The black obelisk (1st Ballantine books ed.)

From the author of the masterpiece All Quiet on the Western Front, The Black Obelisk is a classic novel of the troubling aftermath of World War I in Germany.A hardened young veteran from the First World War, Ludwig now works for a monument company, selling stone markers to the survivors of deceased loved ones.

Though ambivalent about his job, he suspects there's more to life than earning a living off other people's misfortunes.A self-professed poet, Ludwig soon senses a growing change in his fatherland, a brutality brought upon it by inflation.

When he falls in love with the beautiful but troubled Isabelle, Ludwig hopes he has found a soul who will offer him salvationwho will free him from his obsession to find meaning in a war-torn world.

But there comes a time in every man's life when he must choose to livedespite the prevailing thread of history horrifically repeating itself.';The world has a great writer in Erich Maria Remarque.

He is a craftsman of unquestionably first rank, a man who can bend language to his will.

Whether he writes of men or of inanimate nature, his touch is sensitive, firm, and sure.'The New York Times Book Review