All Quiet on the Western Front

All Quiet on the Western Front

1st edition cover
Author	Erich Maria Remarque
Original title	Im Westen nichts Neues
Translator	A. W. Wheen
Country	Germany
Language	German
Genre	War novel
Publisher	Propyläen Verlag
Publication date	January 29, 1929
Published in English	Little, Brown and Company, 1929
Pages	296
OCLC	295972

All Quiet on the Western Front (German: Im Westen nichts Neues, lit. 'In the West Nothing New') is a novel by Erich Maria Remarque, a German veteran of World War I. The book describes the German soldiers' extreme physical and mental stress during the war, and the detachment from civilian life felt by many of these soldiers upon returning home from the front.

The novel was first published in November and December 1928 in the German newspaper Vossische Zeitung and in book form in late January 1929. The book and its sequel, The Road Back (1930), were among the books banned and burned in Nazi Germany. All Quiet on the Western Front sold 2.5 million copies in 22 languages in its first 18 months in print.

In 1930, the book was adapted as an Academy-Award winning film of the same name, directed by Lewis Milestone. It was adapted again in 1979 by Delbert Mann, this time as a television film starring Richard Thomas and Ernest Borgnine.

The English translation by Arthur Wesley Wheen gives the title as All Quiet on the Western Front. The literal translation of "Im Westen nichts Neues" is "In the West Nothing New," with "West" being the Western Front; the phrase refers to the content of an official communiqué at the end of the novel.

Brian Murdoch's 1993 translation would render the phrase as "there was nothing new to report on the Western Front" within the narrative. Explaining his retention of the original book-title, he says:

Although it does not match the German exactly, Wheen's title has justly become part of the English language and is retained here with gratitude.