All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque

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Description

ONE OF TWELVE TITLES IN VINTAGE'S A FORMAT WAR PROMOTION The Greatest Novel about the First World War and an International Bestseller All Quiet on the Western Front is probably the most famous anti-war novel ever written. The story is told by a young 'unknown soldier' in the trenches of... read more

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Summary

All Quiet on the Western Front (German: Im Westen nichts Neues) is a novel by Erich Maria Remarque, a German veteran of World War I. The book describes the German soldiers' extreme physical and mental duress during the war, and the detachment from civilian life felt by many of these soldiers... read more (warning: may contain spoilers)

Cast of Characters/Important People

Paul Bäumer: the narrator and main character of the novel, representing Remarque's own experience in World War I
Albert Kropp: was in Paul's class at school and is described as the clearest thinker of the group.
Haie Westhus: tall and strong, and a peat-digger by profession
Müller: 19 years of age, and one of Bäumer's classmates, when he also joins the German army as a volunteer to go to the war
Stanislaus Katczinsky: Also known as Kat, he has the most positive influence on Paul and his comrades on the battlefield
Tjaden: One of Bäumer's non-schoolmate friends. Before the war Tjaden was a locksmith.
Kantorek: the schoolmaster of Paul and his friends, including Kropp, Leer, and Müller
Leer: a soldier in Bäumer's company, and one of his classmates
Bertinck: the leader of Bäumer's company
Himmelstoss: a power-hungry corporal with special contempt for Paul and his friends, taking sadistic pleasure in punishing the minor infractions of his trainees during their basic training in preparation for their deployment
Detering: a young farmer who loved his wife and farm and constantly longed to return to them
Josef Hamacher: a patient at the Catholic hospital where Paul and Albert Kropp are temporarily stationed
Franz Kemmerich: Kemmerich had enlisted in the army for WWI along with his best friend and classmate, Bäumer.
Joseph Behm: A student in Paul's class
Gérard Duval: the first person whom Paul kills in hand-to-hand combat

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Memorable Quotes

“The leader of our group, shrewd, cunning, and hard-bitten, forty years of age, with a face of the soil, blue eyes, bent shoulders, and a remarkable nose for dirty weather, good food, and soft jobs.”
“The soldier is on friendlier terms than other men with his stomach and intestines. Three-quarters of his vocabulary is derived from these regions, and they give an intimate flavour to expressions of his greatest joy as well as of his deepest indignation. It is impossible to express oneself in any other way so clearly and pithily. Our families and our teachers will be shocked when we go home, but here it is the universal language.”
“The wisest were just the poor and simple people. They knew the war to be a misfortune, whereas those who were better off, and should have been able to see more clearly what the consequences would be, were beside themselves with joy. Katczinsky said that was a result of their upbringing. It made them stupid. And what Kat said, he had thought about.”

First Sentence

To the biographer and student of literature, Erich Maria Remarque, who has been called the "recording angel of the Great War," was an enigma, a man rife with contradictions and contrasts.

List the chapters of this book.