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Rating: 
Summary: Impotent on the Western front?
Review: This is a decent, enjoyable biography of the author of "All's Quiet on the Western Front." I originally acquired this book because I saw quotes from Remarque's "The Road Back" in a book on posttraumatic stress syndrome (Shay's "Odysseus in America: Combat Trauma and the Trials of Homecoming"). I decided to read about and from Remarque, which led me to this biography. Remarque wrote "In Westen Nichts Neues" in 5 weeks with the aid of large quantities of caffeine and tobacco. At this point, he was discouraged by the commercial failures of his first two novels and did not realize he had a future in writing. Remarque just put the manuscript away, with "no idea of the bombshell waiting to detonate in the desk drawer to which he had consigned his new manuscript." When he did publish it, it was an immediate success and was published in America under the more well-known name "All's Quiet on the Western Front". (I have read speculation elsewhere that the American title was based on the frequent Civil War era newspaper line "all's quiet along the Rappahannock.") Remarque is a much better-known author than many realize. The Nazis were forever trying to use him for propaganda purposes. At the beginning, his books were burned. Later, the Nazis offered to give Remarque a prominent government role if he would just move back from Switzerland to Germany. Remarque's not only declined the Nazi's offer, he kept a suitcase packed most of his life so he could leave at a moment's notice. As the Nazis gained power, Remarque left Europe for America. He worked in Hollywood for some time, mostly as a writer, but also playing a small but significant role in the film of his novel "A Time to Love and a Time to Die." A large portion of the book is about Remarque's personal life. He dated an astonishing number of Hollywood actresses, and had a friendship with Marlene Dietrich until the end of his life. My only disappointment is the gossipy feel of large sections of the book. Remarque's alleged impotence is mentioned entirely too often. The author quotes one of Remarque's friends, Luise Rainer: "I don't believe for one moment that he was impotent. It would be just like Erich to say that. A joke. One reason I think he didn't totally go for me in those days was that he liked demanding women and I didn't come into that category. I distinctly remember him telling me, with the greatest glee, how Lupe Valez had... taken off one of her shoes in an tantrum and hit him hard with it, and he thought that was wonderful." Remarque also allegedly impregnated a famous starlet while she was married to someone else. You don't need to dwell on his alleged impotence any more than this. In contrast, the author mentions that Remarque's childhood friend Kristen Kranzbühler was the model for Western Front's Kemerich. If some effort had been put into describing why scholars believe this, that would have been more interesting and more valuable than explorations of alleged impotency. I predict that someday we'll have a much better biography of Remarque. This one is an interesting and memorable read and held my attention during my commute. The author does not pretend to write a book on literature. This is written for general audiences and he succeeds. Had the author not dwelled on Remarque's sexual life so much, I'd recommend it for teenaged readers who wanted a biography to dovetail with "All Quiet on the Western Front". petervtamas@mail.com
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