Poetic Thanatology of the Novel by E.M. Remarque "Life on Loan or Heaven Knows no Favorites"

Abstract

The presented work examines the thanatological motifs in the work of the German writer E.M. Remarque. The influence of historical events is assumed not only on the plot and ideological levels of the novel, but also on the figurative. The hypothesis about the tendency in the work of E.M. Remarque to the widespread use of images traditionally associated with death is put forward and proved. The aim of the work is to prove the author's special understanding of the theme of death and its realization in the novel by E.M. Remarque "Life on loan or Heaven knows no favorites". The object of the study is a special Remark's representation of the category of death and its place in the literature of the "lost generation". The novelty of the research lies in the fact that the authors present a new interpretation of the title of the novel in connection with the original belonging of the characters to the afterlife. The main content of the study is the analysis of the poetical levels of the novel; motives, mythologems and images of death are analyzed at the ideological-thematic, plot, character, space-time and genre levels; citation examples are given for various connotations of death for each character of the novel by E.M. Remarque "Life on loan or Heaven knows no favorites". Special attention is paid to the phenomenon of semantic substitution of the real definition of the concept of life for an antonymic one. In conclusion, the role of death at the compositional level of the work is revealed.