Arch of Triumph - Remarque / Review Essay

 

Arch of Triumph, one of Remarque's bestsellers, marked to be a war novel because the events take place after the first world war and right before the start of the second one, more precisely after the formation of Nazi Germany. But in my opinion the reality is that the novel is more of a fusion between different genres which include realism and romance. The main character is of German origin, while being a professional surgeon he is also a refugee exiled from his fatherland.

Arch of Triumph explores numerous topics including love and has an uncountable amount of secondary characters, and each one of them provides the novel with the atmosphere of 1940's France.

 

Throughout the novel Remarque explores the theme of love with a great passion. The romantic plot-line here gives all of the insight needed to understand what's going on within the main character Ravick's mind. Because of his dark past he is now twisted, and it seemed to me that he was very cold-hearted at the beginning of the novel, but it turned out that he was a very sentimental individual which possibly reminded me of myself, despite the fact that I have never been a surgeon. Thus since I had that connection I could learn from his experiences. The romance in the book clearly gave me insight about relationships and trust through the situations that Ravick is going through. It taught me that even the love of your life can bestow pain upon you.

 Ironically the pessimistic writing style of the author left me with positive feelings. The city of Paris was truly exquisitely demonstrated in the novel because as I read the given descriptions, the text translated into sound and smell. Remarque was greatly invested into his writing process and that allowed me to feel the smell of the falling rain or hear people talking in the taverns. The tertiary characters with minor roles appear again throughout the course of the novel. They do not just come and go, they are a part of a story. The fact that the novel felt so human to me, made me continue exploring Remarque's career. Sometime later I took the chance and read "Three Comrades" one of his other works, which also has a similar tone. I can now proudly state that "Arch of Triumph" made me discover my favorite genre of literature.

 With great confidence, I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys romance, long detailed descriptions and characters who have depth. Romance here is truly outstanding and is that essential element which sews the whole plot together.