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Of course situations in literature evolving from the Oedipus legend are not new. However, a recent best-selling novel based almost entirely on an Oedipus derivative is interesting for several reasons. First, the Oedipus basis for the plot of the story does not seem to have been consciously planned by the author. Secondly, although the book has been widely read and reviewed, the present writer, at least, has not seen any Freudian explanation attempted for either the plot of the book itself or for the thousands of readers the book has attracted. The novel to which reference is made is Arch of Triumph, by Erich Maria Remarque (D. Appleton-Century Company, Inc., 1945.)
The most apparent symbol of the book is its title. “Arch” at once suggests an opening, a curved opening at that; its feminine symbolism is unmistakable. The author uses the edifice of the Arc de Triomphe numerous times, symbolizing a deep obsession about women and what they mean to him. Several times darkness and rain are mentioned in reference to the arch. They seem to symbolize the morbidity the author connects with women. Regarding this same apparent obsession, the central character in the story performs an operation on a woman and finds a hidden carcinoma, a suggestion that it is believed women are secretly unhealthy.
The chief character in the book analogous to the “son” in the Oedipus legend, is called “Ravic,” a name which he admits is not his own, but which he retains, he says, because he has a peculiar liking for it. The name, “Ravic,” almost immediately reminds one of its nearest English equivalent, “ravish: to seize and carry away by violence.” Moreover, as Ravic himself is a surgeon, there seems little doubt that he is thus sublimating sadistic feelings, probably inculcated in him because of early treatment by his father.
The first of Ravic's habits which impresses one is his excessive drinking. Indeed, the first action he suggests when he meets a woman early in the book is that they have a drink