Spark Of Life: A Novel Of Resistance (2014) - Plot & Excerpts
Spark of Life is a novel by Erich Maria Remarque, which appeared both in German (as Der Funke Leben) and in English in 1952. Remarque was a German author who created many works, with his best-known novel being All Quiet on the Western Front. One of the first things I wondered about Remarque was why his middle name was Maria, it seemed such an odd name to be given to a boy, then I read that he was born Erich Paul Remark and changed his middle name in memory of his mother and reverted to the earlier spelling of the family name. Apparently the Nazis didn't like Remarque or his novels because on May 10, 1933 on the initiative of the Nazi propaganda minister, Joseph Goebbels, Remarque's works were banned and publicly burned. This got me wondering how many other books were burned but I haven't looked it up yet. The Nazis also claimed that he was a descendant of French Jews and that his real surname name was Kramer, a Jewish-sounding name, and his original name spelled backwards. I didn't look that up yet either to see if it's true, but it doesn't sound true and I don't think Kramer sounds any more Jewish than my name, but I can't think of any name that sounds particularly Jewish for that matter, so I'm moving on.The novel which I'm supposed to be talking about but haven't gotten around to yet is Spark of Life and is set in the fictional Mellern concentration/labor camp during the Holocaust. From the first sentence to the last I was hoping that the things that happened in the novel were worse than what happened in real life, because the things that happened in the novel were horrifying. Then after I finished the novel and reading about Remarque's life I read this: "In 1938, Remarque's German citizenship was revoked and then in 1939 after he and his ex-wife were remarried to prevent her repatriation to Germany, they left Porto Ronco, Switzerland for the United States. They became naturalized citizens of the United States in 1947 In 1943, the government arrested his sister, Elfriede Scholz, who had stayed behind in Germany with her husband and two children. After a short trial in the "Volksgerichtshof" (Hitler's extra-constitutional "People's Court"), she was found guilty of "undermining morale" for stating that she considered the war lost. Court President Roland Freisler declared, "Your brother is unfortunately beyond our reach—you, however, will not escape us". Scholz was beheaded on December 16, 1943, and the cost of her prosecution, imprisonment and execution—495.80 Reichsmark—was billed to her sister Erna".I can't say anything about that except that it is as horrible as the things that happen in the book. And finally that brings me to the book which I hate to talk about, but I will. Right now this feels like the most horrifying book I've ever read. I hated it. The first sentence is "Skeleton 509 slowly raised its skull and opened its eyes." It never gets better for me, not much anyway. I think the only reason the ending seemed happy to me, other than the Americans arriving, which wasn't as happy as I thought it would be, was that it was ending, finally I would get out of the concentration camp. One of the things that really bothers me about this book, and there were many things that bothered me, was that I am supposed to forgive others, all others, no matter what. I have been able to do this, but if I were in Remarque's fictional Mellern concentration camp there are people that I just don't think I could forgive. That bothers me. Alot. Oh well, on to the story.The story takes place in the Mellern concentration camp, it is a labor camp which I learned is not the same thing as an extermination camp; at the end, or almost the end of the war. Most of the characters in the novel are in the "Small" camp officially called the "Mercy" camp which is the "too weak to work" section. These people were there to die and we are told "most of them did quickly". There was however, a small, tough group in Barrack 22 that called themselves the "Veterans". Most of the book is about these veterans. Our main character seems to be Skeleton 509 but he's not the only "main" character for me. There are many other prisoners and Nazis who have stories in the book. There is Karel, a boy from Czechoslovakia who is there as a political prisoner. He is eleven years old. Dr. Ephraim Berger has been there twelve years because he had a Nazi patient who had syphilis, even though another doctor treated him Berger was jailed just for knowing. I guess Nazis couldn't have syphilis, I'll have to look that up too. Bucher had been there seven years because his father was an editor of a Social Democratic newspaper, then there were Jews and some were criminals. The actual criminals seemed to be treated the best. 509's name we don't find out until half way through the book, he is Friedrich Koller, a former journalist who refused to divulge names of persons sought by the Gestapo, he's been there ten years. Even after we know his name we rarely hear it, he is always 509.Then we have the Commandant, Obersturmbannfuhrer (good luck with that word) Neubauer, he loved his wife and daughter, his rabbits, chickens, pigs and garden, his businesses and his career. He doesn't seem to see anything wrong with the things he has done. When he speeds to town after the first bombing to check on his office building we are told that he bought the building for 5000 marks. The Jewish owner had wanted a hundred thousand marks but after two weeks in a concentration camp had been glad to sell it to Neubauer for what he offered:"A Legal sale. Of his own free will. Attested by the notary. The fact that Max Blank had accidentally fallen down in the camp, lost an eye, broken an arm, and otherwise hurt himself had been a regrettable incident."Then there is this conversation between Neubauer and Weber the SS camp leader:"Neubauer stood by the window and looked out. 'There's also a request come in about the food supplies. We're expected to economize. How can this be done?""Hand out less food," answered Weber laconically."That's possible only up to a certain point. If the people collapse they can't work any more.""We can save on the Small camp. It's full of useless mouths. Who dies no longer eats."Neubauer nodded. "All the same, you know my motto: Always humane, as long as possible. Of course when it's no longer possible -"Yes, Neubauer who is always making excuses for the horrible things he does:"He could have gotten more out of life if only he hadn't been such a faithful family man. Faithful - well, as good as faithful, one could say. Really faithful if you considered what he could have had. Those few times! The widow - that hardly counted. A few years ago there'd been a red-haired woman who had come to rescue her husband from the camp-the things she had done in her distress! Actually, the husband had died long before. Naturally, she didn't know that. It had been a gay evening. Later, of course, when she received the cigar box with the ashes, she had behaved like an idiot. All her own fault she'd gotten locked up. An Obersturmbannfuhrer couldn't allow himself to be spat at."We have this when an unfortunate rabbit wonders into this place:The hare raised itself and sniffed. At this moment one of the dozing SS guard must have seen it. "Edgar! Man alive! A long-ear!" he yelled. "At it!"A few shots rang out. Earth flew up. In long bounds, the hare leapt away. "You see," said 509, "they can only hit prisoners from the closest range. For that they then get a furlough and decorations."Lebenthal sighed and stared after the hare.I had more things marked, but I can't take any more so I'll quit. I'm almost done now. I thought it was interesting that the town of Mellern in the novel was based on Remarque's hometown of Osnabruck. Supposedly it is an exact replica of Osnabruck even down to the street names and town layout, however there was never a concentration camp at Osnabruck. I'm tired of thinking of this book. I am also puzzled as to how many stars to give it. I give five stars to novels I can barely live without. I give four stars to novels I love, novels that make me feel good. But three stars seems to low, three stars I liked but may have to read my review to remind myself what it was about after some time has passed. I won't forget this book. I can't tell you to read it, you'll have to decide that for yourself this time. On to the next book.
Tegelikult on sellest raamatust päris keeruline midagi arvata. Polnud enne sellest midagi kuulnud, aga mul on päris hea meel, et see mu öökapile sattus :)Kuigi raamat on olemuselt sünge, on see siiski väga kaasahaarav ja raske on seda käest panna. Tahad kogu aeg teada, mis tegelastest siis lõpuks saab.Head lugemist!Elu – ükskõik mis moodi, täitanult, purukspekstult, verisena -, kõigest hoolimata elu. „Mõnikord sureb sada ja sa ei tunne midagi, ning siis sureb üksainus - üks, kes sulle eriti kordagi ei lähe – ja tundub, nagu sureksid tuhanded. „„Meie kujutlusvõime ei suuda loendada. Ja numbrid ei tugevda tundeid. Tunne suudab alati vaid üheni lugeda. Üks – aga kui seda tõeliselt tajuda, siis sellest piisab.“Eile oli ammu.
What do You think about Spark Of Life: A Novel Of Resistance (2014)?
Terrível, terrível...Se decidir ler este livro de 1952, respire primeiro, respire fundo antes de mergulhar, porque ao longo das 469 páginas (na minha versão) vai ser difícil levar ar aos pulmões.Cada página deste livro passado mesmo no final da guerra, na Primavera de 1945, é de um perfeito horror. Decorre num campo de trabalho dividido em dois, do qual acompanhamos o sector dos "esqueletos", os que estão para além da capacidade de trabalho, colocados no campo pequeno para "rebentar"(não preciso de esclarecer o que representa), doentes com tifo, desinteria ou simplesmente demasiado fracos. O que lemos está muito além e acima daquilo que parece possível suportar, descrito sem pudor nem comiseração mas com um tremendo respeito pela vida humana, pela resiliência do homem em situações extremas, para além de extremas, por essa espécie de integridade que leva os homens a unirem-se quando tudo faz prever que seja cada um por si na luta pela sobrevivência. Não fazem falta lenços de papel, não é esse tipo de livro, o tom não é lamentoso nem de uma emotividade barata. É duro e é simples, como se os horrores da vida no campo fossem tão naturais como os pequenos acontecimentos da vida numa aldeia. Esse é, talvez, o aspecto mais impressionante - como o homem é capaz de adaptar-se para sobreviver. E de como o medo e a esperança ando lado a lado, tão capazes de tolher como de empurrar.Desta leitura, apesar de terrível...terrível, ficam no fim as impressões de resistência e esperança. De calor humano, de amizade, de uma certa pureza. Atravessa todo o texto essa centelha da vida de que fala o título, na capacidade para simplesmente resistir antes de se prever a chegada dos Aliados, numa esperança atemorizadora depois de se perceber que está para breve o fim. Li com paixão, apesar de ter demorado um pouco - por vezes, já não era capaz de absorver mais horror. opinião completa em http://monsterblues-cms.blogspot.pt/2...
—Carla Soares
Copyrighted in 1952, this book is as beautifully & movingly written as a previous book of Remarque's: All Quiet On the Western Front. It's an interesting study in various thoughts, emotions, values, etc. of various types of people, either in or connected with the Nazi concentration camp which is the book's setting: the prisoners, both as a group & individually, especially the main character, 509; the SS command & staff, as well as their families; the townspeople nearby; the liberators, etc. One has to bear in mind in reading this book that the horrors of the camp which are subtly but clearly described are but a hint of the actual unspeakable atrocities which human beings wreaked upon countless other human beings in the Holocaust. From the end of WWII up to the present, there've been periodic cautions to "Always remember", "Never forget". Now that almost all the survivors of the death camps are no longer, or soon will no longer be with us, the danger is that many in succeeding generations will unfortunately forget & not remember, being further & further removed from the event in time. That, to me, is a great sadness.
—Harry Allagree
Je to fikce a díky tomu to může být také opravdu, opravdu dobré. Když jsem otvírala Jiskru života, měla jsem za sebou už mnoho silných lágrových knih, a přesto mě to srazilo k zemi jako vlak. Věděla jsem, co mě čeká, ale Remarque to napsal skutečně tak intenzivně, že jsem se mnohokrát dojala, a strašně jsem myslela na všechny ty, kdo v těch táborech žili a kdo v nich dříve či později zemřeli. A budu se opakovat, ale jsem strašně moc šťastná, že jsem se nenarodila jako Němka, protože ten stud za to, jakého národa jsem členem, bych prostě cítila. Je mi nových generací Němců líto, že se s touhle národní historií musí vyrovnávat. A moc bych si přála, aby se nikdy neopakovala...
—Tereza M
