Features of the Implementation of the Concepts "Belief VS. Unbelief" in E. M. Remarque's Novels "The Black Obelisk" and "Love Thy Neighbor"

The object of the presented article is a comparative analysis of two novels by one of the most famous anti-fascist writers, Erich Maria Remarque – "The Black Obelisk" (1956) and "All Quiet on the Western Front" (1939) – through the lens of the concepts of "Faith (Glaube)" vs. "Unbelief (Glaube)." The author emphasizes the difference in the thematic context of the two novels: the novel "The Black Obelisk" reflects the economic crisis of the Weimar Republic, while "All Quiet on the Western Front" is an émigré novel. Special attention is given to the consideration of the personal fates of the characters, often with autobiographical references to the life of E.M. Remarque himself. The problem of searching for faith in conditions of crisis and unbelief is revealed. This work pays particular attention to the associative and figurative layers of the concepts. The comparative examination of Remarque's works determined the use of the comparative method (applied to the poetics of the text), while addressing the concept as the primary research tool – the method of cognitive text analysis (distinguishing figurative and associative levels). Such an approach, in our opinion, aligns with the modern trend in comparative literature studies – the striving for interdisciplinarity (the combination of literary studies and linguistics). The main conclusions of the conducted research indicate that despite the different realizations of the concepts of "Faith (Glaube)" vs. "Unbelief (Glaube)" in the examined novels (the call for mercy, love, and spiritual responsibility towards one’s neighbor characterizing faith as the highest value guiding the principles of human behavior (individual) in "All Quiet on the Western Front" and spiritual decline and the search for meaning in chaos, reflecting the state of the "lost generation" in "The Black Obelisk"), for E.M. Remarque, faith and unbelief emerge as complex, interpenetrating concepts reflecting the deep contradictions of the era. The scientific novelty of the work lies in the following: a comparative analysis of Remarque's novels from the perspective of understanding faith and unbelief has not been conducted earlier, making the presented research relevant for expanding the interpretative possibilities of perceiving the writer's creativity and comprehending his humanistic position in the context of 20th-century German and world literature.