“Three Comrades” (“Drei Kameraden”) is a novel by E.M. Remark. Written during the years of fascism. The first publication (1937) appeared in the USA in English translation, and then in 1938 - in the German emigrant publishing house Querido-Verlag (Amsterdam). In “Three Comrades” they finally decided artistic features creative manner writer and his ideological position.
Together with the novels “On Western Front without change" and "Return", "Three Comrades" form a unique cycle about Remarque's contemporary, a simple middle-class German of the 20th century, who alone is trying to establish himself in a hostile and deceitful post-war world. Remarque largely follows the aesthetics and poetics of E. Hemingway, whose influence on German artist all critics note. In Remarque's "Three Comrades" there is a direct connection with the novel "A Farewell to Arms!" You can find many parallels both in the plot and in figurative system, as well as in tragic ending and interpretation of the theme of love.
The heroes of the novel are Robert Lokamp (the story is told on his behalf), Otto Koster and Gottfrig Lenz - front-line comrades who own a small car repair shop. They are people" lost generation", having lost faith in political idols and social ideals. These are none other than those who have matured over ten post-war years heroes of the novels “All Quiet on the Western Front” and “The Return”. Protecting themselves from the hostile forces of society, they seek support in simple forms of human solidarity, determined by their front-line experience, in mutual assistance, friendship and love. They are emphatically apolitical and live in a closed world they have created, as if outside of time, outside the reality surrounding them. However, the existing fascist order cruelly takes revenge on the heroes for their avoidance of the problems of our time. The “last romantic” Lenz dies absurdly (he is accidentally killed by a stormtrooper), Robert, who has lost his beloved, plunges into despair, and tragically experiences the death of Robert’s friend Kester.
Remarque's "Three Comrades" is a novel written in the form of a diary, divided into separate, chronologically successive episodes. His heroes are not only alter ego "of the author, but also typical representatives of their generation. Thus, the subjective, lyrical line of the narrative is connected with the objective chronicle. Hectic pace of life, care the best people from public and political life, a feeling of unsteady ground, growing distrust and discontent, a premonition of tragic events. It is no coincidence that the ending of the novel is the most pessimistic and hopeless of all the writer’s works.
“Three Comrades” is a book not only and not so much about friendship, but about love. Robert's love for Pat and their relationship give meaning to their existence in this cruel and incomprehensible world. The love scenes of the novel amaze with their poetry, sincerity, tenderness and poignancy. "Three Comrades" is one of the most famous novels Remark. To this day, readers different countries the world is attracted by Remarque's interpretation eternal problems love, friendship, devotion, life and death.
In the morning, at the Avrema auto repair shop, Mr. Lokamp meets a drunk fifty-year-old cleaning lady, Mathilde Stoss. The woman found Mr. Kester’s expensive cognac on the table and drank the entire bottle. Lokamp promises not to give her away and pours her a couple of glasses of Jamaican rum in honor of his thirtieth birthday.
The hero sits alone and remembers his previous holidays. All of them fell on hard times– First world war, inflation. Now Lokamp works with his comrades Otto Kester and Gottfried Lenz and tries not to think about the past.
After a day of work, friends go to dinner in an old but surprisingly fast racing car, "Karl". On the way, they compete in speed with the driver of a brand new Buick, Binding. At a tavern, friends have dinner with a losing car racing enthusiast and his charming companion named Patricia Holman. The girl gives the main character her phone number.
Boarding house Frau Zalewski. Sunday. Robert Lokamp has lived here for two years. In the morning he goes down to the International cafe, then goes to the auto repair shop. In the evening, Robert calls Patricia and makes an appointment for the day after tomorrow.
On Tuesday, Senior Inspector Barzig, an insurer and a big fan of butterflies, comes to the auto repair shop. He gives his friends another order to repair the baker's Ford, which was involved in an accident. A baker who has lost his pregnant wife bargains with Kester for a new free top. In the evening, Robert meets Patricia in a ladies' cafe. Then they go to the bar. After breaking up with his girlfriend, the hero ecstatically quarrels with an unfamiliar fat man on the street.
Spring is coming. On Friday, an old plum blossoms near the workshop. Robert is worried about his unsuccessful meeting with Patrice. In the evening, he goes to a farewell dinner in honor of Lilly, a former prostitute who is getting married. At night in the auto repair shop, Robert asks his friends whether love always looks stupid and is it scary to get drunk in the presence of a woman? Lenz reassures him, saying no. In the morning, Robert sends Patricia a bouquet of roses.
Blumenthal, the owner of a knitting company, is interested in an expensive Cadillac. Robert tries to sell him a car, but Lenz, disguised as a dandy, spoils the whole deal. The hero spends the evening at Lenz's. There are also Theo Braumuller, an old friend of Kester, who participates in the same races as the latter, and Ferdinand Grau, an artist who paints portraits of dead people.
The next day, Robert takes the Cadillac and takes Patricia to Alphonse's for dinner. In the evening he teaches the girl to drive a car. Spiritual intimacy is established between young people. They meet Lenz at the bar, and they all go to Luna Park together. In the Labyrinth of Ghosts, Robert accidentally hugs Patricia, who is frightened by the horrors of the attraction. Friends ruin the owner of the pavilion by throwing rings, winning all the prizes from him.
Two days later, Blumenthal and his wife take a test drive in the Cadillac. He likes Lokamp's business approach and buys the car.
Patricia has been sick for a whole week. Robert invites the recovered girl to visit him. To meet her with dignity, the hero furnishes the room with the best things borrowed from the owner of the pavilion and other residents. Suddenly, Patricia's plans change: she has a business dinner with Binding. Robert is offended. While walking with Patricia, he greets all the prostitutes in the area. The girl calls him a child and kisses him goodbye. Robert returns home to in a great mood. He eats a romantic dinner with the eternally hungry student Georg Blok.
On Sunday, Kästner wins the race on the Karl. Robert's friends are delighted with Patricia. After dinner, young people walk around the city, sit on a cemetery bench, wander through the twilight streets. Patricia spends the night with Robert.
In the morning, Robert and Kestner go to an auction where they buy a taxi. During the day, a baker comes to the auto repair shop and begins to indulge in nostalgia. Robert invites him to order a portrait of his late wife from Ferdinand Grau.
Robert goes to visit Patricia for the first time. Young people drink coffee with cakes and talk. The girl says that after the death of her mother, she was sick for a year, then lived for herself, spending money and doing nothing. In August, she decided to start working as a saleswoman in one of the stores of the Elektrola gramophone company. Robert feels a surge of tenderness for Patricia and realizes that he cannot stay. At night, he reflects on the transience of love and gets drunk in a bar with Fred, during the first thunderstorm of the year, then goes to his beloved and takes her to his place.
The friends decide to use the taxi they bought at auction for its intended purpose. Robert fights with taxi driver Gustav for the right to work. In the evening, friends get together. Robert and Pat happily admit that they don't like each other.
In the morning, Robert meets Lisa, a prostitute for whom he had tender feelings in the past. The girl understands that Lokamp loves another woman.
Frau Zalewski tells Robert that she likes Pat, but she believes that this girl is not for him, but for a rich, well-established man.
At the theater, Patricia meets an old friend of Breuer. He invites him and Robert to dance at Cascade. There they encounter the girl's former friends, rich and sophisticated. One of them tells Robert that Breuer has been in love with Pat for several years. Robert feels out of place in refined society and gets drunk. He walks around the taverns all night, and in the morning, returning home, he finds Patricia on the stairs.
A week later, the baker asks Robert if Cadillacs are still for sale? Lokamp buys it from Blumenthal, who agreed to give up the car in order to earn five hundred marks. The baker refuses to take the portrait of his late wife: he is afraid that his current passion will see him at home.
Robert and Pat go to the sea for two weeks. The owner of the villa, Fräulein Müller, takes young people for married couple. After swimming in the sea, Pat starts bleeding. Kester looks for Patricia's attending physician, Felix Jaffe, and brings him to the villa.
After two weeks, Pat recovers and she and Robert return to town. A room is becoming available at Frau Zalewski's boarding house. In the evening, young people and friends eat crayfish at Alphonse's. That night, Robert invites Pat to live together. Having escorted the girl home, the hero goes to work as a taxi driver. In a fight with the doorman, Robert releases the anger that has accumulated in him over the past weeks.
Gustav helps Robert buy a purebred, red-brown Irish terrier puppy for Patricia. In the evening, Jaffe tells Lokamp about the girl’s illness: Pat has both lungs affected, and she needs sanatorium treatment. Robert becomes desperate. Jaffe shows him patients who suffer much more severely than Pat, and says that everyone has a chance for recovery.
Having gone for a test drive in the updated "Carl", friends witness an accident. They deliver to private clinic injured man and woman and receive an order to repair their car. The three comrades have to recapture the damaged car from the Vogt brothers, the owners of another auto repair shop.
September is coming. Robert steals roses for Pat from the church garden. On Sunday, young people go to the museum to see an exhibition of Persian carpets, then walk the streets and dream about what they would buy if they were rich. One of the guests of the boarding house, Hasse, who learned in the morning about his wife’s departure, commits suicide in the evening.
In mid-October, Jaffe calls Lokamp and orders him to take Pat to a sanatorium. In the evening, Robert and Patricia have dinner with friends at Alphonse's. Young people leave the city on the ten o'clock train.
A week later Robert returns home. He learns that the car that he, Lenz and Kester took with such difficulty on the road was not insured, and its owner went bankrupt. In “The International” Robert meets Lilly - her husband divorced her as soon as he took all the money from her. In the evening, friends have a drink at Alphonse's. At night, Robert races along a rural road in the Karl.
Things are going badly at the auto repair shop. Kester and Lenz work part-time as taxi drivers, Robert plays the piano in the Internationale. Comes to the boarding house on Christmas Eve ex-wife Hasse. Lokamp informs her of her husband's death. Robert celebrates Christmas at the Internationale in the company of cattle dealers and prostitutes. Then Kester and Lenz join him.
At the end of January, rallies begin in the city. There are clashes between the unemployed and the police. Robert and Kester look for Lenz at political meetings. They find a friend in a pub and pull him out of the fighting crowd before the police arrive. Going outside, the friends come across young men in uniform who shoot at Lenz. The bullet goes straight to the heart. Lenz dies. Kester and Robert tell the police that they did not see who killed their comrade. They want to find the killer themselves.
THREE COMRADES
The main character, Robert Lokamp, comes to work early in the morning and sees an old woman, cleaning lady Mathilde Stoss, awkwardly dancing. This is not the first time he finds her in this form and knows that the reason for the dancing is the cognac left in sight in the evening. But today is his birthday, and instead of scolding the old woman, Lokamp treats her to Hawaiian rum. Delighted that her sin has been forgotten, the old woman thanks him and, glorifying the birthday boy, leaves. Lokamp sits down at the table, takes out a sheet of paper and tries to write down what happened to him over thirty years. He feels as if he is both sixteen and sixty at the same time. Real life for him began at the age of eighteen, when he became a recruit. War, revolution, famine, coup, death of mother. Now he works at Avrema - Kester and Co.'s auto repair shop. The past, according to Robert, sometimes suddenly rolls up and glares at him with its dead eyes, but for these cases there is vodka. Lenz and Kester, Lokamp's front-line comrades and companions, arrive. Gottfried Lenz presents his friend with a horoscope and an amulet; it is decided to drink six bottles of rum “twice as old” for the birthday boy in nature. After working for the day, the friends get into their old racing car“Karl” and go to have fun. The main entertainment on the road is to take advantage of the unsightly appearance of the car to provoke other drivers to overtake, as a result leaving them high and dry. Lenz, who calls himself the last romantic, claims that “Karl” plays an educational role: he teaches to appreciate creativity, enclosed in an inconspicuous shell. This time Otto Koester overtakes the Buick. When the comrades stop at a restaurant, the driver of the Buick, Binding, catches up with them. His young companion Patricia Holman gets out of the car. In the heat of excitement, the comrades simply did not notice the passenger. After meeting, it was decided to have dinner together. Binding examines "Karl", discusses cars with Kester, sings soldiers' songs in the gazebo with Lenz.
Otto, Robert and Pat remain at the table. Robert is attracted to a girl, but he cannot attract her attention. But the morning sadness passes, and Lokamp falls into an amazing state: “It seemed that everything was indifferent, just to be alive.” He looks at Pat with new eyes, and he doesn’t want to let her go so easily. Saying that he is worried about how the drunken Binding will get home, he asks the girl for her phone number.
The next morning, Sunday, Robert leisurely gets ready and leaves Frau Zalewski's boarding house. The guesthouse is located next to a cemetery, an amusement park, the International Cafe, where prostitutes wait for clients, and the Salvation Army meeting hall. Robert has been living there for many years; his neighbors are lonely, unsettled people; they have either already lost their jobs or live in fear of losing them. These are the Hasse spouses, constantly quarreling over lack of money, secretary Erna Benig, Russian Count Orlov - a hired dance partner; student Georg Block, who cannot find a job to pay for his studies. Robert's social circle is small: front-line comrades and prostitutes from cafes who consider him their friend.
Robbie walks aimlessly around the city all day. In the evening he comes to the workshop and helps Otto repair the Cadillac, which they then intend to sell at a profit. Refusing to go to boxing, Robert returns to the boarding house and visits a neighbor. Having finally decided to call Patricia, he finds her at home. Irritation and dissatisfaction disappear. Robert asks how we got there yesterday and invites Pat to meet the day after tomorrow. Then, having changed his mind, he goes to boxing. Now everything around him seems cozy.
On Tuesday morning the Cadillac is ready. Friends write an advertisement for sale and immediately receive new job: we need to restore a Ford that was involved in an accident. A half-drunk baker crashed it into a brick wall, his pregnant wife died from loss of blood, but he is not grieving, but is trying to make a big profit out of the insurance.
A date with Pat is scheduled for five o'clock in some ladies' pastry shop, they are uncomfortable in it, Robert suggests going to the bar. There is a familiar atmosphere: colleague Valentin Gauser, who celebrates every day that he is alive; well-trained bartender Fred, twilight and coolness. Pat seems to the hero to be an unapproachable Amazon, a creature from another world. He hadn’t talked to girls for a long time and had simply lost the skill of communicating alone.
The cafe is too noisy; casual conversation is impossible in the silence of the bar. Then Robert orders rum, and it loosens his tongue. After seeing Pat off, Robbie is horrified: why didn’t he blab to her, and besides, he doesn’t remember anything! After quarreling with a passerby, he returns to the bar and gets drunk as hell. Robert does not tell his friends about his meeting with Pat.
In the evening, Lilly, a prostitute from the hotel, is honored at the International Cafe. She gets married and says goodbye to her friends. Not everyone is so lucky. Rosa Iron Mare was left alone with the child; she gave her daughter to a shelter. Mimi’s husband died in the war from pneumonia, and not in battle, so no pension was given for him, and the woman was forced to go to the panel. Lokamp is invited as a dear guest of these women who are lost in life. According to Robert, in the world “everything fell apart, became saturated with falsehood and was forgotten. And if you didn’t know how to forget, then all you were left with was powerlessness, despair, indifference and vodka. The businessmen celebrated. Corruption. Poverty". A lonely person cannot be left; he has nothing but loneliness, Lokamp believes. And therefore he does not dare to have a serious relationship with Pat, fearing to become attached to the girl: “Possession is already a loss.” But in the morning he sends her a large bouquet of roses, and she thanks him over the phone.
An auto repair shop is trying to stay afloat. Friends are looking for a buyer for a refurbished Cadillac. Kester is pushing for tax cuts in the finance department. They bring a Ford in for repair. Lenz, Kester and the artist Ferdinand Grau, who paints portraits of the dead, call themselves lost people; their life is broken, and it is impossible to glue the fragments together. All of them. like Robert, they went through the war. But Robert, in their opinion, is not dead yet.
The relationship with Pat develops. Robert takes her for a ride in a Cadillac, which he later manages to sell at a profit. Introduces him to friends, takes him to his room. There young people kiss for the first time. But they don’t talk about falling in love; on the contrary, they claim that they are not in love, trying to convince themselves that there is no relationship between them. serious relationship, although they spend the night together. They go to places familiar to Lokamp, often dine with Alfons, a friend of Lenz and the owner of the pub, the girl quickly becomes part of her company.
Friends buy a taxi at an auction and start driving cabs; Robert masters the profession of a taxi driver. The Ford has been repaired and the owner, a baker, is taking it. His pregnant wife died in the accident. Despite the fact that another woman is already hovering around him, the widower orders a portrait of his deceased wife from the artist Grau.
Robert comes to visit Patricia for the first time and is surprised by the rich, by his standards, environment. It turns out that Pat lives in her former apartment, where she rents two rooms, and she has her own furniture. The girl sometimes talks about feeling unwell, that she has been ill for a year without going outside, but she doesn’t talk about it anymore. She talks about her upcoming job - under the patronage of her friend, Breuer, she can work as a gramophone saleswoman, for her music education. Robbie looks around the room and bedroom, Pat treats him to specially purchased rum - he has never been so cared for. He feels that he is becoming sentimental, and for the first time he gets drunk not out of grief, but out of joy. After having lunch with his friends, he returns to the girl and feels how his stiffness disappears and the feeling appears that nothing in their relationship can be false. They are having fun with Robert's friends. They go to the theater and there they meet Breuer, who invites them to a restaurant. Restaurants and old acquaintances of Pat replace each other, and Robert begins to be jealous of her past. Besides, Patricia loves to dance, but Robert doesn’t know how. She dances with Breuer, and Lokamp just gets angry and drinks rum. When Breuer takes them home, Robert doesn’t even say goodbye to Pat, but asks to be dropped off at the bar. But intoxication does not come, and feelings become aggravated. He feels an insane longing for Pat. Returning home, he finds a frozen girl at his door. Realizing what this return and waiting meant for her, Robbie becomes confused. He warms Pat up with tea and she stays with him until the next evening. “True love does not tolerate strangers,” they say to each other.
Meanwhile, the baker's new passion is enticing him to buy a Cadillac. He comes to the workshop, where he finds out that the car has been sold. Seeing an opportunity for resale, Lokamp negotiates with the previous buyer and makes a deal with a benefit for everyone.
Taking a two-week vacation, Robert takes Patricia to the sea. They enjoy the beauty of nature and solitude, but suddenly disaster strikes. Pat suddenly starts bleeding from the lungs. It turns out that she has been suffering from tuberculosis for a long time. Robert often noticed that Pat's cheerfulness suddenly gave way to fatigue, but the girl hid her illness from Robert, thinking that he would become afraid of her. The local doctor is doing everything he can, but the help of his regular doctor, Pat, is needed. Robert calls his friends and Kester brings the professor
Jaffe on his "Carl" for the unthinkable short time. The bleeding stops, Pat gradually comes to his senses. The professor's verdict is to go home, the local climate is not suitable for the girl.
As Robert leaves, he thinks it was all just a bad dream. He dreams of moving Pat to a boarding house; the room next to his is just becoming available. Then Robert will be able to constantly look after the sick girl.
But Pat doesn’t want to be considered sick. The friends have to be creative and replace the ingredients in the cocktail with non-alcoholic ones, show that they are not among the first to leave the cafe and treat her as usual. Unexpectedly for Robbie, Pat agrees to move in with him. So that the girl does not get bored during the day when he is at work, Robert gives her an Irish terrier puppy.
The comrades' income from driving is small, and besides, work situations sometimes have to be resolved with fists. The hero now needs to earn twice as much, while unemployment is rising, and an unprofitable winter for the auto repair shop is approaching.
Lokamp meets with Patricia's doctor. Jaffe tells him that two years ago the girl underwent a six-month course of treatment at a sanatorium, after which her condition improved. We need to go to the mountains again for treatment. You can’t stay in the city of Pat: both lungs are affected. It is not known what to expect, improvement or deterioration. Seeing Robert's condition, Jaffe takes him through the wards. A woman without a nose, a man in agony, a paralyzed man, a crippled child, a woman with an amputated breast, a worker with crushed kidneys - the endless chain of suffering ends with the look of one patient, in which Robert reads masculinity and calm. “It would be pointless to reassure you with words,” says Jaffe, “many of these people suffer more than Pat, but most survive. A terminally ill person can survive a healthy one.”
The professor’s twenty-year-old wife died of the flu nine years ago. He advises Robert not to show his concern and send Pat to a sanatorium in the fall.
Money is getting worse. A chance win at the races slightly saves Robbie's financial situation. He is forced not to buy flowers for his beloved, but to pick them in the park and church garden. The car, restored after the accident, turns out to belong to the bankrupt, it is sold under the hammer, and the workshop is deprived of possible income. "Karl", technically improved, participates in the race and comes first, but this money will not last long. Life comes down to the struggle for existence. Against this background, the happiness of love seems overwhelming.
But everything around suggests that love is not enough to survive. His neighbor's wife leaves Hasse; she has found a richer man. This happens just when the spouse achieves a long-awaited increase in salary. Unable to cope with his wife's departure, Hasse takes his own life - he hangs himself. Many people escape this way from an insoluble problem - unemployment. Robert and Pat go to the museum for an exhibition of Persian carpets and see quite a lot of visitors, but, according to the caretaker, now people come to the museum on free days not because of a craving for beauty, but because they have nothing to do; In winter, when they are frozen, they come in to warm up. “Humanity has created immortal works of art, but failed to give each of its fellows at least enough bread,” reflects Lokamp.
In mid-October, Dr. Jaffe tells Robert that it is time for Patricia to go for treatment. A farewell dinner is arranged for the girl at Alphonse's. Robert takes her. On the train they meet fellow travelers; many are going for treatment not for the first time. Robert reassures himself: it’s stupid to worry, people returned from there and lived at home for a whole year. And Pat will be back. The sanatorium is more like a hotel. Robbie spends the week in the guest wing, but he needs to go home and earn money for his treatment, which is currently paid for until January. Pat will have to stay in the mountains until May. Lokamp should earn more than before, but too many failures have befallen the workshop.
At the beginning of November, the comrades are forced to sell the Citroen. With this money it was still possible to maintain a workshop, but the situation is worsening every week. Robert is offered to work part-time at the International Cafe, playing the piano. Pat writes letters.
After Christmas Eve, demonstrations begin, people demand work and bread. The police disperse the demonstrators, there are casualties. Kester and Lokamp go to look for Lenz, he is at one of the political meetings. His friends find him just in time, pull him out of the fight and leave just minutes before the police arrive. Gottfried lingers near a street astrologer and receives a prediction: he will live to be eighty years old. Literally a few minutes later Lenz dies - a passer-by shoots at him. Kester decides to punish the criminal himself. The killer is tracked down, but he hides. Finally, his friends meet him in a cafe, Kester pursues him, but Alphonse is ahead of Otto. He avenged his friend himself. The workshop is for sale. Kester goes to work as a racer for the company.
Robbie still plays in the prostitute cafe. A telegram from Pat arrives at the boarding house asking her to come as soon as possible. Robert calls the sanatorium and is told that the girl had a slight bleed a few days ago. Kester brings a friend in the Karl. Patricia is not told about Lenz's death. She rejoices at the meeting, takes her friends to the bar, they ride in the Karl, drive up to the highway along which Kester will go home. Pat looks longingly into the distance, and everyone understands that she will not come back. The doctor gives disappointing prognoses. The girl asks Robert to stay with her. He cannot refuse, but he needs money for treatment. Kester leaves and promises to help.
Robbie gets permission to move into the room next to Pat's. Meets some of the residents of the sanatorium. They behave differently, but there is no feeling that these are seriously ill people. The husband comes to one of the patients and loudly admires how healthy and good she is here. “I don’t feel good!” - the woman, imprisoned in the mountains for two years, cannot stand it. It is especially difficult for the residents of the sanatorium when the fen wind blows and “feverish weather” sets in.
Patients go skiing, have parties and kindly play pranks on the lucky ones who are discharged healthy.
The last lucky one is Roth, two years ago he was promised that he would die, but unexpectedly recovery occurs. Roth's problem is that he squandered his money during those two years, and now he jokes darkly that he will die exactly as the doctors predicted, but from a bullet. Robert is ready to kill him if it saves Pat.
There are also lovers among them - an elderly Russian and an eighteen-year-old Spanish woman, Rita. The violinist fights for her attention in a peculiar way, as if competing with the Russian: whoever survives will win. But Rita dies, whose condition was less dangerous than Pat’s. Patricia begins to panic and forbids Robbie to drink from the same glass with her and kiss her, fearing that he will get sick. She says she wants him to be healthy, get married and have children. But ironic life turns the situation around. Robert has caught a cold and becomes a danger to Pat, so he is isolated. The cold goes away quickly, but this made the girl happy. Both come to the same thought: “We succeeded, but it didn’t last long.” The hairdryer blows again. Pat no longer gets out of bed and is getting weaker every day. She especially fears the last hour between night and morning. Robert moves his bed into his beloved’s room and sits next to her every night, telling her everything he can remember, and brings the radio. The only thing, according to Pat, that she thinks about is life and death: “It’s better to die when you still want to live than to die when you really want to die. When you still want to live, it means that you have something you love. This way, of course, it’s harder, but at the same time it’s easier... I’m grateful to fate that I had you.” Every morning you greet the girl with relief: she is not dead. Robert knows: she will never get up. Pat is melting before our eyes, she doesn’t want Robert to see her, exhausted by her illness. The ticking of the clock frightens her, Robbie smashes it against the wall, “tearing time in the middle.” Pat dies painfully, precisely at the hour she feared. Until the very end, Robert holds his beloved's hand. Then he washes the blood off the body, combs Pat’s hair, puts her on her bed, covers her with a blanket and, without taking her eyes off her, sits by the bed until the morning. “Then morning came and she was gone.”
4.4 (87.69%) 13 votes
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- remark three comrades summary
- analysis of the first chapter three comrades
This is the first book where prostitutes are considered people, they show that they also have problems and concerns.
They are also nervous, afraid, worried, alive. In some ways they were more fortunate, in others less.
The work is not the most pleasant or cool.
It is similar to the job of a bus driver; you also need to find a compromise with people and serve them, not to be rude, not to beat them, but to explain something in a civilized and intelligible way.
A prostitute, of course, is not a driver, but she also works with clients, although she serves them in a different way, but work is work.
In the book, the author often describes nature, but in my opinion, it’s not worth spending so much time on it.
It's better to tell something else, more interesting.
For example, experiences, relationships, people’s views on life at that time.
Those expectations of arrival are described very well letters to the addressee. This cannot be seen today.
Now take out your mobile phone and call another subscriber at least every 5 minutes. calling.
What I notice more than once, in almost every a book, film, TV series is shown or described,How main character(heroes) drink various strongdrinks separately or mixing them together.
This is some kind of scourge of our time and a human disease in general.
Drinking on holidays is clear and a little, butJust drink so much that you can lose yourself and forget your problems?
I beg you, this is funny! As if afterIntoxication will all problems be solved and everything will be ok?
What was carried in pockets in the 20th century:
Coins, penknife, keys, cigarettes...
What about these days? Mobile phone(thing first necessary), keys and money.
Characters from the book “Three Comrades”
Robbie Lokamp – main character books.
A slightly insecure man, he wants to take some traits from successful or influential people whom he sometimes sees.
Meeting Frönlein Holman, he does not believe that luck smiles on him and fate favors him and so beautiful woman can love him.
This shows Robbie's low self-esteem.
He does not know psychology and has no idea how women see this world.
How they choose a partner for living and relationship.
At the same time, Robbie is an honest, devoted friend, a comrade for his friends and his girlfriend Pat.
Gottfried Lenz– a favorite of women, an excellent psychologist and lover
drink, like the whole group of friends.
He always looks at Robbie as if he were a child who doesn't know what to do or how to behave in a relationship with a woman.
Knows how to joke, joke and give necessary advice at the right time.
Patricia Holman- Robert Lokamp's girlfriend. She feels newness, seeks stability, love and understanding from her man.
And Pat finds it all in Robbie. Frohnlein Holman knows how to dress beautifully, she has connections and rich friends, but all this is not interesting to her, because she has Robbie.
Pat is beautiful and smart, but getting to know her better, Robbie learns that she is terminally ill and will not be able to recover.
But Mr. Lokamp firmly believes that Pat will be healthy and gives birth to his children. After all, all people want to believe in a good future, how can they live without it.
Otto Koester- was a military pilot, he is an amateur racing driver, he won races many times in his car “Karl”. More precisely, the car “Karl” is common to all three comrades. Otto also practiced boxing.
The end of the book “Three Comrades” is somehow unfinished, Pat died, Robbie is still in the hospital in the mountains, and what’s next?
The book is generally interesting, especially the story of three comrades, their friendship, communication, life, relationships, adventures and racing in their favorite car “Karl”, but too much emphasis is placed on the topic of dryness, which I personally did not like.
Patricia Holman
Plot
The action takes place in Germany around 1928. Three comrades - Robert Lokamp (Robbie), Otto Kester and Gottfried Lenz run a small auto repair shop. The main character, auto mechanic Robbie, met charming girl Patricia Holman (Pat). Robbie and Pat people different destinies and from different walks of life fell in love with each other. The economic crisis has left the workshop without orders, the comrades are left without work and plans for the future. Pat turned out to be sick with tuberculosis. Desperate actions, selling her last property for money for treatment do not save the girl - she dies in Robbie’s arms
Issues
People who have gone through the crucible of war cannot escape the ghosts of the past. War memories constantly torment the main character. A hungry childhood caused his beloved to become ill. But it was the military brotherhood that united three comrades Robert Lokamp, Otto Koester and Gottfried Lenz. And they are ready to do anything for friendship. Despite the death that permeates it, the novel speaks of a thirst for life.
Heroes
- Robert Lokamp (Robbie)- the main character of the novel. Beloved of Patricia Holman (Pat). Friend of Gottfried Lenz and Otto Koester.
- Otto Koester- one of the main characters. In the past, he was a military man; in the novel he was the owner of the auto repair shop where the main characters worked. In addition, he was an amateur racing driver and took part in races in a “Karl” car, where he won several times.
- Gottfried Lenz- one of the main characters of the novel. He served in the army, traveled a lot around the world, evidence of which is his suitcase, covered with all kinds of postcards, stamps and other things. He worked in a car repair shop with Kester and Lokamp. A very easy-going, positive person, the “soul” of the company. Outwardly, he stood out in the crowd with his straw-like mop of hair. Friends called him the last, or “paper” romantic. In the novel, he died from an accidental bullet in a brawl.
- Patricia Holman (Pat)- the beloved of the main character. The story of this love forms the basis of the plot of the work.
Productions and film adaptations
Notes
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Alien patricia Album Oak Gaai Release date 1997 Recorded ... Wikipedia
This term has other meanings, see Three Comrades (meanings). Three comrades Drei Kameraden ... Wikipedia
Three Comrades Drei Kameraden Author: Erich Maria Remarque Genre: drama Original language: German Translator: I. Schreiber, L. Yakovlenko “Three Comrades” is a novel, drama by Erich Maria Remarque, which was written in 1937-1938 and published in 1938. In Russian... Wikipedia