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Amok and Other Stories

Stefan Zweig,

Anthea Bell (Translation)

4.07 · Rating details · 17,431 ratings · 1,240 reviews

A doctor in the Dutch East Indies torn between his medical duty to help and his own mixed emotions; a middle-aged maidservant whose devotion to her master leads her to commit a terrible act; a hotel waiter whose love for an unapproachable aristocratic beauty culminates in an almost lyrical death, and a prisoner-of-war longing to be home again in Russia. In these four stori ...more

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Paperback, Pushkin Collection, 144 pages

Published February 23rd 2007 by Pushkin Press (first published 1922)

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Oct 24, 2010 karen rated it really liked it

Shelves: i-joined-a-bookclub, littry-fiction, hey-shorty, not-a-polyglot

no, guys, it isn't that zweig...

i am grateful for my book club for wrenching me out of the world of teen fiction, if only momentarily. even though i have been enjoying some of the teen stuff, sometimes i just want to read about someone older than myself. otherwise i just feel elderly and out of touch.

this book contains four short stories; three parts devotion, one part despair.i am not sure if this review is the road to spoiler city, but i am going to discuss the situation that links these four ...more

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Jun 22, 2014 Kalliope rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2014, austro-hungary, fiction-german

This is yet another gripping novella by Zweig.

In his memoirs, The World of Yesterday, he describes his method of composition. It was based on one word: trimming. He would write and write, and then his most enjoyable activity was cutting things out and paring his writing to the bone. It seems that he would cut 100,000 words to half that.

May be that is his secret for his ability to allure the reader so very fast and so unceasingly. He identified the essential, that which leads and captivates the a ...more

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Aug 13, 2018 Adam Dalva rated it liked it

This is just a review of the title story, which Pushkin Press is selling separately as a novella. As with all Zweig novellas that I've read except for the phenomenal CHESS STORY, the fascination lies mostly in the outer frame, in which (inevitably), a writer who is essentially Stefan Zweig is approached by a strange person with a story to tell. I love that he consistently does this - it feels like a move that is at once from an older idea of literature (the "found" picaresque works, etc.) and fe ...more

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Aug 11, 2020 Chrissie rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: travel, audible-uk, 2020-read, classics, favorites, mystery, philo-psychol, swedish-narration

This grabs you and doesn’t let you go!
It’s short and powerful.
View it as a psychological thriller.

In 1912 on an ocean-liner traveling from India to Europe, the novella’s unnamed narrator goes up on deck in the middle of the night to escape his sweltering, tiny, claustrophobic cabin. There, at first, he perceives only the beautifully lit night sky illuminated by the moon and brilliant stars. This contrasts with the rolling, dark waves below. Later, nearby him on the deck, he discerns a dark silho ...more

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May 03, 2014 Rowena rated it it was amazing

Shelves: short-stories

"I had seen a new world, I had taken in turbulent, confused images that raced wildly through my mind. Now I wanted leisure to think, to analyze and organize them, make sense of all that had impressed itself on my mind." - Stefan Zweig, Amok

I can relate to the above quote so well. I love the poetic, introspective tone...

A brilliant book. It's only my second Zweig book but I love him already. Zweig is a wonderful craftsman of short stories and these ones in are just stunning. They are all tragic t ...more

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Jun 27, 2019 Ila rated it really liked it

Shelves: classics, short-story, german

4.5 stars. So far each of Zweig's stories has had a lasting impact on me. Ethereal by nature, they tap into that uncomfortable corner of our mind where the repressed reigns supreme. Freud's influence is obvious in the all too disturbing but nonetheless accurate portrait of his characters. Perhaps it would be beneficial to be aware of certain details of Zweig's life. A highly disturbed self, sensitive but not passionate as the Romantics, a sharp eye-only one as uniquely equipped as he could weave ...more

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Jan 25, 2021 Matthew rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: foreign-translated, 20th-century, read-2021, lit-writ-german, 1001-list-2006-ed

[7th book of 2021. Paintings in this review by Austrian painter Egon Schiele.]

We return to some of the same facets of Zweig’s magnificent Chess which I read several years ago. Amok takes place on a boat, as the former does. It is also a novella centred around the idea of obsession and the loss of control. The title is derived from the saying “running amok”, which in turn, apparently derived from the Malay word “mengamok”, which means to make a furious and desperate charge. This is explained in t [7th book of 2021. Paintings in this review by Austrian painter Egon Schiele.]

We return to some of the same facets of Zweig’s magnificent Chess which I read several years ago. Amok takes place on a boat, as the former does. It is also a novella centred around the idea of obsession and the loss of control. The title is derived from the saying “running amok”, which in turn, apparently derived from the Malay word “mengamok”, which means to make a furious and desperate charge. This is explained in the novel too: that to run amok is to run without any direction, without any reason, simply to charge, and to attack and remove anything that stands in one’s way. As the novella describes it:

The people of the villages know that no power can halt a man running amok, so they shout warnings ahead when they see —him coming—‘Amok! Amok!’—and everyone flees…but he runs on without hearing, without seeing, striking down anything he meets… until he is either shot dead like a mad dog or collapses of his own accord, still frothing at the mouth…

“Double Self-Portrait”—1915

The framework is a story within a story again, as Chess is. Our protagonist meets a mysterious man on the ship he is on and eventually is told this man’s story. Because the man is telling the story, and the story itself is essentially dialogue (then further dialogue within dialogue) there are a lot of speech patterns like the overuse of ellipses, which I found slightly annoying as I don’t care for them much in prose. The story itself isn’t as quietly intense or powerful as Chess either; though, it is a fast-paced read, and because our story-teller, mysterious man, keeps stopping and starting and changing the order of his story as he tells it, we are drawn further in as we impatiently wait for everything to be revealed. He is a German doctor in the East Indies and is drawn into the life and tragedy of an Englishwoman who asks for his help and slowly finds himself obsessed, and running amok after her in his passion. The events of his story explain why he is feverishly on the ship and now fleeing the place of the incident. The story is outdated in its representation of the setting, with frequent, distasteful descriptions of the inhabitants, using the term “yellow”, and even, at one point, “yellow, dull-minded”. Balking at these terms did hinder my enjoyment of the novella somewhat.

“Egon Schiele, Liebesakt, Studie”—1915

In the 1920s and 30s Zweig was the most popular and translated writer in the world. In 1942 he was found dead with his wife, holding hands, in their home after taking an overdose. He was despairing at the state of Europe and the direction it was going in. He had written, "I think it better to conclude in good time and in erect bearing a life in which intellectual labour meant the purest joy and personal freedom the highest good on Earth", as the world seemed to run amok around him.
...more

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Jan 19, 2019 Maria rated it liked it · review of another edition

This book is a great example of the Freudian theory on the romantic suicide. How the person committed suicide as a way of harming himself and killing any other feeling to fulfill his feeling of satisfaction and love...
Despite the fact that the story can be annoying for some readers, I think it reveals some of the inner struggle the main character has towards his lover and how he jilt her… The main conflict of not healing this pain was not clear to others in the story, so he decided to be Amok as ...more

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Jun 01, 2009 Monica Carter rated it really liked it

Stefan Zweig is not your typical Viennese novelist, journalist, playwright and biographer. He and his wife committed a double suicide in 1942. Suicide is a touchy subject in the Land of the Free. We can't withstand the guilt suicide suggests in the hard-working and God Fearing U.S. of A.

Frankly, there is no glamour in it here.

I am not suggesting it by any means, but it is interesting to note that in other countries such as Japan, China and India, suicide is viewed as a more virtuous, perhaps eve Stefan Zweig is not your typical Viennese novelist, journalist, playwright and biographer. He and his wife committed a double suicide in 1942. Suicide is a touchy subject in the Land of the Free. We can't withstand the guilt suicide suggests in the hard-working and God Fearing U.S. of A.

Frankly, there is no glamour in it here.

I am not suggesting it by any means, but it is interesting to note that in other countries such as Japan, China and India, suicide is viewed as a more virtuous, perhaps even an honorable act. And maybe that's why there is romance and dignity in their double suicide. Maybe that is why Amok and Other Stories is so beautifully tragic. He appeals to the romantic in all of us. Yes, these four stories are tragic, but to some that is how life is. The protagonists in these stories love without regret or even encouragement; they love with a blind devotion that solely gives them purpose and when that object is taken away or goes away, there is no purpose. Zweig captures the anxiety and desperation of their emotions with such a light touch, it only makes us see them as sad and beautiful. When I read this next passage, I was struck by how accurate and light Zweig painted a waiter's obsession with a Baroness who was visiting the hotel he where he worked:

It was that faithful, dog-like devotion without desire that those in mid-life seldom feel, and is known only to the very young and the very old. A love devoid of any deliberation, not thinking but only dreaming.

Three out of the four stories in this collection put us in the hearts of those suffering from unrequited love. Zweig's style is so elegant and descriptive, the purity of this love scares and engages us. The last story draws us in to man who cannot find his way home, due to the war. This is the story I found most tragic because of its autobiographical slant. Zweig and his wife committed suicide because the home that they knew, was one they could never get to again. These stories are so worthwhile and if there is any credence to the adage 'write what you know' then Zweig was a man who wrote about loss and love with equal knowledge ...more

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Sep 25, 2020 Diane S ☔ rated it really liked it

Thought soon.

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Feb 21, 2015 Joselito Honestly and Brilliantly rated it liked it · review of another edition

The novel itself says the "Amok" is Malay in origin and indeed it is also considered a Tagalog word. Another Tagalog word for it is "hurumentado"--someone doing a suicidal run that involves indiscriminate attacks/killings and usually ends up in the hurumentado's own death. Zweig's Amok, a doctor of medicine, theorized that the cause of this "going on the rampage, a sort of human form of rabies...a paroxysm of murderous, mindless monomania which isn't comparable to any alcoholic poisoning" has so ...more

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Dec 13, 2014 Abubakar Mehdi rated it it was amazing

Amok is, undoubtedly, one of my most favorite stories. It has everything in it, over brimming with tension, passion, morbid infatuation, colonialism, existential crisis and what not. It withholds in itself innumerable emotions, thoughts and experience that can't be put to paper by anyone. Anyone but Stefan Zweig. He is one of his kind in the craft mingling fiction with the reality of human psychology.
This is my absolute favorite.
...more

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Dec 25, 2019 Cphe rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: boxall-guardian-2019, novella, 2019, obsession, dark-very-dark, historical

Not lengthy but does manage to convey quite a bit. A middle of the road read as I didn't find the characters particularly appealing. Did however enjoy the story unfolding through the eyes of an unknown narrator. ...more

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Mar 15, 2015 Shanu rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: 1001

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

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Aug 27, 2019 Catherine Vamianaki rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I love his books. This one touched me. It deserves 5 star.

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Apr 28, 2013 Laura rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: german-literature, fiction-20th-century, library-loan, read-2013, 1001-books-you-must-read-before-you, novellas

According to Wikipedia Amok "also spelled amuk, from the Malay meaning "mad with uncontrollable rage") is a term that is used for a sudden outburst, usually aggressive or violent, and is preceded by a dissociative episode of brooding over some perceived wrong towards a person or object."

The plot revolves describes the instantaneous and violent passion of a German doctor working in a Dutch colony in Asia, by a beautiful English woman who asks for his help in a very special moment.

The sudden feel ...more

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Aug 15, 2020 Swati rated it really liked it

Shelves: short-stories, german-literature

Never thought I'd be picking up another Zweig within the span of a month! My first was his novella, The Chess Story, which I liked the most.

This book contains four different stories, but they all have a common morbid theme. The lead characters of these stories are ordinary people, driven by desire and devotion bordering on obsession, without which they are left with nothing but despair - hollow and lifeless.

My order of preference is, Leporella, Amok, followed by Incident On Lake Geneva, and las ...more

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Mar 13, 2019 Ben rated it really liked it

Shelves: short-stories

Dark stories with colorful prose.

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Feb 02, 2017 Missy J rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2017-books, read-in-german, short-stories

Unwillkürlich, unwillkürlich, unwillkürlich... (German word for involuntarily, instinctively, automatically...). Stefan Zweig (1881-1942) was an Austrian writer from a Jewish merchant family, who became extremely popular throughout the world in the 1920 and 30s. His most celebrated work is Chess Story. He was heavily influenced by Sigmund Freud and in this short story collection, the reader can clearly feel that. The writing is very introspective and slow. Some may love it, some may hate it. Ste Unwillkürlich, unwillkürlich, unwillkürlich... (German word for involuntarily, instinctively, automatically...). Stefan Zweig (1881-1942) was an Austrian writer from a Jewish merchant family, who became extremely popular throughout the world in the 1920 and 30s. His most celebrated work is Chess Story. He was heavily influenced by Sigmund Freud and in this short story collection, the reader can clearly feel that. The writing is very introspective and slow. Some may love it, some may hate it. Stefan Zweig for me is a really hit-or-miss type of author.

1. Der Amoklaeufer: 4 stars
Stefan Zweig wanted to introduce the word "Amok" to Western readers. This story revolves around a doctor who spent almost 8 years living an isolated life in the Dutch East Indies, when a white woman comes to his house and asks for an abortion. The doctor develops a sudden obsession over this woman and things start to go downhill pretty quickly. Suspenseful and very well written!

2. Die Frau und die Landschaft: 2.5 stars
This is one is one of his "slower" stories. At the beginning of the story, Zweig brilliantly describes the drought left behind by the scorching summer months and the appearance of dark clouds promising lightning and rain. Nature was captured beautifully, but then the protagonist engages in some sudden, crazy love-making scene with a very, very young girl. Strange!

3. Phantastische Nacht: 1 star
Horrible. Tried to read it twice. Read the summary on the German wikipedia page. And I still don't get it!

4. Brief einer Unbekannten: 4 stars
Along with the first short story, this was the only other story that I enjoyed in this book. An old, rich, travelling man returns home and receives a letter. It turns out to be a very long letter from his secret admirer. She used to be his neighbor when she was a teenager. Then she moved and came across him again as an 18 year old. They spent a couple of nights together, which resulted in her pregnancy. He never bothered to reach out for her again when he left her for another of his overseas trips. Years go by and her child dies during the 1918 Viennese flu pandemic. She comes across the old man again and he brings her home as a prostitute. She hopes that he will finally recognize her but he never does. So she wrote to him this long letter.

5. Die Mondscheingasse: 2 stars
A weird story. The narrator gets in between a fighting couple. The wife thinks that the husband is a loser (even though he provides her with all the money he has) and the husband just feels an intrinsic need to protect the wife. He can't bear seeing her on the streets with other men. Very strange story. ...more

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Aug 10, 2009 Alex rated it it was amazing

Superb ! - Nobody, just nobody could get even close.
Zweig is unsurpassed Maestro in the genre of the short psychological story !!!

The life is burnt in Amok with the fierce fire passion
Emotions run on high, like live volcano at eruption
The spark of human tragedy and pain of soul's despair
Death, doom of suicide and fatal end of unrequited love affair ...more

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Sep 25, 2020 Cecily rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: short-stories-and-novellas

I reviewed this here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... ...more

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Jul 31, 2018 Titus rated it it was amazing

Shelves: literature, favourites, short-stories-and-novellas

(Note: My edition of this book contains three of Zweig's novellas: 'Amok', 'Letter From an Unknown Woman' and 'The Invisible Collection')

I believe Hemingway's theory of iceberg prose can be perfectly applied to Stefan Zweig's writting. During his lifetime, Zweig wrote mostly biographies and novellas, the latter being as short as they are engaging. Written in a clean and polished style, Zweig's stories are characterized by an accessibility that masks their complexity. Here is an author interested (Note: My edition of this book contains three of Zweig's novellas: 'Amok', 'Letter From an Unknown Woman' and 'The Invisible Collection')

I believe Hemingway's theory of iceberg prose can be perfectly applied to Stefan Zweig's writting. During his lifetime, Zweig wrote mostly biographies and novellas, the latter being as short as they are engaging. Written in a clean and polished style, Zweig's stories are characterized by an accessibility that masks their complexity. Here is an author interested in the contemplation of the recesses of the human mind, in exploring the intricacies of human consciousness, and doing so with a simple elegance that lends his works an undeniable power.

There is a passage in ‘Amok’ that serves as a perfect example of the beauty of Zweig’s prose:

"I groped my way to the deck, where there was not a soul to be seen. Looking first at the smoking funnels and the ghostlike spars, I then turned my eyes upward and saw that the sky was clear; dark velvet, sprinkled with stars. It looked as if a curtain had been drawn across a vast source of light, and as if the stars were tiny rents in the curtain, through which that indescribable radiance poured. Never had I seen such a sky.
The night was refreshingly cool, as so often at this hour on a moving ship even at the Equator. I breathed the fragrant air, charged with the aroma of distant isles. For the first time since I had come on board I was seized with a longing to dream, conjoined with another desire, more sensuous, to surrender my body – womanlike - to the night's soft embrace. I wanted to lie down somewhere and gaze at the white hieroglyphs in the starry expanse. But the long chairs were all stacked and inaccessible. Nowhere on the empty deck was there a place for a dreamer to rest."

Thinking of Stefan Zweig writing brings to mind the work of a painter, carefully choosing ink types, mixing colours and playing with textures. The resulting prose is simultaneously rich and fluid, able to paint such vivid pictures, to say so much so poignantly, in such little space, that the reader is left in absolute awe.

A particular and fascinating characteristic of Zweig’s stories is the narrative mechanism he employs: a story within a story. In both ‘Amok’ and ‘The Invisible Collection’ there is a narrator who chronicles an encounter with a figure that describes his past experiences. ‘Letter From an Unknown Woman’, on the other hand, is a third-person narrative about a writer reading the titular letter, shifting then to present to the reader it’s first-person contents; despite being a momentary break from the constant first-person perspective Zweig is known for, it proves very narratively similar to his common mechanism. Despite the fact that this narrative frame often takes the risk of becoming repetitive, it allows for meta-analysis and stimulates the reader to reflect further upon the main narrative.

Another striking aspect of Zweig’s writting is the richness and originality of his characters. In ‘Amok’ we meet a doctor working in India, whose isolation into the jungle makes him much more feral. Such bestiality is no more evident than when the doctor is visited by a misterious woman with an unusual request, a woman whose confidence (arrogance, even) ignites the doctor’s desire to crush her attitude, to bend her to his will, to dominate her.

“I had been rotting away there in my loneliness, and then this woman turned up from nowhere, the first white woman I had seen for years - and I felt as if something evil, something dangerous, had come into my room. Her iron determination made my flesh creep. She had come, it seemed, for idle chatter; and then without warning she voiced a demand as if she were throwing a knife at me. For what she wanted of me was plain enough. That was not the first time women had come to me with such a request. But they had come imploringly, had with tears besought me to help them in their trouble. Here, however, was a woman of exceptional, of virile, determination. From the outset I had felt that she was stronger than I, that she could probably mould me to her will. Yet if there were evil in the room, it was in me likewise, in me the man. Bitterness had risen in me, a revolt against her. I had sensed in her an enemy.”

The dynamic Zweig establishes between these two characters, and their first dialogue in particular, is one of the most original I’ve ever had the pleasure to read, and one of the aspects that makes ‘Amok’ one of the most unique novellas ever written. One would be pressed to dislike the doctor, but his animalistic impulses are described with such honesty and poignancy, and so real is his regret and his tragedy, that what would be a despicable figure becomes a sympathetic one.

‘Letter From an Unknown Woman’ tells us the story of a woman whose obcessive, unrequited love becomes her ultimate tragedy. This novella’s power comes mostly from Zweig’s description of the feelings of love, of it’s joys and of it’s pains, permeated by an overall feeling of inevitable loss. The beauty evoked by Zweig is juxtaposed with the merciless fate of the characters, making for a striking tale of passionate love and dangerous obcession.

At last we have the particularly interesting case of the art collector in ‘The Invisible Collection’. Blinded by age, the old collector takes great pleasure from simply touching his owned illustrations, all of which he stills remembers in astonishing detail. Only that such illustrations are no longer in his possession, having been replaced with regular paper by his wife who sold most of his collection in an attempt to make up for their decaying fortune. So the collector spends his days sliding his fingers through paper which he considers to be his cherished works of art, each of their lines existing in his imagination alone. A peculiar tragedy his is, indeed.

Zweig is an author of rare sensibility, with the ability to deliver works of short length but of great power. Despite some issues typical of his time, the worst being his racist depiction of Asian people (as well as other ethnicities), Zweig’s work should be read for it’s originality, it’s accessibility, it’s complexity of meaning, and, overall, it’s power. ...more

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Mar 15, 2019 Catherine Vamianaki rated it it was amazing

A grest book

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Oct 30, 2020 Brian Reynolds rated it really liked it · review of another edition

This was an intense 88 page read and, as with the other Zweigs I’ve read, is a compelling well-written story. However, this one evoked largely uncomfortable feelings that made this story not quite as satisfying as most other Zweigs. This is largely due to the thoughts and actions of the doctor who is relating his story to our narrator in the dark of night on an ocean liner sailing back to Europe from India, southeast Asia and Australia.
At first I found the doctor character fairly unusual. On re ...more

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Mar 13, 2009 Kristin rated it liked it · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. http://kristinsbookblog.blogspot.com/...

I would venture to bet that you have never heard of Stefan Zweig. I hadn't heard of him either until the 1,001 Books list. So you might be surprised that in his heyday ('20s and '30s), he was "arguably the most widely read and translated author in the in the world."

Amok is a 1922 short novella that apparently follows the same pattern or narrative structure as most of Zweig's other works - a frame narrative, in which the narrator encounters the protagonist http://kristinsbookblog.blogspot.com/...

I would venture to bet that you have never heard of Stefan Zweig. I hadn't heard of him either until the 1,001 Books list. So you might be surprised that in his heyday ('20s and '30s), he was "arguably the most widely read and translated author in the in the world."

Amok is a 1922 short novella that apparently follows the same pattern or narrative structure as most of Zweig's other works - a frame narrative, in which the narrator encounters the protagonist in a luxurious, cosmopolitan setting, and the protagonist tells the narrator his secrets. Zweig's typical story focuses on intensively examining a single emotion within the context of Austrian bourgeois life. In Amok, we met the narrator, who informs us of a strange incident which occured on a sea passage between the Orient and Europe. The narrator (unnamed) one night cannot sleep and goes on deck, where me meets another passenger, who asks him not to tell anyone that they had met. The next night, the narrator again visits the deck late at night (or early in the morning as the case may be) and finds the protagonist again, who insists on telling the narrator why he is hiding. He had been a doctor in a remote part of a Dutch-occupied Asian country or province. After years surrounded almost exclusively by natives, a white woman comes to visit him, and over the course of her visit it is revealed that she has gotten pregnant (obviously by a man other than her husband) and wants an abortion. In a strange fit, the narrator suddenly in love with the woman, he tells her that he'll perform the abortion if she'll sleep with him. He wants her to beg and plead, or be ashamed of what she is asking for, but she isn't. She laughs in his face and leaves.

Obsessed immediately with the woman, the doctor follows her to town, where he begs to see her, gets himself admitted to a ball she is attending, desparetly trying to reach her. He sends her a letter saying if he doesn't hear from her by the next day, he'll kill himself. Eventually, the woman's servant summons the doctor to the shady part of town, where the woman acquired an abortion by a native woman, and the lady is now dying from the botched operation. The doctor and servant carry the woman home, where she eventually dies. The doctor calls the medical examiner, whom he threatens in order to have him lie on the death certificate claiming she had a heart attack. The woman's husband, who had been away, returns and doesn't believe the story of her death. The doctor had already booked passage on a ship back to Europe, when he discovers that the coffin of the woman, accompained by the husband, are being taken home - probably to be examined. That is why the doctor is hiding - he doesn't want the husband to know he is on board.

Eventually, the ship reaches an Italian port, where most of the passengers go on shore for the day. Upon returning, the narrator learns that a coffin had been being unloaded, when something fell from above and knocked the coffin into the water. The coffin, being made of lead, was unable to be retrieved from the water. A few days later, the body of a man (obviously the doctor) washes ashore. The man had jumped onto the coffin in his final and successful attempt to keep the woman's secret from being discovered.

Everybody who was anybody in the 1920s and 1930s European culture knew Stefan Zweig. Born into a wealthy Austrian-Jewish family, Zweig fled the Nazis in 1934, moving to England, then the U.S., and finally Brazil. He was a novelist and prolific biographer. He wrote librettos, including one for a Richard Strauss opera that was banned after three performances, partly because Strauss refused to remove Zweig's name from it. He was the incarnation of humanism and the bourgeois lifestyle, and I don't mean that in a bad way. He delivered an oratory at Freud's funeral. In the end, Zweig and his wife committed suicide in 1942 by overdosing on Veronal. While by that time the tide had begun to turn for Nazi Germany - there was no longer the assumption that they would win - Zweig knew that the life he had loved in Vienna and the things that he loved about it was over: internationalism, intellectualism, humanism would fall prey to the increasingly politicized world. Artists killing themselves is typically a sure-fire way to get yourself remembered. Not in Zweig's case. In the years that followed, he was quickly forgotten. While he to some extent continued to be read in Europe, his works are virtually unknown - and until recently untranslated - in the English world.

In the last few years Zweig has been making a come back from the land of the lost. His works are increasingly being translated into English, increasingly being read. Amok was short, face paced, and interesting. Everything a good story should be. There wasn't anything particularly novel about it, anything spectacular, but not everything needs to be spectaguclar in order to be enjoyed, and I did enjoy it. ...more

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Feb 14, 2020 Melissa rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: reading-1001-group, read-2020

I find myself so conflicted with so many of these #Reading1001 books. There is so much wrong with this story (Imperialism, sexism, racism, etc) and yet the core story is still important....women’s horrible choices, which sadly haven’t changed much from when this was written in 1922 until today, almost 100 years later.

This story is about an obsessed man, who treats a woman abominably, and her equally horrible choices between of a life risking abortion or a reputation destroying pregnancy.

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Nov 27, 2010 Becky rated it really liked it

Shelves: literature-classics, a-recommended

On a night when the moon has cast its brightest sheen over the darkest night sky, I will think of Zweig! This is because I have experienced the most beautiful moonlight reveries in several of his short stories. When gazing upon the brightest star in the sky on a moonless night, I will think of Francois, the waiter from The Star Above The Forest, because I will remember how I cried for him as he stared at that star above the trees of that forest. When I think of my Star Man ;), I will often be re ...more

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Jan 19, 2019 Suad Alhalwachi rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Oh my god, I was so fidgety thinking that the doctor is going to kill this poor beautiful woman until the last few pages when I discovered the real story. Amook is a name for a disease where a person starts to run and maybe kill anyone in front of him or her. The story is fulfilling and weird. It surely had enticed me to go on cruises and write about the stories of the people I would meet on the cruise. I think I will like that a lot.

The writer was true to his words and had been able to transcr ...more

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Feb 12, 2014 Graeme rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, about-russia, read-in-2015

My babushka told me to read Zweig and I finally took her great advice. Now I want to read everything he ever wrote. I love that driving feeling coming from reading a fantastic writer for the first time and obsessing over them.

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Mar 04, 2016 Elena rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: library-books, 1001-libri-da-leggere, fiction, 2016, gdl-mar-mag-2016

4.5 stars.

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About Stefan Zweig

Stefan Zweig

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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 an 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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“Söz konusu başkalarının derdi olunca nasıl da daha zeki, daha nesnel oluruz.” — 7 likes

“Hemen şöyle düşündüm, eğer bir avans veriyorlarsa temiz bir iş olmalı, bu ateşli arazilerde mezar taşlarının bizdekinden üç kat hızlı çoğaldığını biliyordum, ama insan genç olunca ateşin ve ölümün her zaman başkalarına sıçrayacağını düşünür.” — 2 likes

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