Alphonse Alle.
It's getting closer to night. The feast is in full swing.
Merry friends got excited, they are noisy and overflowing with tender feelings.
Pretty women, in unbuttoned clothes, tend to humility. Their eyes slowly close, and their mouths, parted, reveal wet treasures - purple and mother-of-pearl.
Glasses keep filling up, emptying every now and then! Songs are heard, echoed by the clinking of glass and the bursting female laughter.
And then all of a sudden the old clock in the dining room breaks its monotonous ticking and creaking to screech like it always does when it's about to strike. Midnight.
Twelve blows are heard - measured, significant, solemn, endowed with that special reproach that is inherent in an old family clock. They seem to tell you that many blows have been thrown by them for your disappeared ancestors and many more blows will have to be struck for your grandchildren when you are gone.
Cheerful friends involuntarily quieted down, and the beauties no longer laughed.
But Alberic, the most indefatigable of all, raised his glass and said with buffoonish gravity:
Gentlemen, it's midnight. It's time to question the existence of God.
"Knock-Knock!"
Who's there? We are not waiting for anyone, and the servants have gone to bed.
"Knock-Knock!"
The door opens and they see a long silver beard of a tall old man in flowing white robes.
Who are you, dear man? And the old man answered simply:
At this statement, the young people felt a little bewildered, but Alberic, who possessed a truly enviable composure, spoke again:
I hope if you clink glasses with us here, it won't hurt you?
God took the glass offered by the young man, and immediately all awkwardness disappeared.
Again they began to drink, laugh, sing songs.
The blue morning light had already caused the stars to go out when it was finally decided that it was time to disperse.
Before saying goodbye to the hosts, the god, with absolutely inimitable courtesy, admitted that he did not exist.
And what do you think of a merciful God, dear Monsieur Benevol Mansue, of a merciful God?
The question has not yet been answered, and we have become witnesses of the most unexpected of the spectacles engraved in our memory.
M. Benevol Mansue's meek eyes, which had previously shone with benevolence, suddenly lit up with a gleam of hatred.
A terrible grimace distorted our friend's lips, always ready to smile affably, and immediately a nervous trembling ran over his well-groomed hands, like those of a virtuous priest.
Merciful god,” he turned purple, “merciful god. Oh yeah! He is good, your merciful God! .. Merciful Lord, this is after all ...
Here followed a word, which we, not wanting in any way, even indirectly, to offend the religious convictions of a certain part of our readers, hastened to remove.
Frightened by his own insolence, Monsieur Benevol Mansue quickly regained control of himself and, ashamed of his vehemence, began to apologize:
But please forgive me, I would be in despair ... And his whole physiognomy expressed suffering because he could deliver even a minor nuisance to one of those present.
You don't have to repent of anything, my dear Benevil, you have nothing to reproach yourself with. There is not one among us who does not profess, as a religion, the most consistent dymysticism.
And what's more, Jules emphasized, our "out-dymysticism" is marked by features of the most bitter intolerance. If not only a Catholic, a Christian, or a person professing any kind of religious dogma, but if even a shadow of spiritualism dared to penetrate here, you know, it would be met by a volley from a “brass” gun.
So, reassured by our feeble adherence to the cult, M. Benevol continued:
Dear Lord, my friends, this is the only living being for whom I have some kind of disgust.
What did the all-merciful Lord do, and what did he do to deserve it?
What did he do? .. What did he do? .. Enough of the fact that he created the Universe and nature!
Nature?.. What are you talking about, Benevil?.. It's wonderful - nature!
It's great, but it's depressing.
Strange pessimism!
But how justified!.. Name me something as hopelessly deplorable, as predatory as this marvelous miniature organization called nature, self-or auto-devouring nature...
How! Does nature eat cars?
Let's start with the fact that it really is, it devours them, as it devours everything else, but I want to express the word “self-devouring” first of all that the life of beings develops and is maintained only at the expense of the substance of other beings.
In what way?
Well, it's easy to explain how! Yes, because one substance, with rare exceptions, is eaten by other substances, and at the moment when it is still alive, trembling, still capable of feeling!
Indeed so!
Listen to what I tell you, there is one thing I will never forgive a merciful god: the inability to eat a lousy soft-boiled egg without experiencing painful remorse.
ABOUT! Wow! How can that be?
To get soft-boiled eggs, you need to boil water. So, putting water on fire, do you think about the suffering of millions of unfortunate microbes, suddenly warmed up to one hundred degrees Celsius, to a thermoform for which they were absolutely not prepared by any preliminary hardening?
Ever since mankind began to boil water, they must have developed a habit.
Ah, my friends, stop smiling... What would you say when you see several million horses immersed in a giant cauldron filled with water that has been boiling for several minutes? Yes, what would you say?
Surely a cry of horror would have burst from our breasts.
This is how it should have happened ... Well, well, how do you know that a simple bacillus is not endowed with the same sensitivity as a horse or even a person?
And it's true.
Oh yeah! Why, then, did the creator come up with this deplorable world order, where suffering pours down on us in a stream, and moments of joy are so rare?
And so fast...
Therefore, my friends, you must forgive me for what I recently allowed myself, perhaps, an unduly harsh statement about the merciful Lord.We share your indignation, Monsieur Benevol Mansue.
However, it would be bad form to blame God too harshly for this. It must be admitted that he has extenuating circumstances. Think for yourself, gentlemen, he spent only six days to create the Universe, and, damn it, six days to complete such a responsible task, this is an insignificant period of time. In truth, don't you think it's very difficult to create in such a short period of time even something as absurd as the Universe?
The idea that arose a few days ago, which we present here, to find in paradise God's chosen one, whom his earthly existence would clearly prepare to become the patron saint of motorists, met with a favorable response in the sports world.
Several newspapers reprinted the contents of my proposal, advocating that it be implemented as soon as possible, since, they added, it often happens that the driver does not really know which saint to pray to. And the pedestrian too. By the way, do pedestrians have their own saint?
With much less enthusiasm, I have to admit, was the choice that I thought it possible to make, offering for such a responsible mission a certain holy Auto, a person completely unknown, especially considering that this is just a pitiful figment of my imagination.
“Is it permissible,” one venerable clergyman from the diocese of the city of Tours sternly admonished me in this matter, “is it permissible to have such a long tongue and such a short mind as yours, in order to reduce everything to a pitiful pun in such a most holy deed!” Nevertheless, the common hierarchy of saints is rich in puns of this kind. Peasants in our area make a pilgrimage to the “Holy Morning” in order to be cured of “Ugrophysia” (read: “Saint Etrop” and “Hydrophysia” (dropsy). Yes, and others!
And a venerable clergyman from the diocese of Tours adds:
“If gentlemen motorists wish to have their intercessor before the Almighty, then I would consider it appropriate to recommend to them the prophet Elijah, whom all his deeds in earthly life make worthy of this choice. Refer to the documents, dear sir, and you will not be slow to make sure of the justice of my judgment.
He was right, this Turkish priest, and the painstaking work, which I have the honor to tell you here, confirms this with all certainty.
The prophet Elijah, who was born in Thiobe, a place located, as there is reason to believe, in the land of Gilead, came into this world under very unusual circumstances.
At the moment the baby was born Dogs, his father, saw two people in white clothes come up, they bowed to the newborn, lit a flame around him and even gave him a sip of fire (1 Samuel, XVII, 1).
It is immediately clear that this is a suitable beginning for the future driver, it was this that determined the vocation of our friend.
Indeed, in all noteworthy vicissitudes of its existence, an important place is given to fire.
In the famous competition between Baal and Jehovah, conceived by the wicked Ahab, it was fire that played the main role, for when one hundred and fifty idolater priests failed, despite superhuman efforts, to roast their sacrifice, Elijah built an altar of twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of Israel, he laid firewood on it, laid a calf on top, and pouring twelve jugs of water over it all in three steps, he began to ask Jehovah to start lighting it.
In less than a few minutes, contrary to all expectations, the nondescript building of Elijah was engulfed in flames, and one hundred and fifty servants of the charlatan Baal had to taste the mortal agony of a collective beating.
The modern progress of science, the overcoming of superstitions, allow us to recreate this curious episode in all authenticity.
Twelve jugs of water were twelve jugs of gasoline, and I will never waver from the thought that it was Elijah who was the real inventor of electricity, or, to put it more accurately, "iliaktrichestvo". Oil is found in abundance in those places. Elijah needed only to distill it.
So, the miracle gets a natural explanation.
But in order to see the prophet in the light that interests us, we must wait for the end.
Here I am quoting exactly, or almost exactly, the book of Kings:
“... he was in Gilgal with Elisha, his disciple, when the Lord let him know that his mission was over. He wished to remove Elisha from him, but since Elisha refused to leave him, Elijah climbed into a fiery chariot and, throwing his mantle to Elisha, disappeared in a whirlwind of dust...”
Doesn't this chariot seem to be the first oil- or steam-powered machine to go down in history to any person whose eyes are not obscured by religious fanaticism?
Now the drivers will know which saint to pray to.
NOTES
Alphonse Allais (1854 -1905)
The short stories “God”, “Assigned Glory”, “Saint Elijah - the patron saint of drivers” were published in France in 1891-1902; the short story “God” was translated into Russian for the first time according to the publication: Allais A. Allais... grement. Paris, 1965; the short stories “Assigned Glory” and “Saint Elijah - the patron saint of drivers” are translated into Russian for the first time according to the publication: Allais A. A la une! Paris, 1966.
1 Baal- ancient Canaanite deity, god of the sky, sun, fertility; in the cult of Baal, human sacrifices were common.
2 ..one hundred and fifty idolater priests... - According to the biblical text, "four hundred and fifty prophets of the woods" were gathered (1 Kings, XVIII, 19).
3 Elisha- according to biblical legend, a prophet and a miracle worker: he walked on water as if on dry land, fed a hundred people with several breads, multiplied food from the people he patronized, healed lepers, resurrected a baby with prayer.
4 Milot(Greek, church) - clothes made of sheepskin like a raincoat.
January 25th, 2014
Marek Raczkowski.
Of course, everyone knows this, but I will probably collect everything in one place. It is quite possible that you will discover something new in this topic.
In 1882 (33 years before Malevich's Black Square) at the Exposition des Arts Incohérents exhibition in Paris, the poet Paul Bilot presented the painting Combat de nères dans un tunnel (The Battle of the Negroes in the Tunnel). True, it was not a square, but a rectangle.
The French journalist, writer and eccentric humorist Alphonse Allais liked the idea so much that he developed it in 1893, calling his black rectangle "Combat de nègres dans une cave, pendant la nuit" ("The battle of the Negroes in the cave late at night"). The painting was exhibited for the first time in the Untied Art exhibition at the Vivienne Gallery.
This masterpiece looked like this:
Further more. Both the white and the red square were also first depicted by Alle Alfons. "White Square" was called "The first communion of insensible girls in the snow" (also performed in 1883). This masterpiece looked like this:
Six months later, the next picture of Alphonse Allais was perceived as a kind of “coloristic explosion”. The rectangular landscape "Harvesting tomatoes on the shores of the Red Sea by apoplectic cardinals" was a bright red one-color painting without the slightest sign of an image (1894).
The paintings of Alle Alphonse were perceived as clean water banter and shocking - in fact, only this idea is suggested by their names. Perhaps that is why we know so little about this artist.
Thus, twenty years before the Suprematist revelations of Kazimir Malevich, the venerable artist Alphonse Alle became " by unknown author» first abstract paintings. Alphonse Allais also became famous for the fact that in almost seventy years he unexpectedly anticipated the famous minimalist piece of music“4′33″” by John Cage, representing four and a half “minutes of silence”. Perhaps the only difference between Alphonse Allais and his followers was that he, exhibiting his stunningly innovative work, did not at all try to look like a meaningful philosopher or a serious discoverer.
Who is he? Alphonse Allais (October 20, 1854, Honfleur (Department of Calvados) - October 28, 1905, Paris) - French journalist, eccentric writer and black humorist, known for his sharp tongue and gloomy absurd antics, a quarter of a century anticipating the famous outrageous exhibitions of the Dadaists and Surrealists of 1910- x and 1920s.
Alphonse Allais has been an eccentric writer, an eccentric artist and an eccentric person for almost his entire life. He was eccentric not only in his aphorisms, fairy tales, poems or paintings, but also in his daily behavior.
Having quickly completed his studies and received a bachelor's degree by the age of seventeen, Alphonse Allais (as an assistant or trainee) entered his father's pharmacy.
Alphonse's father great pride outlined for him a career as a great chemist or pharmacist. The future will show: Alphonse Allais brilliantly justified the hopes of his pharmacy father. He became more than a chemist and deeper than a pharmacist. However, even the very beginning of his activities in the family pharmacy has already proved to be very promising. As a debut, Alphonse conducted several daring experiments on the effects on patients of a high-quality placebo of his original formulation, synthesized original counterfeit drugs, and also made several unusually interesting diagnoses with his own hands. He will be happy to tell about his first small pharmacy triumphs a little later, in his fairy tale: The Heights of Darwinism.
“... I also found something for a lady who suffered severely from her stomach:
Lady: - I don’t know what’s wrong with me, first the food goes up, and then it goes down ...
Alphonse: - I'm sorry, madam, did you accidentally swallow the elevator?
(Alphonse Allais, "Laughed!")
Seeing the very first successes of his son in the field of pharmaceuticals, his father gladly sent him from Honfleur to Paris, where Alphonse Allais spent the rest of his life.
His father sent him to an internship in the pharmacy of one of his close friends. On closer examination, a few years later, this pharmacy turned out to be a privileged Masonic cabaret " Black cat”, where Alphonse Allais continued to make his recipes and heal the sick with great success. He was engaged in this respected business almost to the end of his life. His friendship with Charles Cros (famous inventor of the phonograph) should have brought him back to scientific research, but these plans again did not come true. The fundamental scientific works of Alphonse Allais represent a contribution to science, although today they are much less known than he himself. Alphonse Allais managed to publish his most serious research on color photography, as well as a lengthy work on the synthesis of rubber (and rubber stretching). In addition, he received a patent for his own recipe for making freeze-dried coffee.
At the age of 41, Alphonse Allais married Marguerite Allais in 1895.
He died in one of the rooms of the Britannia Hotel, where Alphonse Allais spent a lot of his free time. The day before, the doctor had strictly ordered him not to get up in bed for six months, only then recovery seemed possible. Otherwise, death. " funny people those doctors! They seriously think that death is worse than six months in bed!” As soon as the doctor disappeared behind the door, Alphonse Allais quickly got ready and spent the evening in a restaurant, and to a friend who accompanied him back to the hotel, he told his last anecdote:
“Keep in mind, tomorrow I will already be a corpse! You will find it witty, but I will no longer laugh with you. Now you'll be left laughing - without me. So tomorrow I'll be dead!" In full accordance with its latest funny joke, he died the next day, October 28, 1905.
Alphonse Allais was buried in the Saint-Ouen cemetery in Paris. After 39 years, in April 1944, his grave was wiped off the face of the earth and disappeared without the slightest trace under the friendly bombs of the French liberation army Charles de Gaulle. In 2005, the imaginary remains of Alphonse Allais were solemnly (with great pomp) transferred to the "top" of the Montmartre hill.
After the Second World War, the political Association of Absolute Apologists of Alphonse Allais (abbreviated as "A.A.A.A.A.") was organized in France and is still actively operating. This close-knit group of fanatical people is a public body in which Alphonse's humor is valued above all other charms of life. AAAAA, among other things, has its registered office, bank account and headquarters in the "Most Small Museum of Alphonse Allais" on the Upper Street of the city of Honfleur (Calvados, Normandy, Pharmacy).
Every Saturday in the late afternoon, the Alphonse Museum is open for free visits to all comers. At the service of visitors are laboratory experiments "a la Alle", chemical tastings "a la Alle", diagnoses "a la Alle", inexpensive (but very effective) gastric pills "pur Alle" and even a direct conversation on the old phone "Allo , Alle. All these services can be obtained in just half an hour in the gloomy backstage of the Honfleur pharmacy, where Alphonse Allais was born. This extremely cramped space has also been declared the smallest museum in the world, not excluding the world's smallest Alphonse Allais "Authentic Room" museum in Paris, and the smallest "Eric Satie's Closet" museum in the French Ministry of Culture. These three smallest museums in the world are vying for the title of who is smaller. Alle's permanent guide for many years is a certain man, Jean-Yves Loriot, who constantly carries an official document confirming that he is the illegal reincarnation of the great humorist Alphonse Alle.
Alphonse Allais broke with pharmacies and began to publish regularly a very long time ago, it was, I think, in 1880-82. Alphonse's first careless story marked the beginning of his 25-year writing life. He did not tolerate order in anything and directly stated, “Don’t even hope, I am dishonorable.” He wrote in a cafe, in fits and starts, almost did not work on books, and it looked something like this: “Don't talk nonsense ... so that I sit, not tearing my ass off, and poring over a book? - it's impossibly funny! No, I’d rather tear it off!”
Basically it literary creativity consists of stories and fairy tales, which he wrote an average of two or three pieces a week. Having a "heavy duty" to write a ridiculous column, and sometimes even a whole column in a magazine or newspaper, he involuntarily had to "laugh for money" almost every other day. During his life he changed seven newspapers, some he had in turn, and three at the same time.
Thus, first of all, a lively eccentric, then a little journalist and editor, and only lastly a writer, Alle worked forever in a hurry, wrote dozens of his “fairy tales”, hundreds of stories and thousands of articles on his left knee, in a hurry and most often - at the table (or under a table) in a cafe. Therefore, many of his works have been lost, even more have lost their value, but most of all - and remained on the tip of the tongue - unwritten.
Alphonse Allais never settled on one thing. He wanted to write everything at once, to cover everything, to succeed in everything, but in nothing in particular. Even purely literary genres are always confused, crumbling and replacing one another. Under the guise of articles, he wrote stories, under the name of fairy tales - he described his acquaintances, wrote puns instead of poetry, said "fables" - but he meant black humor, and even scientific inventions in his hands acquired a cruel look of satire on human science and human nature …
In addition to studying literature “under a table in a cafe”, Alphonse Allais had many more important duties for society in his life.
In particular, he was a member of the board of the club of honorary hydropaths, as well as one of the main participants accepted into the governing bodies of the Black Cat Masonic cabaret. It was there, at the Vivienne Gallery, that he exhibited his famous monochrome paintings for the first time during the exhibitions of "Unbound Art".
Perhaps the only difference between Alphonse Allais and his followers was that he, exhibiting his stunningly innovative work, did not at all try to look like a meaningful philosopher or a serious discoverer. This, perhaps, was the reason for the lack of professional recognition of his contribution to the history of art. With his works in the field of painting, Alphonse Allais very accurately explained the thesis as old as the world: "It's not so important what you do, much more important is how you present it."
In 1897 he composed and "performed" funeral march for the funeral of the great deaf man", which, however, did not contain a single note. Only silence, as a sign of respect for death and understanding of the important principle that great sorrows are dumb. They do not tolerate any fuss or sounds. It goes without saying that the score of this march was a blank sheet of music paper.
"Never put off until tomorrow what you can do the day after tomorrow."
“...With money, even poverty is easier to bear, isn't it?”
"The hardest thing to get through is the end of the month, especially the last thirty days."
“While we think about how best to kill time, time is methodically killing us.”
“To drive away is quite a bit to die. But to die is to drive off very strongly!
“... As the widow of a man who died after a consultation of three the best doctors Paris: "But what could he do alone, sick, against three - healthy?"
"... We need to be more tolerant of man, nevertheless, let's not forget about the primitive era in which he was created."
(Alphonse Allais, "Things")
But what about Malevich's square?
Kazimir Malevich painted his Black Square in 1915. This is a canvas measuring 79.5 by 79.5 centimeters, which depicts a black square on a white background, written with a thin brush. According to the artist, he painted it for several months.
Black Square 1915 Malevich,
Reference:
Kazimir Severinovich Malevich was born (11) February 23, 1878 near Kyiv. However, there is other information about the place and time of his birth. Malevich's parents were Poles by origin. His father worked as a manager at the sugar factory of the famous Ukrainian industrialist Tereshchenko (according to other sources, Malevich's father was a Belarusian ethnographer and folklorist). Mother was a housewife. The Malevich couple had fourteen children, but only nine of them survived to adulthood. Casimir was the firstborn in the family.
He began to learn to draw on his own, after his mother gave him a set of paints at the age of 15. At the age of 17, he spent some time in the Kyiv art school. In 1896 the Malevich family settled in Kursk. There, Kazimir worked as a minor official, but left the service for the sake of a career as an artist. The first works of Malevich were written in the style of impressionism. Later artist became one of the active participants in futuristic exhibitions.
To us, the life of K. Malevich seems incredibly eventful, full of contrasts, ups and downs. But according to the master himself, it was not too long and eventful, as he dreamed. For a long time, Malevich dreamed of visiting Paris, but he never managed to do it. He traveled abroad only in Warsaw and Berlin. Malevich did not know foreign languages, which he regretted throughout his life. He did not travel further than Zhitomir. He failed to experience many of the aesthetic and worldly pleasures available to his more affluent and educated colleagues.
"On the boulevard", 1903
"Flower Girl", 1903
"Grinder" 1912
Malevich independently went all the way from a modest self-taught to the world famous artist, he took part in two revolutions, composed futuristic poems, reformed the theater, spoke at scandalous disputes, was fond of theosophy and astronomy, taught, wrote philosophical works, was in prison, was the director of a reputable institute and was unemployed ... Punin wrote that Malevich belonged to those people who were "charged with dynamite". Not every famous artist could so polarize public opinion. Malevich was always surrounded devoted friends and passionate rivals, he provoked the most rude scolding from critics, "his students idolized him like Napoleon's army." Even in our time, one can meet people who have a sharply opposite attitude towards both Malevich's heritage and his personal human qualities.
The whole meaning of Malevich's life was art. Malevich brought the explosive energy characteristic of his character into his work. His evolution as a painter really looks like a series of explosions and catastrophes. They were not particularly spontaneous, the researchers said that it was "a" testing ground "on which the art of painting tested and honed its new capabilities." According to this, it is possible to determine the trends in the history of art at the beginning of the 20th century. Malevich was an outstanding artist who contributed to the development of the art of that time.
Malevich's "Square" was painted for an exhibition held in a huge hall. According to one version, the artist was unable to complete the work on the painting in the right time, so he had to cover up the work with black paint. Subsequently, after the recognition of the public, Malevich painted new "Black Squares" already on blank canvases. Attempts to examine the canvas in order to find the original version under the top layer were made repeatedly. However, scholars and critics felt that irreparable damage could be done to the masterpiece.
Wikipedia tells us that Malevich actually has not one, but four Black Squares:
*Currently, there are four "Black Squares" in Russia: in Moscow and St. Petersburg, two "Squares" each: two in Tretyakov Gallery, one in the Russian Museum and one in the Hermitage. One of the works belongs to the Russian billionaire Vladimir Potanin, who bought it from Inkombank in 2002 for 1 million US dollars (about 28 million rubles) and transferred it to the Hermitage for indefinite storage.
Black Square 1923 Malevich, Wikipedia
Black Square 1929 Malevich, Wikipedia
Black square 1930 Malevich, Wikipedia
Malevich has both Red Square and White Square, and much more. But for some reason it was this Black Square that won worldwide fame. However, not only is the painting by Malevich not a square (the corners are not straight!) but it is also not completely black (at least the file with the painting contains about 18,000 colors),
wise art critics write:
The conceptual content of the "Black Square" is, first of all, to bring the viewer's consciousness into the space of another dimension, to that single Suprematist plane, both economic and economic. In this space of a different dimension, three main directions can be distinguished - suprematism, economy and economy. In itself, the form in Suprematism, due to its pointlessness, does not represent anything. On the contrary, it destroys things and acquires meaning as a primary element, entirely subordinated to the economic beginning, which in symbolic expression is “zero forms”, “black square”.
Again, considering that black, objectified and expressed in the form of a “black square”, is inextricably linked with a white background, and without it, the manifestation of color always remains incomplete and dull. From this, it turns out another, no less significant formula of the "black square" as a symbol: "Black square" is an expression of the unity of opposite colors. In this most generalized formula, black and white can be expressed as light and non-light, as two attributes of the Absolute, existing both inseparably and inseparably. That is, they exist as one, one - thanks to which one on the other, and here . See more work The original article is on the website InfoGlaz.rf Link to the article from which this copy is made -
All Quiet on the Western Front is a book about all the horrors and hardships of the First World War. About how the Germans fought. About all the senselessness and ruthlessness of war.
Remarque, as always, beautifully and masterfully describes everything. It even makes me feel a bit sad. Moreover, the unexpected ending of the book “All Quiet on the Western Front” is not at all encouraging.
The book is written in simple plain language and very easy to read. Like “Front” I read in two evenings. But this time, evenings on the train 🙂 All Quiet on the Western Front will not be difficult for you to download. I also read in in electronic format book.
The history of the creation of Remarque's book "All Quiet on the Western Front"
The writer offered his manuscript "All Quiet on the Western Front" to the most authoritative and well-known publisher in the Weimar Republic, Samuel Fischer. Fischer acknowledged the high literary quality of the text, but withdrew from publication on the grounds that in 1928 no one would want to read a book about the First World War. Fischer later admitted that this was one of the biggest mistakes of his career.
Following the advice of his friend, Remarque brought the text of the novel to the Haus Ullstein publishing house, where it was accepted for publication by order of the company's management. On August 29, 1928, a contract was signed. But the publisher was also not entirely sure that such a specific novel about the First World War would be a success. The contract contained a clause according to which, in the event of the failure of the novel, the author must work off the costs of publication as a journalist. For reinsurance, the publisher provided advance copies of the novel to various categories of readers, including veterans of the First World War. As a result of criticism from readers and literary scholars, Remarque is urged to revise the text, especially some particularly critical statements about the war. About the serious adjustments to the novel made by the author, says a copy of the manuscript, which was in the New Yorker. For example, the latest edition is missing the following text:
We killed people and waged war; we should not forget about it, because we are at an age when thoughts and actions had the strongest connection with each other. We are not hypocrites, we are not timid, we are not burghers, we look both ways and do not close our eyes. We do not justify anything by necessity, by the idea, by the Motherland - we fought with people and killed them, people whom we did not know and who did nothing to us; what will happen when we return to the old relationship and confront the people who hinder us, hinder us?<…>What should we do with the goals that are offered to us? Only memories and my vacation days convinced me that the dual, artificial, contrived order called “society” cannot calm us and will not give us anything. We will stay isolated and grow, we will try; someone will be quiet, and someone will not want to part with their weapons.
Original text (German)
Wir haben Menschen getötet und Krieg geführt; das ist für uns nicht zu vergessen, denn wir sind in dem Alter, wo Gedanke und Tat wohl die stärkste Beziehung zueinander haben. Wir sind nicht verlogen, nicht ängstlich, nicht bürgerglich, wir sehen mit beiden Augen und schließen sie nicht. Wir entschuldigen nichts mit Notwendigkeit, mit Ideen, mit Staatsgründen, wir haben Menschen bekämpft und getötet, die wir nicht kannten, die uns nichts taten; was wird geschehen, wenn wir zurückkommen in frühere Verhältnisse und Menschen gegenüberstehen, die uns hemmen, hinder und stützen wollen?<…>Was wollen wir mit diesen Zielen anfangen, die man uns bietet? Nur die Erinnerung und meine Urlaubstage haben mich schon überzeugt, daß die halbe, geflickte, künstliche Ordnung, die man Gesellschaft nennt, uns nicht beschwichtigen und umgreifen kann. Wir werden isoliert bleiben und aufwachsen, wir werden uns Mühe geben, manche werden still werden und manche die Waffen nicht weglegen wollen.
Translation by Mikhail Matveev
Finally, in the autumn of 1928, final version manuscripts. On November 8, 1928, on the eve of the tenth anniversary of the armistice, the Berlin newspaper Vossische Zeitung, part of the Haus Ullstein concern, publishes the "preliminary text" of the novel. The author of "All Quiet on the Western Front" appears to the reader as an ordinary soldier, without any literary experience who describes his experiences of the war with the aim of "speaking out", freeing himself from mental trauma. The introductory remarks for the publication were as follows:
The Vossische Zeitung feels "obliged" to open this "authentic", free and thus "authentic" documentary account of the war.
Original text (German)
Die Vossische Zeitung fühle sich „verpflichtet“, diesen „authentischen“, tendenzlosen und damit „wahren“ dokumentarischen über den Krieg zu veröffentlichen.
Translation by Mikhail Matveev
So there was a legend about the origin of the text of the novel and its author. On November 10, 1928, excerpts from the novel began to appear in the newspaper. The success exceeded the boldest expectations of the Haus Ullstein concern - the circulation of the newspaper increased several times, the editorial office received a huge number of letters from readers admiring such a "bare image of the war."
At the time of the book's release on January 29, 1929, there were approximately 30,000 pre-orders, which forced the concern to print the novel in several printing houses at once. All Quiet on the Western Front became Germany's best-selling book of all time. On May 7, 1929, 500 thousand copies of the book were published. In the book version, the novel was published in 1929, after which it was translated into 26 languages the same year, including Russian. Most famous translation into Russian - Yuri Afonkin.
A few quotes from Erich Maria Remarque's book "All Quiet on the Western Front"
About the Lost Generation:
We are no longer youth. We are no longer going to take life with a fight. We are runaways. We are running from ourselves. From your life. We were eighteen years old and just beginning to love the world and life; we had to shoot at them. The first shell that exploded hit our heart. We are cut off from rational activity, from human aspirations, from progress. We no longer believe in them. We believe in war.
At the front, chance or luck plays a decisive role:
The front is a cage, and the one who got into it has to strain his nerves to wait for what will happen to him next. We are sitting behind bars, the bars of which are the trajectories of shells; we live in tense expectation of the unknown. We are given over to chance. When a projectile flies at me, I can duck, and that's all; I can't know where it will hit, and I can't influence it in any way.
It is this dependence on chance that makes us so indifferent. A few months ago I was sitting in the dugout and playing skat; after a while I got up and went to visit my friends in another dugout. When I returned, there was almost nothing left of the first dugout: a heavy shell smashed it soft-boiled. I again went to the second and arrived just in time to help dig it out - during this time it managed to fall asleep.
They can kill me - this is a matter of chance. But the fact that I stay alive is again a matter of chance. I can die in a well-fortified dugout, crushed by its walls, and I can remain unharmed after lying ten hours in an open field under heavy fire. Every soldier stays alive only thanks to a thousand different cases. And every soldier believes in chance and relies on it.
What is actually the war seen in the infirmary:
It seems incomprehensible that these tattered bodies are assigned human faces still living a normal, everyday life. But this is only one infirmary, only one of its branches! There are hundreds of thousands of them in Germany, hundreds of thousands in France, hundreds of thousands in Russia. How senseless everything that is written, done and rethought by people, if such things are possible in the world! To what extent our thousand-year-old civilization is false and worthless, if it could not even prevent these flows of blood, if it allowed hundreds of thousands of such dungeons to exist in the world. Only in the infirmary you see with your own eyes what war is.
Reviews of the book "All Quiet on the Western Front" by Remarque
This is a painful story about a lost generation of young teenagers in their early twenties who found themselves in the terrible circumstances of the world war and were forced to become adults.
These are terrible images of consequences. A man who runs without his feet because they have been torn off. Or youngsters killed by a gas attack, who died only because they did not have time to put on protective masks, or who wore poor-quality ones. A man holding his own innards and limping to the infirmary.
The image of a mother who lost her nineteen-year-old son. Families living in poverty. Images of captured Russians and much more.
Even if everything goes well, and someone survives, will these guys be able to lead a normal life, learn a profession, start a family?
Who needs this war and why?
The narration is conducted in a very easy and accessible language, in the first person, from the person young hero who gets to the front, we see the war through his eyes.
The book is read “in one breath”.
This is not the strongest work of Remarque, in my opinion, but I think it is worth reading.
Thank you for your attention!
Review: The book “All Quiet on the Western Front” - Erich Maria Remarque - What is war from the point of view of a soldier?
Advantages:
Style and language; sincerity; depth; psychologism
Flaws:
The book is not easy to read; there are awkward moments
All Quiet on the Western Front by Remarque is one of those that are very important, but very difficult to discuss. The fact is that this book is about war, and it is always hard. It is hard to talk about the war for those who fought. And for those who did not fight, it seems to me that it is generally difficult to fully understand this period, perhaps even impossible. The novel itself is not very long, it describes the view of a soldier on battles and a relatively peaceful existence during this period. The story is told from the perspective of a young man of 19-20 years old, Paul. I understand that the novel is at least partly autobiographical, because the real name of Erich Maria Remarque is Erich Paul Remarque. In addition, the author himself fought, starting at the age of 19, and Paul in the novel, like the author, is passionate about reading and tries to write something himself. And, of course, most likely most of the emotions and thoughts in this book were felt and thought over by Remarque during his stay at the front, it cannot be otherwise.
I have already read some of Remarque's other works, and I really like this author's storytelling style. He manages to show the depth of the emotions of the characters quite clearly and plain language, and it is quite easy for me to empathize with them and delve into their actions. I have a feeling that I am reading about real people with a real life history. Heroes of Remarque, like real people, are imperfect, but they have a certain logic in their actions, with the help of which it is easy to explain and understand what they feel and do. The protagonist in the book All Quiet on the Western Front, as in other Remarque novels, evokes deep sympathy. And, in fact, I understand that it is Remarque who causes sympathy, because it is very likely that there is a lot of himself in the main characters.
And here begins the most difficult part of my review, because I have to write about what I learned from the novel, what it is about from my point of view, and in this case it is very, very difficult. The novel tells about a few facts, but includes a fairly large range of thoughts and emotions.
The book, first of all, describes the life of German soldiers during the First World War, about their simple way of life, about how they adapted to harsh conditions, while maintaining human qualities. The book also contains descriptions of rather cruel and ugly moments, well, war is war, and you also need to know about this. From Paul's story, you can learn about life in the rear, and in the trenches, about layoffs, injuries, infirmaries, friendship and small joys that were also there. But in general, the life of a soldier at the front is quite simple outwardly - the main thing is to survive, find food and sleep. But if you dig deeper, then, of course, it's all very difficult. There is a rather complicated idea in the novel, for which I personally find it rather difficult to find words. For the main character at the front, it is emotionally easier than at home, because in war life comes down to simple things, and at home it is a storm of emotions and it is not clear how and what to communicate with people in the rear, who are simply unable to realize that actually going on at the front.
If we talk about the emotional side and ideas that the novel carries, then, of course, the book, first of all, is about the clearly negative impact of the war on individual person and for the nation as a whole. This is shown through the thoughts of ordinary soldiers, what they are experiencing, through their reasoning about what is happening. You can talk for as long as you like about the needs of the state, about protecting the honor of the country and the people, and some material benefits for the population, but is it all important when you yourself are sitting in a trench, malnourished, sleep deprived, killing and seeing the death of friends? Is there really anything to justify such things?
The book is also about the fact that war cripples everyone, but especially young people. The older generation has some kind of pre-war life to which you can return, the young people have virtually nothing but the war. Even if he survived the war, he will no longer be able to live like others. He experienced too much, life in the war was too divorced from the usual, there were too many horrors that are difficult for the human psyche to accept, with which one must come to terms and come to terms.
The novel is also about the fact that, in reality, those who are actually at war with each other, the soldiers, are not enemies. Paul, looking at the Russian prisoners, thinks that they are the same people, state officials call them enemies, but, in fact, what should a Russian peasant and a young German who had just got up because of school bench? Why should they want to kill each other? This is madness! There is an idea in the novel that if two heads of state declared war on each other, then they just have to fight each other in the ring. But, of course, this is hardly possible. It also follows from this that all this rhetoric that the inhabitants of some country or some nation is enemy does not make sense at all. Enemies are those who send people to their deaths, but for most people in any country, war is a tragedy in equal measure.
In general, it seems to me that the novel “All Quiet on the Western Front” should be read by everyone, this is an occasion to think about the period of the First World War, and indeed about the war, about all its victims, about how people of that time realize themselves and everything happening around. I think that one should periodically reflect on such things in order to understand for oneself what is the meaning of this, and whether there is any at all.
The book All Quiet on the Western Front is worth reading for anyone who does not know what “war” is, but wants to find out in themselves bright colors, with all the horrors, blood and death, almost from the first person. Thanks to Remarque for such works.
All Quiet on the Western Front is the fourth novel by Erich Maria Remarque. This work brought the writer fame, money, world calling and at the same time deprived him of his homeland and put him in mortal danger.
Remarque completed the novel in 1928 and at first unsuccessfully tried to publish the work. Most of the leading German publishers felt that a novel about the First World War would not be popular with modern reader. Finally, the work ventured to publish Haus Ullstein. The success caused by the novel anticipated the wildest expectations. In 1929 All Quiet on the Western Front was published in 500,000 copies and translated into 26 languages. It became the best-selling book in Germany.
The following year, the military bestseller was made into a film of the same name. The picture, released in the United States, was directed by Lewis Milestone. She won two Oscars for Best Picture and Best Director. Later, in 1979, a TV version of the novel was released by director Delbert Mann. In December 2015, the next release of the film is expected. cult novel Remark. The creator of the picture was Roger Donaldson, the role of Paul Bäumer was played by Daniel Radcliffe.
Outcast at home
Despite worldwide acclaim, the novel was negatively received. Nazi Germany. The unsightly image of the war drawn by Remarque ran counter to what the Nazis represented in their official version. The writer was immediately called a traitor, a liar, a falsifier.
The Nazis even tried to find Jewish roots in the Remark family. The most replicated "evidence" was the pseudonym of the writer. Erich Maria signed his debut works with the surname Kramer (Remarque vice versa). The authorities spread a rumor that this obviously Jewish surname is real.
Three years later, the volume All Quiet on the Western Front, along with other uncomfortable works, was betrayed by the so-called “satanic fire” of the Nazis, and the writer lost his German citizenship and left Germany forever. Physical reprisal against the universal favorite, fortunately, did not take place, but the Nazis took revenge on his sister Elfrida. During World War II, she was guillotined for being related to an enemy of the people.
Remarque did not know how to dissemble and could not remain silent. All the realities described in the novel correspond to the reality that the young soldier Erich Maria had to face during the First World War. Unlike the main character, Remarque was lucky to survive and convey his artistic memoirs up to the reader. Let's remember the plot of the novel, which brought its creator the most honors and sorrows at the same time.
The height of the First World War. Germany is actively fighting with France, England, the USA and Russia. Western front. Young soldiers, yesterday's students are far from the strife of the great powers, they are not guided by the political ambitions of the powerful of this world, day after day they are simply trying to survive.
Nineteen-year-old Paul Bäumer and his schoolmates, inspired by patriotic speeches class teacher Kantorek, signed up as a volunteer. The war was seen by young men in a romantic halo. Today, they are already well aware of her true face - hungry, bloody, dishonorable, deceitful and vicious. However, there is no turning back.
Paul leads his ingenuous military memoirs. His memoirs will not fall into the official chronicles, because they reflect the ugly truth. great war.
Side by side with Paul are fighting his comrades - Müller, Albert Kropp, Leer, Kemmerich, Josef Böhm.
Muller does not lose hope of getting an education. Even at the forefront, he does not part with physics textbooks and crams laws to the whistle of bullets and the roar of exploding shells.
Shorty Albert Kropp Paul calls "the brightest head." This smart fellow will always find a way out of a difficult situation and will never lose his composure.
Leer is a real fashionista. He does not lose his luster even in a soldier's trench, wears a thick beard to impress the fair sex - who can be found on the front line.
Franz Kemmerich is not with his comrades now. Recently, he was seriously wounded in the leg and is now fighting for his life in a military infirmary.
And Josef Bem is no longer among the living. He was the only one who initially did not believe in the pretentious speeches of the teacher Kantorek. In order not to be a black sheep, Beem goes to the front along with his comrades and (here's the irony of fate!) Is among the first to die even before the start of the official draft.
In addition to school friends, Paul talks about comrades he met on the battlefield. This is Tjaden - the most voracious soldier in the company. It is especially difficult for him, because it is difficult with provisions at the front. Although Tjaden is very thin, he can eat for five. After Tjaden gets up after a hearty meal, he resembles a drunken bug.
Haye Westhus is a real giant. He can squeeze a loaf of bread in his hand and ask “what is in my fist?” Haye is far from the smartest, but he is unsophisticated and very strong.
Detering spends his days reminiscing about home and family. He hates war with all his heart and dreams that this torture will end as soon as possible.
Stanislav Katchinsky, aka Kat, is a senior mentor for recruits. He is forty years old. Paul calls him a real "clever and cunning". The young men learn from Kata the soldier's self-control and the skill of fighting not with the help of blind force, but with the help of intelligence and ingenuity.
Company commander Bertinck is a role model. Soldiers idolize their leader. He is a model of true soldier's prowess and fearlessness. During the fight Bertinck never sits undercover and always risks his life side by side with his subordinates.
The day of our acquaintance with Paul and his company comrades was, to some extent, happy for the soldiers. The day before, the company suffered major losses its numbers have been cut by almost half. However, in the old fashioned manner, provisions were issued for one hundred and fifty people. Paul and his friends are triumphant - now they will get a double portion of lunch, and most importantly - tobacco.
A cook named Tomato resists giving out more than the prescribed amount. An argument ensues between the hungry soldiers and the head of the kitchen. They have long disliked the cowardly Tomato, who, with the most trifling fire, does not risk rolling his kitchen to the front line. So the warriors sit hungry for a long time. Dinner arrives cold and very late.
The dispute is resolved with the appearance of Commander Bertinka. He says that there is nothing to waste good, and orders to give out a double portion to his wards.
Having had their fill, the soldiers go to the meadow, where the latrines are located. Comfortably seated in open booths (during service, these are the most comfortable places for leisure), friends begin to play cards and indulge in memories of the past, forgotten somewhere on the ruins of peacetime, life.
There was a place in these memoirs for the teacher Kantorek, who agitated young pupils to sign up as volunteers. It was "strict little man in a gray frock coat" with a sharp, mouse-like face. He began each lesson with a fiery speech, an appeal, an appeal to conscience and patriotic feelings. I must say that the orator from Kantorek was excellent - in the end, the whole class went straight to the military headquarters right from behind the school desks.
“These educators,” Bäumer concludes bitterly, “always have high feelings. They carry them at the ready in their vest pocket and give them out as needed by the lesson. But we didn’t think about it then.”
The friends go to a field hospital where their comrade Franz Kemmerich is staying. His condition is much worse than Paul and his friends could imagine. Both of Franz's legs were amputated, but his health is rapidly deteriorating. Kemmerich is worried about the new English boots, which he will no longer need, and the commemorative watch that was stolen from the wounded man. Franz dies in the arms of his comrades. Taking new English boots, saddened, they return to the barracks.
During their absence, newcomers appeared in the company - after all, the dead must be replaced by the living. The newcomers talk about the misfortunes they experienced, the famine and the rutabaga “diet” that the leadership arranged for them. Kat feeds the newbies the beans they won from Tomato.
When everyone goes to dig trenches, Paul Bäumer talks about the behavior of a soldier on the front line, his instinctive connection with mother earth. How do you want to hide in her warm arms from annoying bullets, dig deeper from fragments of flying shells, wait out a terrible enemy attack in her!
And fight again. The company counts the dead, and Paul and his friends keep their own register - seven classmates are killed, four are in the infirmary, one is in crazy house.
After a short respite, the soldiers begin preparations for the offensive. They are drilled by the squad leader Himmelshtos, a tyrant everyone hates.
The theme of wandering and persecution in the novel by Erich Maria Remarque is very close to the author himself, who had to leave his homeland because of his rejection of fascism.
You can familiarize yourself with another novel, the difference of which is a very deep and intricate plot that sheds light on events in Germany after the First World War.
And again, the calculations of the dead after the offensive - out of 150 people in the company, only 32 remained. The soldiers are close to insanity. Each of them is tormented by nightmares. Nerves give up. It is hard to believe in the prospect of reaching the end of the war, I want only one thing - to die without torment.
Paul is given a short vacation. He visits his native places, his family, meets with neighbors, acquaintances. Civilians now seem to him strangers, narrow-minded. They talk about the justice of the war in pubs, develop whole strategies on how to beat the French more cleverly and have no idea what is happening there on the battlefield.
Returning to the company, Paul repeatedly gets to the front line, each time he manages to avoid death. The comrades die one by one: the wise man Muller was killed by a lighting rocket, Leer, the strongman Westhus and commander Bertinck did not live to see the victory. Boymer carries the wounded Katchinsky from the battlefield on his own shoulders, but cruel fate is adamant - on the way to the hospital, a stray bullet hits Katya in the head. He dies in the hands of military paramedics.
The trench memoirs of Paul Bäumer break off in 1918, on the day of his death. Tens of thousands of dead, rivers of grief, tears and blood, but the official chronicles dryly broadcast - "All Quiet on the Western Front."
Erich Maria Remarque's novel "All Quiet on the Western Front": a summary
In the preface of the novel he writes: “This book is neither an accusation nor a confession. This is just an attempt to tell about the generation that was destroyed by the war, about those who became its victims, even if they escaped the shells. The title of the work is taken from German reports on the progress of hostilities during the First World War, that is, on the Western Front.
About the book and the author
In his book, Remarque describes a man in a war. He reveals to us this responsible and difficult topic, which has been touched upon many times in classical literature. The writer brought his tragic experience of the "lost generation" and offered to look at the war through the eyes of a soldier.
The book brought the author worldwide fame. She opened First stage many years of success novels by Remarque. Reading the writer's works is like flipping through the pages of the history of the twentieth century. His trench truth has stood the test of time and withstood two wars, his thoughts are still a lesson for future generations of readers.
The plot of "All Quiet on the Western Front"
The main characters of the novel are young guys who just yesterday were sitting at school desks. They, like Remarque himself, went to war as volunteers. The guys fell for the bait of school propaganda, but upon arrival at the front, everything fell into place, and the war seemed more like an opportunity to serve the motherland, but was the most ordinary massacre, where there is no place for humanity and heroism. the main task not so much to live and fight, but to escape from a bullet, to survive in any situation.
Remarque does not try to justify all the horrors of the war. He only paints for us real life soldier. Even the smallest details like pain, death, blood, dirt do not escape us. Before us is a war with our eyes common man for whom all ideals collapse in the face of death.
Why read All Quiet on the Western Front?
We note right away that this is not the Remarque with which you may be familiar from such books as, and. First of all, this is a military novel, which describes the tragedy of war. It lacks simplicity and majesty, characteristic of creativity Remark.
Remarque's attitude to the won is a little wiser and deeper than that of many party theorists: for him, war is horror, disgust, fear. However, he also recognizes its fatal nature, that it will forever remain in the history of mankind, as it managed to take root in past centuries.
Main themes:
- partnership;
- senselessness of war;
- the destructive power of ideology.
Start online and you will understand how the people who lived at that time felt. In those terrible years, the war not only divided the peoples, it cut off intercom between parents and their children. While the former made speeches and wrote articles about heroism, the latter went through the pangs of fear and died from their wounds.
