Erich Maria Remarque and Arno Surminski (problem of interaction of literary tradition in the war prose)

The paper deals with the comparative analysis of the structure of main characters in the classic novel of the First World War prose All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque and the work by the contemporary German author Arno Surminski Fatherland without Fathers (Vaterland ohne Voter). The analysis is based on the narrative model of "initiation", which is regarded as the basis of the war prose. The author identifies the events that implement the motif model (e. g., death, contrasting of the past and present, frontline friendship, social adaptation, etc.) at the corresponding stages of the literary hero's "initiation". It is based on the traditional (three-part) scenario of initiation, whereby the initiated gets away from people, undergoes death-transformation, and is finally reborn as a different person. It has been found that while the medieval epics were characterized by the transformation of a war participant into the image of the hero, in the works by Remarque and Surminski the motif of rebirth in the model core is replaced with the motif of disappointment with what is happening (emergence of the lost generation literature). The motif of symbolic death, which was originally in the model core, does not change its position. However, it acquires a plot-shaping function as it ceases to be associated with the transformation of the literary hero's image (due to the change in functions) and is implemented together with the motif of meeting the enemy. The stages of initiation also change along with the development of the war prose. The initial stages (getting away from people, symbolic death, rebirth) are transformed into the stages of growing up, frontline everyday life and rebirth (in the image of the unknown soldier).