspondent, human rights advocate, and former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations
A Penguin Classics Hardcover
Galvanized by youthful idealism and patriotic fervor, nineteen-year-old Paul Bäumer and his schoolmates enlist in the German army at the onset of World War I. But soon their dreams of heroism shatter beneath the first shells of the bombardment, as they find on the battle front not the glory they were promised but savage brutality.
The most influential war novel of all time, All Quiet on the Western Front has sold more than twenty million copies, been translated into more than fifty languages, and been adapted into three acclaimed films. In his Nobel Prize lecture, Bob Dylan included it among three books that have left an impression on him since elementary school: “This is a book where you lose your childhood, your faith in a meaningful world, and your concern for individuals. . . . I put this book down and closed it up. I never wanted to read another war novel again, and I never did.” In this brilliant new translation, the distinguished Harvard professor Maria Tatar draws on her lifelong engagement with German literature to give a new generation of readers an English version that comes closest to the lyrical tragedy of the 1929 original. It compels us to see with fresh eyes the abject horror of trench warfare, and to feel with a quickened heart the unbreakable bonds of friendship forged among Paul and his fellow soldiers as they fight not just for their country but also for their own survival. At a time when we are more divided than ever, Erich Maria Remarque’s classic novel reminds us that enemy soldiers who’ve been demonized by the rhetoric of war actually have much in common, giving it the potential to generate principled outrage about the senselessness of war for another hundred years.
Reviews
“[A] gripping new translation . . . Human fallibility almost guarantees that All Quiet on the Western Front will be read generations from now. But with more conflict occurring now than at any time since the end of the Cold War, with global tensions among the superpowers rising, and with entire media ecosystems armed for informational warfare and demonization, we can be grateful that this new translation will help shape the moral architecture of future generations—driving home the urgent necessity of seeing our common humanity despite all that stands in the way.” —Samantha Power, from the Foreword
Author
ERICH MARIA REMARQUE was born in Germany in 1898 and drafted into the German army during World War I. His novel All Quiet on the Western Front was published in 1928 and was an instant best seller. When the Nazis came to power, Remarque left Germany for Switzerland; he lost his German citizenship, his books were burned, and his films banned. He went to the United States in 1938 and became a citizen in 1947. He later lived in Switzerland with his second wife, the actress Paulette Goddard. He died in September 1970.
View titles by Erich Maria Remarque
