The Way Back: All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque
The sequel to All Quiet on the Western Front, one of the most powerful novels of the First World War and a twentieth-century classic. After four gruelling years the survivors of the Great War finally make their way home. Young, spirited Ernst is one.
Finding himself inexplicably returned to his childhood bedroom, restless, chafing, confused, he knows he must somehow resurrect his life. But the way back to peace is far more treacherous than he ever imagined. If All Quiet on the Western Front was a lament for a lost generation, this sequel speaks with the same resonant voice for those who came back.
“I’ve selected The Way Back by Erich Maria Remarque as this month’s read. Often regarded as the sequel to All Quiet on the Western Front. This poignant novel follows the lives of survivors from the Great War as they struggle to resurrect their lives in a broken world.” — Lauren, Visitor Services Manager
The is a new definitive English translation by expert Remarque translator Brian Murdoch. “Remarque is a craftsman of unquestionably first rank” – New York Times Book Review
- Published: Vintage Classics; 1st edition (3 Oct. 2019)
- Language: English
- Paperback
- 304 pages
- ISBN-10: 1784875260
- ISBN-13: 978-1784875268
- Dimensions: 12.9 x 1.8 x 19.8 cm
About the author;
Erich Maria Remarque was a German author and veteran of the First World War. He was born 1898 in Osnabrück, Germany. At the age of 18 he was conscripted into the German army. During his service he was wounded by shrapnel in the left leg, right arm and neck. Following the war he worked as a primary school teacher, and later as a librarian, a journalist and a technical writer.
Among Remarque’s published novels were All Quiet on the Western Front, The Road Back, Three Comrades and Arch of Triumph. His works were publicly burned by the Nazi German government, and in 1947 he and his first wife became naturalised citizens of the United States. Four years earlier, his sister had been executed at the behest of Hitler’s ‘People’s Court’.
Remarque adapted the book Ten Days to Die, about Hitler’s final days, as a screenplay, and he also wrote for the stage. His last novel was The Night in Lisbon, published in 1962. During his lifetime Remarque married twice and had love affairs with the actresses Hedy Lamarr, Marlene Dietrich and Greta Garbo.
