Erich Maria Remarques Roman 'Im Westen nichts Neues': Text, Edition, Distribution und Rezeption (1928-1930) by Thomas F. Schneider
2007; Modern Humanities Research Association; Volume: 102; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1353/mlr.2007.0351
ISSN2222-4319
Autores ResumoMLR, 102.I, 2007 279 primary material. Whether Expressionism is indeed, as Donahue asserts, 'the ex treme instance of the conceptual and practical dilemmas ofGerman modernity' (p. 9) remains to be seen, as does thequestion of how German it reallywas or is.However, as introductory surveys to a fascinatingly complex period, both books are bound to become useful critical companions. GOLDSMITHS COLLEGE, UNIVERSITY OF LONDON ANDREAS KRAMER Erich Maria Remarques Roman 'ImWesten nichtsNeues': Text, Edition, Distribu tionund Rezeption (I928-I930). By THOMAS F. SCHNEIDER. (Exempla Critica) Tiubingen: Niemeyer. 2004. 430 pp. FI 12. ISBN 978-3-484-2980I-9. The aim of thismeticulously produced book is to document the genesis, publica tion, and discussion of Remarque's best-seller in lateWeimar Germany. The study illustrateswhat approaches such as Empirische Literaturwissenschaft can reveal about thewhole 'package' of the production, distribution, and reception of thework. For the phenomenon of ImWesten does have to be taken as a package: Schneider shows thatpractically all the important aspects of the book were determined by Ullstein's marketing strategy,and that the publishers succeeded in setting the agenda for the reception of the novel. The sales pitch included a romanticized account of theconditions under which the novel was written. Contrary toRemarque's claims, he did notwrite it to freehismind from an obsession; itwas not written over six or eight weeks in the late I920S-its genesis goes back to at least I9 I8; thiswas not his firstbook (he had already produced two other novels, aside from some 350 other publications); and the version he sub mitted toUllstein was not published without rewritingor corrections. This last claim isperhaps themost interesting.Schneider shows that the changes made byRemarque himself, but atUllstein's instigation,were tailored to themarket. The storywas shaped to concentrate more on the 'crueltyofwar', at the expense of reflections on post-war conditions. The prominence of the protagonist was reduced in favour of a focus on the group, and the novel was depoliticized to stress themore neutral 'authentic' report from the front.The whole marketing strategy emphasized the general and representative nature of the novel. Schneider's book isdivided into fourmain parts. Part A reproduces the textof the novel, as close to an Ausgabe letzterHand as possible. Part B is a precise, carefully researched account of the various manuscript versions and printed editions of the novel within the chosen period. Part C concerns themost disputed aspect of the novel, the autobiographical background and the genesis of Im Westen-essentially a 'Sammlung bester Kriegsgeschichten', as Remarque finallyadmitted in I946 (see page 249). (Incidentally, Schneider is wrong to suggest-more than once-that it was not until I990 thatanyone discovered theneed todistinguish between the author and the hero of the novel.) Part D consists of an analysis of thenovel's receptionbetween 1928 and 1930, taking a corpus of print references tokey terms such as 'truth'or 'authenticity', aswell as to literary influences and to the status or genre assigned to thebook, selected so that they are reproducible in aWord for Windows tabular format.The reception isalso broken down into four phases, where reactions to the novel became more negative with its growing success. The book comes with a 'Synoptischer Anhang' on CD-ROM. Schneider's conclusion is persuasive: by 'pre-forming' both the novel itself and the context of itspublication, Ullstein also pre-formed its reception. The concluding z8o Reviews reflections on the implications of these findings are both wide-ranging and thought provoking. UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHAMPTON ALAN BANCE Jenseits des Stroms: Erinnerungen an meineMutter Anna Seghers. By PIERRE RAD VANYI. Trans. by MANFRED FLUGGE. Berlin: Aufbau. 2005. I53 pp. ?I5.90. ISBN 978-3-351-02593-9. Mythos und Erzihlen im Werk vonAnna Seghers. By MAENG-IM KOH. (Epistemata, Reihe Literaturwissenschaft, 507)Wiirzburg: Konigshausen & Neumann. 2005. I54 pp. ?24.80. ISBN 978-3-8260-2823-6. Following the recent publication of the diary which Anna Seghers kept in I924-25 while setting out on her literarycareer and preparing for marriage toLaszlo Radvanyi (reviewed in MLR, 100 (2005), 265-66), a new memoir by her son, Pierre Radvanyi (born i926), offers fresh insights into the lifeof awriter who was always famously reticent about her personal circumstances. It is...
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