The Arch of Triumph

Name: The Arch of Triumph
ISBN: 9787208167612

雷马克 / 朱雯Shanghai People's Publishing House · ChinaJul 2021

4.3

Word count: 296K words
Chapters: 34
ISBN: 9787208167612

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Summary

The protagonist of Arch of Triumph, Ravic, was once chief surgeon at a major German hospital. After he helped a Jewish friend go into hiding, he and his girlfriend were arrested by the Gestapo. His girlfriend took her own life; Ravic escaped from the camp hospital and fled to Paris, where he makes a living performing surgery in place of other doctors. He has no identity papers and no fixed address, drifting from one small hotel that asks no real names to the next, liable to be deported at any moment.

The novel opens with Ravic chancing upon Joan, a beautiful actress, distraught on the bank of the Seine. Her lover has suddenly died of illness, and a bewildered Joan has run out of her hotel. Ravic finds her a doctor and sees the funeral arrangements properly handled. As they spend time together, affection grows between them, and Joan lights up Ravic's once bitter and shadowed life. Yet the realities of exile keep them from loving with complete openness, and Ravic's old ordeals haunt him half-waking and half-dreaming. Once, when he stops on the street to save a woman injured in an accident, he is arrested for lacking identity papers and deported, and must part from Joan. Months later he slips back into Paris, but by then Joan has taken another lover, and Ravic resolves to break with her. In Paris he also encounters Haake, the Nazi chief who once had him tortured; Haake does not recognize Ravic, the two become friends, and in the end Ravic finds his chance and takes his revenge.

Editor's review

Arch of Triumph is another major work by the German writer Erich Maria Remarque after All Quiet on the Western Front, first published in 1946. Set in Paris on the eve of World War II, the novel tells the story of the German surgeon Ravic, who flees to Paris after being persecuted by the Nazis for helping Jews, and struggles to survive amid turmoil and despair. With his signature cool, spare, and powerful prose, Remarque depicts individual loneliness, love, and death under the shadow of war. Unlike All Quiet on the Western Front, which focuses on the battlefield, Arch of Triumph probes the spiritual predicament of exiles—people who have lost their homeland and identity, hovering between hope and disillusionment. The love between Ravic and Joan is both a brief consolation in the darkness and a reflection of how fragile and precious personal feeling is amid the tide of history. Remarque's own experience of exile infuses the work with a profound sense of reality, lifting it beyond a simple anti-war statement into a philosophical meditation on human dignity, memory, and the resilience of survival. For modern readers it is not only a window into the mentality of European intellectuals before and after World War II, but also a mirror that prompts us to consider how to preserve the light of humanity in extreme circumstances.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers interested in World War II history and exile literature
Literature lovers who appreciate Remarque's spare, profound style
Reflective readers who hope to think through the relationship between the individual and the times via fiction
Readers who enjoy tense love stories charged with a sense of fate

Not a good fit for

Readers seeking a light, pleasant reading experience
Readers impatient with slow narrative and interior description

Reading tips

Read alongside Remarque's All Quiet on the Western Front to appreciate the shift from battlefield to exile.
Pay attention to the descriptions of Paris; notice how the city becomes an externalization of the characters' psychology and fate.
Slow down while reading; savor the wit in dialogue and the despair hidden in silence.

About the publisher

Shanghai People's Publishing House China · Founded in 1951

Shanghai People's Publishing House is a comprehensive publisher whose list focuses on academic monographs and general-interest titles in philosophy, social sciences, politics and law, economics and management, and history. Among its books are Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties History in the Chinese Dynastic History series; The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogy in foreign literature; the Wenjing Classical Translation Illustrated Edition of The Complete Greek Tragedies of Euripides; and works of social theory such as Max Weber's Economy and Society and Dialectic of Enlightenment: Philosophical Fragments. Its authors include Wang Zhongluo, J.R.R. Tolkien, Luo Niansheng, and Zhou Zuoren.

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FAQ

What is the connection between Arch of Triumph and All Quiet on the Western Front?

Both works are by the same author but have different themes. All Quiet on the Western Front depicts the brutality of the World War I battlefield directly, while Arch of Triumph focuses on the psychological state of refugees exiled in Paris before World War II—Remarque's continued reflection on the consequences of war and the human condition.

What symbolic meaning does the title's "Arch of Triumph" have?

The Arc de Triomphe is both a Paris landmark and a symbol of victory and glory. In the novel, however, it overlooks the defeats and struggles of exiles, creating a strong irony. It represents an eternal gaze set against the brevity and transience of individual lives.

How is Remarque's writing style evident in this novel?

Remarque maintains his一贯 calm, objective, even detached narrative style, avoiding excessive emotional coloring. He uses spare dialogue and action to portray deep inner trauma; this tension "beneath the iceberg" is the source of his artistic appeal.

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About the author

雷马克 Author

Remarque is a writer whose works continue to be translated and introduced in the field of foreign literature; reliable public information about his life and nationality is limited, and no speculation is offered here. Six of his works are held in the collection, including All Quiet on the Western Front, Arch of Triumph, Spark of Life, and others, with themes centering on war, exile, and the fate of ordinary people caught in the upheavals of their time. His style is calm and restrained, his emotion understated, and his plain narration often presents how individuals survive and make choices in extreme circumstances. All Quiet on the Western Front is his widely read representative work, and Arch of Triumph also exists in multiple Chinese translations. These works have given Remarque a lasting presence among Chinese readers, and he is often placed within the tradition of war and exile writing in foreign literature, offering readers one perspective on the turbulent experience of the twentieth century.

朱雯 Author

Zhu Wen is an author about whom limited public information is available. The Chinese book database contains nine of her works, commonly classified under foreign literature and examination categories. Her representative works center mainly on the German writer Erich Maria Remarque, including Remarque in Wenjing (10 volumes), All Quiet on the Western Front, the six-volume collection of Remarque's classic works, and titles in the Remarque series such as A Time to Love and a Time to Die, Three Comrades, The Arch of Triumph, The Night of Lisbon, and Liebe deinen Nächsten. These works indicate that Zhu Wen's writing and translation focus on presenting Remarque's novels in Chinese, with themes often involving war, exile, love, and human nature. Since details of her birth and death dates and nationality remain unclear, this introduction describes her writing focus objectively based solely on the works in the database, and further biographical information awaits supplementary materials.