All Quiet on the Western Front

Erich Maria Remarque (1898 - 1970)
Translated by Arthur Wesley Wheen (1897 - 1971)

All Quiet on the Western Front is an iconic anti-war novel. A semi-autobiographical work by WWI veteran Erich Maria Remarque, it is the story Paul Bäumer and his classmates, who are inspired by a patriotic school teacher, Kantorek, to enlist in the Imperial German Army. Here, they face the extreme mental and physical trauma of the German trenches and a growing disconnect between the front and civilian life.

First published in serial form in 1928, the book and its sequel were subsequently banned in Nazi Germany. Adapted to film in 1930, 1979, and 2022, it garnered 6 Academy Awards, a Golden Globe, and an Emmy. Nevertheless, there is something both moving and disturbing in the printed work, which was translated into 29 languages, including the first English translation by A.W. Wheen. From the prologue:

This book is to be neither an accusation nor a confession, and least of all an adventure, for death is not an adventure to those who stand face to face with it. It will try simply to tell of a generation of men who, even though they may have escaped its shells, were destroyed by the war. - Summary by ASharma

Genre(s): Historical Fiction, War & Military Fiction

Language: English

Section Chapter Reader Time
Play 01 Chapter I Atul Sharma
00:23:53
Play 02 Chapter II Atul Sharma
00:19:50
Play 03 Chapter III Atul Sharma
00:19:44
Play 04 Chapter IV Atul Sharma
00:32:55
Play 05 Chapter V Atul Sharma
00:28:25
Play 06 Chapter VI Atul Sharma
00:54:26
Play 07 Chapter VII Atul Sharma
01:06:24
Play 08 Chapter VIII Atul Sharma
00:15:30
Play 09 Chapter IX Atul Sharma
00:42:54
Play 10 Chapter X Atul Sharma
00:52:44
Play 11 Chapter XI Atul Sharma
00:29:40
Play 12 Chapter XII Atul Sharma
00:04:20