The author sounds so old, far beyond his years. He contrasts his youth: "We had no definite plans for the future . . . Our thoughts of a career and occupation were as yet of too unpractical a character to furnish any scheme of life. We were still crammed full of vague ideas which gave to life, and to the war also an ideal and almost romantic character." Then he grows old before our eyes: "We became hard, suspicious, pitiless, vicious, tough--and that was good." Yet he contrasts the youth he believes he's forfeited with the established lives of the older soldiers: "All the older men are linked up with their previous life. They have wives, children, occupations, and interests, they have a background which is so strong that the war cannot obliterate it .. . We young men of twenty, however, have only our parents, and some, perhaps, a girl . . . Besides this there was little else--some enthusiasm, a few hobbies, and our school. Beyond this our life did not extend. And of this nothing remains."
The author doesn't sound twenty. I note that Remarque was 31 when he published it. He sounds 61. Or 81. This strikes me both as brilliant, or pressing too hard on my suspension of disbelief to see a boy of twenty with such wisdom. But maybe what is difficult to accept is the hell from which he writes.
My final thought is that the boy's idealism, giving war an almost romantic character, is very similar to what I witnessed in America at the start of the Iraq war in 2003. "We support our troops" bumper stickers everywhere. That kind of spirit was great when everyone thought Mission Accomplished would take place on schedule and the boys would be home in time for Christmas. I feel like what the author becomes, but I'm 56.
Comments
I got my copy of AQWF (All Quiet on the Western Front) today! I can't wait for this to start.
Posted by: Michael Alves | June 6, 2007 02:10 PM
I have my copy, too.
Posted by: Jose Alves | June 18, 2007 01:21 PM
I have my copy, too.
Posted by: Jose Alves | June 18, 2007 01:21 PM
The author sounds so old, far beyond his years. He contrasts his youth: "We had no definite plans for the future . . . Our thoughts of a career and occupation were as yet of too unpractical a character to furnish any scheme of life. We were still crammed full of vague ideas which gave to life, and to the war also an ideal and almost romantic character." Then he grows old before our eyes: "We became hard, suspicious, pitiless, vicious, tough--and that was good." Yet he contrasts the youth he believes he's forfeited with the established lives of the older soldiers: "All the older men are linked up with their previous life. They have wives, children, occupations, and interests, they have a background which is so strong that the war cannot obliterate it .. . We young men of twenty, however, have only our parents, and some, perhaps, a girl . . . Besides this there was little else--some enthusiasm, a few hobbies, and our school. Beyond this our life did not extend. And of this nothing remains."
The author doesn't sound twenty. I note that Remarque was 31 when he published it. He sounds 61. Or 81. This strikes me both as brilliant, or pressing too hard on my suspension of disbelief to see a boy of twenty with such wisdom. But maybe what is difficult to accept is the hell from which he writes.
My final thought is that the boy's idealism, giving war an almost romantic character, is very similar to what I witnessed in America at the start of the Iraq war in 2003. "We support our troops" bumper stickers everywhere. That kind of spirit was great when everyone thought Mission Accomplished would take place on schedule and the boys would be home in time for Christmas. I feel like what the author becomes, but I'm 56.
Ed Randolph
Posted by: Ed Randolph | June 18, 2007 10:12 PM