The famous German writer, author of the novels "Three Comrades", "Arc de Triomphe" and many other wonderful works, was able, like no one else, to speak about the most tragic aspects of life simply and concisely. The inevitability of death, the price of true love, is dedicated to the book of Remarque. A summary of one of them, “Life on loan,” is the topic of this article.
Life and death
The protagonist of this novel is a twenty-four-year-old girl named Lillian. She is terminally ill. The last years of her life are connected with a man who can hardly understand her. Lilian throws money down the drain. He is his life. The girl has very little left. He has a lifetime. He is not afraid to lose her and most of all loves to play with death. The summary (“Life on loan”) should begin with a description of the life of the main characters.
Lillian
It's not so easy to read a novel or watch a feature film about a person who is terminally ill. But the summary (“Life on loan”) for some reason makes me want to get acquainted with the original of this work. Liliane Dunkern suffers from an incurable form of tuberculosis. The last years the girl spends in a sanatorium, which is located in one of the most picturesque places in the world - in the Alps. But how can one enjoy the beauties of nature when death is at hand? Is it really possible to spend the last years in quiet solitude, when real life is seething outside the hospital?
The summary (“Life on loan”) may not reveal the nature of the main female image, but it will make you ponder over eternal questions about why a person comes to this world and what he experiences when he has only a short time to enjoy the greatest gift. How can one “live out” a person who is only twenty-four years old and above all else, striving to live in the full sense of the word?
Lilian resigned herself to her diagnosis. All she hopes for is to experience as many vivid impressions as possible in recent years. And suddenly a forty-year-old racer appears on her way.
They have a lot in common. But later it turns out that his views are very different from her thoughts. And this is not surprising, because he is healthy ...
Clerfe
In order to portray the tragic fate of a dying girl as brightly as possible, the image of the racer Erich Maria Remarque introduced into the novel. “Life on loan,” a summary of which is presented in this article, is dedicated to a short period in the life of Clerfe and Lilian.
The novel begins from the moment when the race driver, heading to the sanatorium, in order to visit his friend, meets a man unpleasant, in his opinion, on the way. In company with this man is a young woman. Subsequently, Clerfe's acquaintance with this particular person will change all his plans.
Soul mates
This young woman is Lilian. Later, visiting her friend Holman in the sanatorium, Clerfe met a girl. Why did Erich Maria Remarque portray the interweaving of the fate of so different people in his novel? “Life on loan,” the summary of which does not include quite important quotes from the work, may not provide an answer to this question. The fact is that at the first meeting, Lilian decided that Clerfe was exactly the person who could understand her. And only much later, outside the sanatorium, she will be corrupted by his cynical attitude to life.
But now, being in the walls of a comfortable hospital, she dreams of only one thing. Lillian realizes that she has very little left. And she dreams of the last, brightest flash in her life. Acquaintance with a young racing driver adds confidence in the implementation of her plan.
They look alike. Both Lilian and Clerfe have no future. He lives until the next car race. She is until the next bleeding.
What is a summary of Remarque's Life on a Loan? The story of a young woman who burns the last years of her life, and a rider who has been assigned a lot, but he is not able to appreciate it. What will the brief content of the book “Life on loan” not give an idea? About how a German writer talentedly combined the fate of two different people in his work, and with the help of this psychological device made readers around the world think about the main value of a person - life. Reviews from this book are unambiguous. For half a century, Remarque's novel does not leave readers indifferent. This work has been translated into all European languages. Based on it, more than one feature film was shot.
Life at Montana
At the invitation of his new acquaintance, Lilian leaves the sanatorium. But first it must be said what caused this reckless act. Lilian did not want to live in the hospital in recent years. But she did not have the determination to leave her walls. In addition, her friend was constantly nearby, the same gentleman, unpleasant in the eyes of Clerfe. This man’s name was Boris Volkov. As for Lilian herself, a few words should be said about her life before treatment in a sanatorium.
In this work depicted the post-war years of Remarque. “Life on loan,” a brief summary of which follows, is a story about a girl in whose fate the consequences of the war played a fatal role. Lilian is a Belgian. She miraculously managed to escape from the Nazis. But the constant malnutrition during the war for her health did not pass without a trace.
The sanatorium employs caring, highly qualified doctors. Staying here, the patient can hope that with the help of specialists his life will last for several years. But the smell of death is in the air of this place.
Clerfe gives Lilian flowers, and in them she recognizes those that she laid on the coffin of her dead friend. On the first day of arrival, the race car driver walks around the territory of the hospital and finds himself near the entrance to the crematorium. All this leads to the fact that Clerfe invites Lilian to go with him to Paris. The girl, of course, accepts this offer. And from this episode, a brief summary should be given in more detail (“Life on loan”). Erich Remarck, however, is a master of dialogue. Its idea cannot be fully understood without reading the work in its entirety.
In Paris
Clerfe and Lillian are heading to the French capital in his race car. In Paris, they stay at the first hotel they come across. A relative of the girl lives in the city - an eighty-year-old man named Gaston. This man settles in money, which by law is due to Lillian. Feeling the unique smell of freedom that she had dreamed about for so long, being in an alpine sanatorium, the girl goes to her relative.
Having received the money, Lillian begins to spend it right and left. She goes into the most fashionable and expensive stores, buys herself an unthinkable amount of dresses. At the restaurant she orders exotic dishes and fine wines. Gaston, witnessing such extravagance, is perplexed. But he does not know anything about the illness of his young relative, and she, in turn, does not want to sadden the mood with sad news.
Why did Remarque name his work “Life on loan”? The novel, a brief summary of which is the subject of this article, depicts the psychological state of a person close to death. There is an opinion that it is in this state that people are able to understand the main thing in their life and see what is not given to healthy people.
Teenage woman
At first, after the sanatorium, in Liliane Clerfe sees a spoiled, overly demanding teenager. He is leaving Paris. And upon returning, Lillian does not recognize. Before him is a beautiful, confident young woman. And Clerfe falls in love.
In the novel there is another female image - Lydia Morelli. This woman is Clerfe's mistress, but in vain he hopes to see any signs of jealousy in Lilian's behavior. Life is too expensive for this girl. She has no way to waste her on feelings and affection for another person.
In Rome
At one of the races, Clerfe gets injured. But, despite this, he still continues to participate in the competition. It was at that moment that Lilian realized that she would not be able to restrain her feelings for Clerfe. And she leaves Paris.
In the capital of Italy, Lilian spends time in the same spirit, visiting restaurants and theaters. She strives at all costs to get from life what she missed over the years of illness. And in the whirlpool of impressions and new acquaintances, she does not attach importance even to the fact that her scarf became completely scarlet from blood.
Clerfe's death
For those days that Lillian was absent in Paris, the race car driver could not find a place. He was waiting for a telegram from his lover or any other news. And when she returned, the first thing he did was offer to become his wife. Lilian refused to Clerfe. And later, she completely decided to end all relations with him. They seemed too hopeless to her, given the incurable disease. But Clerfe Lillian did not have time to announce the breakup. By cruel irony of fate, a man got into a car accident and died without regaining consciousness.
After the death of Clerfe, Lilian returned to the sanatorium. But she lived only a month and a half.