“Black Obelisk” (1956) is Remarque’s famous novel, largely autobiographical. Difficult years after the First World War, a provincial German town, the hero works in a company selling tombstones. But there is not enough money, there is terrible inflation in the country, and he earns money by playing the organ in the hospital chapel. He meets his love there, in the psychiatric ward. “Black Obelisk” is, on the one hand, a novel about the great power of love, capable of curing even the mentally ill, on the other hand, philosophical reflections on God, religion, the meaning of life, and finally, on the third, a vivid historical picture of an era where it is increasingly asserting itself approaching fascism.
Author: Erich Maria Remarque
Translation: Vera Stanevich
Pages: 416 (offset). Hardcover+dust jacket
Dimensions: 207x132x26 mm
Series: Library of Classics
