Summary “The Arc de Triomphe” Remarque
“The Arc de Triomphe” – a novel by the German writer Erich Maria Remarque, first published in 1945; the German edition was published in 1946. There were many assumptions that the prototype of the main heroine Joan was Marlene Dietrich, with whom Remarque spent his time in Paris before the outbreak of World War II. Plot
The main character of the novel is the talented surgeon Ludwig Fresenburg (fictitious names – Ravik, Woczek, Neumann, Herr Horn) – fought in the First World War, in 1933 hid three comrades (Rosenberg, Wilman and Riesenfeld), for which he was arrested. After interrogations, his wife Sybil committed suicide in a concentration camp. Ravik managed to escape from the hospital and settle in France. Three times he was sent to Switzerland, but changing his name, he returned to Paris every time.
The novel takes place in France during 1938-1939. Ravik illegally operates in the clinic instead of the licensed but less qualified doctor Duran.
One night at the Arc de Triomphe, he met a woman, Joan Madou, who was somewhat frightened. He invited her to his hotel, and then found out that Joan had left the corpse of the man with whom she lived in Paris in her hotel room. He helped her to understand this situation and offered to get a job as a singer in the restaurant “Scheherazade”, where Morozov worked as a doorman.
The next time Ravik saw Joan on the stage of “Scheherazade” and fell in love with her. They began to meet. Gradually, Joan tired of hotel rooms and performances in the restaurant, she began to dream of a quiet life with Ravik, but this was impossible because her lover was a refugee.
Ravik and Joan spent several weeks on vacation in Antibes. A week after returning to Paris, Ravik on the street witnessed an accident: a beam fell from the building onto the woman. He helped her, but the policeman and the reporters
A few months later he managed to return to France. He learned that Joan left Shakherezade and lives with her husband, who helped her become a movie actress. In her defense, the woman told Ravik that she did not expect him to return. Her new lover admired her and Joan needed it, but she continued to love Ravik, so she did not want to leave both men. Ravik could not tolerate this and left Madu.
Accidentally in Paris Ravik met Haake – Gestapo, who in Germany tortured him and brought to suicide Sybil. He planned the murder of his enemy for weeks and one night he managed to implement this plan: he buried the corpse of Haake in the suburbs, burned documents and initials from his clothes.
One night he called Joan and asked him to come, but Ravik hung up. A few hours later he was awakened by a man who said that he shot Joan. Ravik took the woman to Duran’s clinic, operated on her, but Madu’s life was never saved. He returned to the hotel and learned from the newspaper that a new war had begun. At this time, the nurse Eugenie reported to the police. Ludwig Fresenburg, along with other illegal emigres from the “Enternesional” leaves Paris.
(2 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)