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Beware of Pity

by Stefan Zweig, Phyllis Blewitt (Translator), Trevor Blewitt (Translator)

4.17 of 5 stars 4.17 · rating details · 1,140 ratings · 119 reviews

"Stefan Zweig was a dark and unorthodox artist; it's good to have him back."--Salman Rushdie

The great Austrian writer Stefan Zweig was a master anatomist of the deceitful heart, and Beware of Pity, the only novel he published during his lifetime, uncovers the seed of selfishness within even the finest of feelings.

Hofmiller, an Austro-Hungarian cavalry officer stationed at...more

Paperback, 368 pages

Published June 20th 2006 by NYRB Classics (first published 1939)

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Jun 14, 2012 Chuck LoPresti rated it 4 of 5 stars

Beware of Pity is not going to please anybody that isn't willing to tolerate some anachronistic histrionics in the process of telling a pretty engaging story. The plot is fairly simple: an officer can't stand to offend so he allows himself to be manipulated by a family in need of a love-object/hero to save their invalid daughter. That alone would hardly merit 4 stars but Zweig is a great story teller and what is most important here is the psychological insights of a friend of Freud. Stepping ins...more

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Sep 15, 2012 ندى rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: جديد

موجعه هذه الروايه
مؤلمه احداثها ونهايتها

تمنيت لو انهاانتهت نهايه افضل
لكنها النهايه الملاءمه لقصه الحب التعيسه تلك
التى لم تكن لتكلل بالنجاح

الشفقه
ذلك الشعور الذى دارت حوله القصه
وكيف احس به شخص تجاه فتاه كسيح
لم يكن يعنيه هذا الشعور فى شىءسوى انه ادخل السعاده على قلب الفتاه ن خلال اهتمامه واحس بانه يستطيع ان يقدم شيئا لاى خص

الا ان الفتاه احبته
اعتقدت ان اهتمامه الكبير يعنى حبه لها
ثم ادركت انه لا يتعدى شفقه
فكان ما كان

الروايه مليئه بالمشاعر البالغه التاثير
فى النفس ممن خلال العذاب الذى عاناه البطل...more

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Sep 27, 2011 David rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: nyrb, misery-loves-company

Disclaimer: Despite whatever I say in the following review, and no matter how much I mock Beware of Pity, I did actually enjoy it. To a limited extent.

Stefan Zweig is an enormous drama queen. Every emotion in his novel Beware of Pity is hyperbolic, neon-lit, hammy. His narrator doesn't feel anything as prosaic as mere mere joy. No way. He's more apt to be 'blithe as a twittering bird.' People aren't only surprised; their faces turn white as a specter, their legs threaten to give way, and their w...more Disclaimer: Despite whatever I say in the following review, and no matter how much I mock Beware of Pity, I did actually enjoy it. To a limited extent.

Stefan Zweig is an enormous drama queen. Every emotion in his novel Beware of Pity is hyperbolic, neon-lit, hammy. His narrator doesn't feel anything as prosaic as mere mere joy. No way. He's more apt to be 'blithe as a twittering bird.' People aren't only surprised; their faces turn white as a specter, their legs threaten to give way, and their whole being roils with inner turbulence. And these reactions aren't even for big surprises—like, I don't know, World War I—but rather for banal things like the mail being late and the improper buttoning of one's dinner jacket. (I'm slightly exaggerating. But only very slightly.)

This book was written in the 1930s. If you didn't know that, however, you'd be just as likely to think it was written in the 1830s. Stylistically speaking, Zweig completely missed the memo on literary modernism. It's as if it never happened. He embraces the hopelessly stodgy language [at this in translated form] and hyperdescription of the (worst of the) 19th century. There is no emotion or thought or physical appearance which manifests an emotion or thought that he will not describe into the fucking ground. He bombards you with loooong paragraphs seeking to explain the most obvious and commonplace emotional responses to you (again, in hyperbolic form) as if you are a cyborg who is newly assimilating human experience. In other words, Zweig thinks you're a moron. He doesn't trust you to know what embarrassment, hand-holding, intoxication, guilt, or hearing strange noises feels like. But he'll try his damndest to explain 'em all to ya, ya inexperienced rube. Have you been living in your bubble boy bubble all these years? Zweig's got your ass covered.

If you trimmed all the fat, this novel probably would have been one hundred pages instead of 350. And that's a conservative estimate of the editorial purges required. But the story at the center of all this prissy, rococo language is... yes, interesting. The narrator recounts (at length) how as a twenty-five-year-old lieutenant in the Austro-Hungarian Imperial Army, he met this young crippled woman and accidentally asked her to dance at a party. Oops! (Can you imagine the descriptions of his profound embarrassment? He actually FLEES the party. Total elbows and ass goin' on here.) This minor incident sets off a chain of melodramatic events in which his pity for the absurd little cripple ruins him. His pity takes over his whole life. He actually makes a career of it. He just spends all his time kissing the ass of this incredibly bitchy crippled girl. (view spoiler)

The melodrama is—I can't lie—occasionally nauseating. You just want to smack the living shit out of the narrator, the cripple, and everyone else because they're all so emotionally volatile all the time. They're either sweating and shaking or glowing with joy like a nuclear holocaust or trying to kill themselves. (Interesting side note: Zweig and his wife killed themselves together while living in South America just a few years after this novel was published.)

The single most galling thing about this whole novel—and there are quite a few things to be galled about—is that four pages before the end, the narrator has the audacity to say: 'Melodramatic phrases revolt me.'

Hahahahahahahahahaha! <--That's the laughter which accompanies madness, by the way.(less)

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Dec 04, 2012 Sahar rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: مترجمة-للعربية

حذار من الشفقة أو التضحية الزائدة.. احترم طاقتك البشرية.. لا تفرط في العطاء دون حساب حتى إذا ما انتهت طاقتك لا تُتهم بالخذلان وتوصم بالجبن والخيانة
هناك أشخاص معدودين في الحياة فقط ارتبط بهم قدرنا بالفعل علينا أن نؤدي لهم هذا الواجب دون تفكير لكن غير هذا علينا الحذر

الرواية رائعة.. تصور المشاعر الإنسانيةودواخل النفس بإتقان.. مذكور في المقدمة أنها رواية حقيقة سمعها الكاتب من لسان بطل القصة نفسه

لكن النهاية.. كنت أتمنى ألا يظل حبيس هواجسه المميتة تلك.. كنت أتمنى أن يجد سبيله للسلام النفسي
تقديره المبا...more

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Jun 12, 2011 Marwah A rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, wish-list

نصحني بها شخص وحذرني بأن من يقرأها ستتحرك بداخله الشفقه بشكل لم يعتاده
عدت لاعدل الريفيو لانه اكتمل اثرها الان في نفسي و احسست بأني كتبت كلمات قليلة في حقها

نظره سريعه للرواية:
تتكلم عن فتاة مقعدة يشفق عليها شخص في الجيش على ما اذكر ويبدأ يزورها باستمرار للترويح عنها
وتبدأ هي تقع في حبه لكنها احست بشفقته وعاطفته تجاهها كان هذا الشئ يضايقها لكنها تجاهلته
هي كانت تحبه لدافع الحب وهو احبها بدافع الشفقة وتقدم لخطبتها ايضا بناءا على ذلك

وللرواية احداث اخرى مأساوية

هذه نبذه عن الروايه ولكن اريد ان اضيف اشي...more

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Apr 23, 2013 Howard rated it 3 of 5 stars

This is the only full novel by this novella writing Austrian author Zweig in 1939. I’m not familiar with his other works. I understand he committed suicide in 1942 in exile from Germany in New York.

Beware of Pity is classically another one of those novels which can be summarised in one sentence “Honourable soldier feels pity but not love for a young, rich disabled woman; what social and family pressures come to bear?”. I wonder if you could guess where it will all end? Ok so now you know the sto...more This is the only full novel by this novella writing Austrian author Zweig in 1939. I’m not familiar with his other works. I understand he committed suicide in 1942 in exile from Germany in New York.

Beware of Pity is classically another one of those novels which can be summarised in one sentence “Honourable soldier feels pity but not love for a young, rich disabled woman; what social and family pressures come to bear?”. I wonder if you could guess where it will all end? Ok so now you know the story and have guessed the conclusion why would you read the 360 pages?

The style is concise, slightly detached feeling, formula but I suppose captivating nonetheless. The period of Austro-Hungarian empire decline leading up to the First World War is certainly engaging if not perhaps highly realistic or brutal. We get to know the life of 25 year old Anton Hofmiller in the army as an officer though we only get glimpses of the ranks; His disabled fancy is 17 year old Edith Kekesfaha who is the daughter of wealthy novo-riche elderly widowed business man and we get to know the richness of the times for them (telephones, cars etc). The other main character and in many respects the most interesting is Doctor Emmerich Condor who cares (emotionally too) for the incurable Edith as best he can (perhaps showing where pity can lead i.e. happily married)

There really isn’t a lot to dislike about this story assuming you like this sort of story. I however do have reservations: it does feel overly dated and though one accepts you need to accommodate the history of the times and not press too much on the modernist view of things: words like cripple, lame etc are used a lot and you do think some reactions/events in the story overly simplistic and Anton a bit of a wimp. Secondly the author is quite liberal with the “pity” is quite unsubtle ways (much like those annoying voiceovers in films when you say to yourself – ‘yes I know what the story’s about, just stop talking’). Finally I did hope that with the entry and conclusion through WW1, somehow I expected a gutsier or more poignant ending.

A quote: “Never had I, even in my wildest dreams, imagined that invalids, cripples, the immature, the prematurely aged, the despised and rejected, the pariahs among human beings, dared to love”

Ok. A fine novel, 5 if you really like this sort of story which I do, yet I somehow expected a little more so only 3 stars even for me.
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Oct 27, 2012 Anna rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011, austria, stefan-zweig

О Цвейг, милый Цвейг! Кажется, я окончательно замучила всех окружающих меня людей пиаром твоего имени. Но ты действительно поразил меня. Уже очень давно я не испытывала такого буйства чувств, как при прочтении любой твоей новеллы или романа.

Началось все со случайной покупки сборника исторических рассказов "Звездные часы человечества". Фамилия автора показалась знакомой, да и название на корешке заинтересовало. И знаете, я люблю историю, но не настолько, чтобы читать исторические романы. Но Цвей...more О Цвейг, милый Цвейг! Кажется, я окончательно замучила всех окружающих меня людей пиаром твоего имени. Но ты действительно поразил меня. Уже очень давно я не испытывала такого буйства чувств, как при прочтении любой твоей новеллы или романа.

Началось все со случайной покупки сборника исторических рассказов "Звездные часы человечества". Фамилия автора показалась знакомой, да и название на корешке заинтересовало. И знаете, я люблю историю, но не настолько, чтобы читать исторические романы. Но Цвейг каким-то волшебством превратил историю в увлекательное приключение по просторам человеческой души.

После столь внушительного знакомства, просто необходимо было углубиться в мир этого автора дальше. Я купила еще один сборник новелл, на этот раз уже без намеков на историческое начало, и заодно скачала все остальные творения Цвейга в электронном формате. Это были отличные дни, когда мир останавливался во время чтения. Амок, 24 часа из жизни женщины, страх, летняя новелла. Все эти небольшие рассказы настолько прекрасны! Каждый хорош по своему и обязательно закончен.

Больше всего, конечно, Стефан Цвейг концентрирует наше внимание на психологии, разбирает те или иные поступки человека, намекает на то, что происходит с его душой и разумом. И замечательный роман "Нетерпение сердца" является примером именно психологического разбора молодости, гордости и жуткой зависимости от чужого мнения. Невероятной силы книга держит все время держит тебя в эмоциональном напряжении. Несколько раз я действительно чувствовала глубокую боль, сопереживая Эдит и ее отцу. А после прочтения... я ожидала, что такой конец возможен, но он все равно невыносим... Несколько дней я не могла отойти от этого состояния опустошения, некоторого рода гнева и печали.

Если вы уже начала знакомство со Стефаном Цвейгом, я очень настойчиво советую найти "Нетерпение сердца" и погрузиться в него на несколько дней. Это действительно стоит того.
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Feb 12, 2012 Olivia rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book has a compelling theme - the negative consequences of the "wrong" kind of pity - but a sort of weird moral I could not get into. Basically, there is a good kind of pity, and that is the type of pity where you sacrifice yourself for the person you pity. I can't really get into that philosophy, and by the end I was somewhat annoyed by the narrator.

Nonetheless, it was a good story, and I empathised with the narrator, even if I found him annoying. In a way, it's one of the best portrayals...more This book has a compelling theme - the negative consequences of the "wrong" kind of pity - but a sort of weird moral I could not get into. Basically, there is a good kind of pity, and that is the type of pity where you sacrifice yourself for the person you pity. I can't really get into that philosophy, and by the end I was somewhat annoyed by the narrator.

Nonetheless, it was a good story, and I empathised with the narrator, even if I found him annoying. In a way, it's one of the best portrayals of a particular type of person's struggle with the horrible realities of our unfair life - whom do you save? how can you just abandon these people?

(Another negative thing: it annoyed me a ridiculous amount that the cover of this book has a quote from Colin First, saying "I was riveted by it!" Who cares what Colin Firth thinks?)

--- FAVOURITE QUOTES ---

"... as is borne out by experience, the instinct of self-deception in human beings makes them try to banish from their minds dangers of which at bottom they are perfectly aware by declaring them non-existent, and a warning such as mine against cheap optimism was bound to prove particularly unwelcome" (16)

"But it was never the suffering that one pictured to oneself, that one imagined, that stunned and devastated one; it was only what one had seen in the flesh with eyes of compassion, that stirred and shattered one." (54)

"For the first time I began to perceive that true sympathy cannot be switched on and off like an electric current, that anyone who identifies himself with the fate of another is robbed to some extent of his own freedom." (76)

"I am sorry, but medicine has nothing to do with morals; every illness is in itself an anarchistic phenomenon, a revolt against nature, and one must therefore employe every means to fight it, every means." (160)

"On that evening I was God. I had created the world, and lo! it was full of goodness and justice. I had created a human being; her forehead gleamed like the morning, and a rainbow of happiness was mirrored in her eyes. ... I felt with pride that mankind loved the light that went forth from me, and I took its love and grew drunk on it. They offered me wine, and I drained my glass to the dregs. They offered me fruits and all manner of good things, and I rejoiced in their gifts. they offered me reverence and gratitude, and I rejoiced in their gifts." (316)

"A man of limited vision is hard to bear in any sphere in which he is invested with power, but in the army he is intolerable." (334)(less)

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Jun 03, 2011 Nikitabanana rated it 4 of 5 stars

Set in the months leading up to World War I and in an out-of-the-way Austrian garrison town, Beware of Pity is about Hofmiller, a young cavalry officer stationed at the town. Poor and from an undistinguished family, Hofmiller is uncomfortable among his fellow officers, most of whom are wealthy which makes him especially protective of his reputation and honor. When a friend secures him an invitation to the home of Herr von Kekesfalva, the local landowner and richest man in town, Hofmiller is thri...more Set in the months leading up to World War I and in an out-of-the-way Austrian garrison town, Beware of Pity is about Hofmiller, a young cavalry officer stationed at the town. Poor and from an undistinguished family, Hofmiller is uncomfortable among his fellow officers, most of whom are wealthy which makes him especially protective of his reputation and honor. When a friend secures him an invitation to the home of Herr von Kekesfalva, the local landowner and richest man in town, Hofmiller is thrilled, and goes to the dinner determined to represent himself as a gentleman of the highest class. At the end of the evening, drunk on good wine and good company, Hofmiller realizes that he has made the faux pas of failing to ask his host’s daughter, eighteen year old Edith, to dance, but when he does so the girl reacts in horror and hysteria. Having arrived late to dinner, Hofmiller has not had the chance to see that Edith is paralyzed, and once he realizes his mistake he is nearly as horrified as Edith was and immediately leaves the party.
What could have simply ended as a mortifying incident Hofmiller would shudder to look back on in later years balloons into a full-scale entanglement with the Kekesfalva family when Hofmiller, feeling terrible for his actions (and selfishly worried that his behavior might become known among his fellow officers), sends Edith flowers as an apology and accepts her invitation to call on her. As he enters into a friendship with Edith he pats himself on the back and sees himself a Good Samaritan, bringing this poor crippled girl some happiness to brighten up her otherwise sad, lonely life. As he is able to charm and calm Edith during her terrible temper tantrums, he finds himself drawn deeper and deeper into the family’s troubles also pitying Edith’s long suffering cousin Ilona and Edith’s father who is obsessed with finding a cure that would enable his only child to walk again. Hofmiller is plied with gifts, luxuries and status to keep him coming back. For Hofmiller, however, the appeal of his friendship with Edith isn’t the material gains it offers but the sense of belonging, importance and self-satisfaction it allows him to feel.

Hofmiller develops a dysfunctional relationship with both Edith and her father. Though unhealthy, the friendship is, at least at first, mutually beneficial, but soon Hofmiller finds himself being asked to do more and more for the Kekesfalvas, while the consequences of refusing them grow more dire. When Edith’s physician Doctor Condor visits the estate for a regular checkup, Kekesfalva asks Hofmiller to get an honest assessment out of the man as to Edith’s chances of recovery. Condor tells Hofmiller that there is at present no cure for Edith’s condition, but the young man can’t bring himself to destroy the desperate and obviously ill Kekesfalva, and wildly exaggerates the faint promise of a new treatment until the family believes that Edith’s ability to walk again is assured. Soon after, Edith professes her love for him (to which he was the only one who was unaware); he is at first disgusted but soon realizes that his refusal to marry her would surely lead the girl to suicide. In a way,Hofmiller reminds me of Hamlet. At each step of this journey he is crippled with indecision which eventually leads to disaster and tragedy. This book is simultaneously old-fashioned and strangely modern. The Victorian-era language masks the contemporary conflicting human impulses to help others and also free ourselves from their need.
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Jan 10, 2010 Jan rated it 4 of 5 stars

"Beware of Pity" is a great psychological portrait of an officer in the Austrian army, right before the outbreak of the great war. At the outset, young Anton Hofmiller commits a terrible social gaffe by asking the crippled daughter of a local noble to dance, and it is in saving face that he embarks on a journey of pity, honor, and obligation, plunging ever deeper into her life and her family's.

Stefan Zweig paints an excellent portrait of a young man torn by conflicting feelings, constantly turni...more

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Mar 25, 2012 Safaa Al-nablsi rated it 2 of 5 stars

الرواية تتحدث عن أحد المشاعر الإنسانية "الشفقة" و التي يمكن أن تكون سلاحا" ذي حدين ...
قد تودي بصاحبها و بمن حوله إلى التهلكة إذا لم يعرف كيف يضع حدا" لها و كيف يتعامل معها بحكمة ....
• الشفقة لا يمكن أن تتحول لحب ....
• إعطاء الأمل الكاذب لشخص ما هو جريمة و السعادة التي سيعيش فيها بهذا الأمل الكاذب ستنقلب عليه فيما بعد و سيدفع ثمنها غاليا" ..
• عليك أن تتحمل نتائج "شفقتك " على شخص ما ... إذا سببت له عذابا" ...
• يمكنك أن تهرب من الناس و لكن لا يمكنك الهروب من نفسك مهما فعلت .. سيظل ذنبك حبيس صدرك ....more

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Jul 12, 2007 Namrirru rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: europe

Very interesting story and characters. What was kind of annoying, I think was supposed to annoy the reader. The protagonist over-analyzes everything! Very little happens in the course of the book, but the reader is fooled into thinking that this is some horrific drama because of his exaggerated insecurities. He's touchy, impressionable, unsure of himself, and kind of wimpy. And on and on he goes. It suits his character and reminds me of people I've known like this in real life.

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Jun 11, 2012 Stela rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: reviews, stream-of-consciousness

Uitasem ca se poate scrie si asa - cam de mult nu mi-am mai aruncat privirea peste subtila proza psihologica interbelica, cu analizele si introspectiile sale, cu naratorul la persoana I care pune sub lupa si evenimentele si sentimentele, cu sutele de pagini in care nu se intimpla mare lucru, dar cu acel netagaduit farmec al melodiilor vechi, unde auzi în fundal acul pe vinil.
Pe scurt, romanul este o ilustrare a dictonului "iadul e pavat cu intentii bune" si nu degeaba titlul variantei engleze es...more

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Jun 08, 2010 Barbara A rated it 2 of 5 stars

I was pleased to be introduced to an important and influential writer with whom I was unfamiliar. To be so is always something of a gift. Having said that, nothing but determination made me finish the book. Between Joan Acoella's introduction; the author's forward; and his technique of foreshadowing though stream-of-thought consciousness, there was really no story to tell---everything had been telegraphed (or emailed?) ahead.

Interestingly, I happened to find,just last night,a reference to Zweig...more

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Mar 13, 2011 Nick Duretta rated it 4 of 5 stars

A vulnerable, weak-willed Austrian cavalry horsesoldier is caught up in a damaging relationship with a paraplegic, wealthy young woman in the months before the outbreak of World War I. His attraction to her family's wealth and status, and the impact that has on his standing as a young officer--plus his pity for her sorry condition--entice him to spend time with her. She's skillful at manipulating peoples' pity and sees in him a ripe victim. She confesses her love to him as a means of trapping hi...more

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May 17, 2013 Joseph Smith rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is heavyweight, sophisticated artwork literature at its best.

What other medium, other than the book, can render with such convincing fidelity the internal workings of a mind? Zweig does this brilliantly: charting the detailed thoughts and emotions of the youthful protagonist, through a stately plot, devoid of earth-shattering events or needless drama. This may sound like a recipe for a dull read - but far from it - it is both highly readable and at times enthralling. Zweig binds the reader...more

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Dec 05, 2011 David rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: narrativa

Qué bien escribía Zeiwg!! Magnifica, perturbadora novela sobre la inseguridad en uno mismo, la compasión y el sentimiento de culpa. Algunos de los personajes principales son tullidos o tienen graves limitaciones físicas: una inválida, una ciega, un viejo enfermo, que malviven con sus inseguridades, sus remordimientos; el narrador padece una debilidad de carácter psíquico – lo que se muestra en sus constantes huidas, en su constante búsqueda de apoyos en los demás, en los episodios de angustia y...more

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Dec 05, 2011 Bettie rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Brazilliant and Radio Listeners

Shelves: radio-4, autumn-2011, austria, published-1939, winter-20112012

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

Classic serial in two parts - Stefan Zweig's story of a young man and the effect that his pity for a young crippled girl has on both their lives. Looking forward to this.

blurb - Stefan Zweig is a remarkable writer who had a remarkable life, but is not nearly as well known as he deserves to be, as Simon Gray discovered when he was attracted by the cover of his only novel, Beware of Pity.

Simon Gray took the book on holiday with him and used it as an escape from worrying about his cancer and the l...more

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Feb 26, 2013 Jayne rated it 3 of 5 stars

I read this after reading THe Post Office Girl, and I'm glad I did, because if I had read this first, I probably wouldn't have experienced the other.

The writing is first class, that is not in doubt, but the subject matter is so terribly dour, it made me feel rather depressed. A young, callow army officer makes a social gaffe by asking a crippled girl to dance, then as he tries to make up for it, he finds himself being drawn into her world. The title is clever, as pitying the girl ultimately dest...more

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Jan 02, 2013 Sarah Ellen Rogers rated it 5 of 5 stars

The doorman in my building (a Romanian named Moses) recommended this book to me. He told me "it is life."

After I read it, I understand what he meant. Everything in this book seems so familiar, even though it takes place in the early twentieth century, and revolves around an Austrian cavalry officer's relationship with a high society family. It fires off insight after insight into human psychology with every new revelation.

It's also beautifully written. You know how you tend to skim over sectio...more

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Jan 20, 2013 Anne rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: classics

BEWARE OF PITY by Stefan Zweig
takes place on the Hungarian Frontier during the late years of the Austro-Hungarian Empire 1913-1914. As reviewer Joan Acocella writes, "Edith is narcissistic, imperious, a diva of pain." Crippled by illness she ensnares Lieutenant Hofmiller into her web by manipulating his emotions. Pity for the unfortunate cripple draws him to the Kekesflava estate. But this naive, indecisive young military man is not able to tolerate the idea of loving Edith for what would peopl...more

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Feb 03, 2013 Heather James rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book was recommended to me by a family friend and I'm really pleased that I got the opportunity to read it.

It is set just prior to the beginning of World War One and follows a young solider who falls prey to his own pity and desire to do good, ultimately (and inevitably) causing heartache and disaster through his actions. The story offers an excellent insight into human failings and explores its protagonist's decision making process in great depth. There was one, very interesting quirk to...more

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Aug 21, 2012 Anna rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is a terrific book. Sweig's greatest triumph is to make a slow detailed evocation of the sense of duty in the pre first world war Austro-Hungarian cavalry into such a page turner. Z apparently was a great admirer of Henry James and Hofmiller's dilemma is very like that of the young man in The Wings of a Dove.
Hofmiller's character is cunningly evoked, his slight self importance, his naive delight at the splendour of the entertainment at the castle, his anxieties, his blindness to the situat...more

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Dec 23, 2011 Paul Blakemore rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: favourites

This is one of the best books I've ever read. It does everything that really great books should do. It takes the idea of pity and really explores it as a human emotion. It left me feeling as if I might be a bit wiser about how to be a decent human being. On top of that, it is readable and I found it a bit of a page-turner due to the brilliant characters.

It is so cleverly constructed too; a layering of narrative on narrative so that as each person tells a story or relates a rumour they all begin...more

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Sep 26, 2012 Ahmed rated it 5 of 5 stars

كتب علي ظهر الروايه " ان الشيء الذي بين يديك هو اعظم ما انتج العقل البشري علي مر العصور "
في معرض الكتاب وكنت صغير ،، لما قريت اللي علي ظهر الروايه ضحكت باستفزاز والصراع بدأ يلعب لعبته ،، معقوله الروايه اللي حجمها يكاد يكون حجم قصه يتكتب علي ظهرها كدا ،، واشتريتها بعد حوار مع تاجر كتب تاني عشان يرجعلي كتاب من الكتب اللي اشتريتها لاني ماكانش معايا فلوس غير المواصلات ،، اخدتها وروحت عالبيت وبالليل بدأت في قرائتها وبدأت احس ان اللي كنت بتريق علي صغر حجمها بدأت تتضخم بين ايديا وكل ما اقرا تتضخم اكتر...more

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Feb 15, 2011 Stacy rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011, ru

Is it possible to be so irritated by some book's characters that you really want to burn this book? If you haven't experienced something like that and want to know how this happens - read this one.

Irritation. That is the only word I can use describing the novel.
I honestly read half of the book (as I don't like to leave things unfinished), but the other half - just some sentences from each page. And believe me - you won't miss anything. Because there are only - thoughts, descriptions, feelings,...more

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Aug 27, 2011 Alex rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: literature

Tour de force!!! --The intensity and richness of the psychological imagery is what novel is good for (and other media such as film or painting cannot reach) and Zweig crafted a peerless specimen in this aspect. In addition, all major characters are so moving and heroic yet they together make none other than hopeless tragedy, whereby the author presents to readers a poignant question nobody can answer. Also there are excellent suspensions and surprises. Nothing in this novel seems cliché or borro...more

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Oct 07, 2011 Ferris rated it 5 of 5 stars

Stefan Zweig's treatise on the dark nature of pity is a fantastic read for several reasons. The plot is a page turner with deeply developed characters such as the narrator, Anton Hofmiller, an Austrian cavalry officer who struggles with the inner voices of pity, honor, and self-indulgence. There is Edith von Kekesfalva the beautiful, tempestuous lame girl whose ambivalence about her plight is the cause of the undoing of multiple characters and Doctor Condor, the physician who espouses fascinatin...more

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Jan 27, 2013 Zirk rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

What a joy to reach such a beautifully presented and old-fashioned European novel! But there is a downside.

The translator's note at the end reveals that Zweig typically wrote his novels and then edited them down to novella or short story length. This book would have benefited from similar treatment. While immensely enjoyable, it is at least twice as long as it needs to be. I found myself skimming through many of the book's detours and sententious passages about inessential topics.

Still, it convi...more

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Aug 11, 2011 Kostas rated it 5 of 5 stars

I just finished the book and all I can say it's just an astonishing read.Writer's ability to make you feel the climax of all these emotions really makes the reader part of the novel. Despite someone finding the social context a bit demode, the feelings and emotions are there to be felt in the same way as back then,not much have changed after all and pity is indeed an emotion underated both in life and literature. And if the plot is not as exciting for some readers,there are really extracts of su...more

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About Stefan Zweig

Stefan Zweig was one of the world's most famous writers during the 1920s and 1930s, especially in the U.S., South America and Europe. He produced novels, plays, biographies and journalist pieces. Among his most famous works are Beware of Pity, Letter from and Unknown Woman and Mary, Queen of Scotland and the Isles. He and his second wife committed suicide in 1942.

Zweig studied in Austria, France,...more

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Marie Antoinette: The Portrait of an Average Woman

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“No guilt is forgotten so long as the conscience still knows of it.” — 31 people liked it

“ولأول مرة في حياتي بدأت اتبين ان الضعف - لا الشر، ولا الوحشية - هو المسئول عن اسوأ الكوارث التي تقع في هذه الدنيا !” — 4 people liked it

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