The flight into exile is a social phenomenom whose beginnings reach far back into history. It was, and continues to be the subject of diverse literary works. The Night in Lisbon describes it on an individual-subjective level; it places a love story to the forefront, and does so through a first-person narrator, which is what distinguishes it from other novels of exile.
In January 2019, the novel's storyline was staged for the first time at the Maxim Gorki Theater (ger. Maxim-Gorki Theater) in Berlin. The director Hakan Savaş Mican based the play on the novel, drawing attention to the importance that Remarque's work still has today.
The thesis offers a look into the life and work of Erich Maria Remarque. It analyzes the novel The Night in Lisbon, and compares it with the novels Transit by Anna Seghers and Exil by Lion Feuchtwanger. A detailed study of the German literary period of exile and the writer's life, as well as the knowledge of the historical background and the aforementioned comparison permit for a clear analysis of the storyline and the writing technique. Through the narrator's subtle telling of his life sotry, The Night in Lisbon critically defines and describes the lives of people during their fight for freedom.
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