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Beware of Pity

Stefan Zweig,

Phyllis Blewitt (Translator)

Start date: May 1, 2020

Finish date: May 31, 2020

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Oct 29, 2017 Chrissie rated it liked it

Shelves: philo-psychol, audible-uk, 2017-read, classics, hf, austria, medical, love, hungary

Reading books written by authors from different nations gives you a feel for respective countries and cultures. I enjoy this. Zweig captures life in the Austro-Hungarian Empire before its fall. Knowledge of times past helps us better understand modern cultures and traditions; the past puts a stamp on the future and therefore I like reading about the past. Anyhow, the book is a story within a story. The person who supposedly has written the story is relating what he was told by a friend in 1938, Reading books written by authors from different nations gives you a feel for respective countries and cultures. I enjoy this. Zweig captures life in the Austro-Hungarian Empire before its fall. Knowledge of times past helps us better understand modern cultures and traditions; the past puts a stamp on the future and therefore I like reading about the past. Anyhow, the book is a story within a story. The person who supposedly has written the story is relating what he was told by a friend in 1938, so on the brink of the Second World War. His friend's story, which constitutes the story of the book, is set in a garrison town on the Hungarian Austrian border preceding the outbreak of the First World War. Neither war is the focus of the book, but life in the military is, as well as life of aristocrats, or to be more accurate "so-called" aristocrats. The manners and the morals of each.

It is interesting to compare the writing styles of authors from different countries. French literature does not read as English or American or Scandinavian or Spanish or German or........ literature. Do you follow my point? This is another reason to read this book. The writing is articulate and clear and precise, and German in style.

The central theme is pity. Look what is written here in the book:

"There are two kinds of pity. One, the weak and sentimental kind, which is really no more than the heart's impatience to be rid as quickly as possible of the painful emotion aroused by the sight of another's unhappiness, that pity which is not compassion, but only an instinctive desire to fortify one's own soul against the sufferings of another; and the other, the only one that counts, the unsentimental but creative kind, which knows what it is about and is determined to hold out, in patience and forbearance, to the very limit of its strength and even beyond."

There is sentimental pity; this is self-oriented. Then there is pity based on compassion; this is very different. One demands nothing of a person; the other demands strength. What are the consequences of actions based on pity, be it one or the other? In the book one character displays one kind of pity and another the other. These two central characters, a twenty-five-year-old cavalry officer named Lieutenant Anton Hoffmiller contrasts with forty-seven-year-old Doctor Condor. The supporting characters' pity may be studied too. And how does the person who is pitied feel, respond and behave? We are given seventeen-year-old Edith von Kekesfalva, once healthy, vivacious and happy, now lame, temperamental and spoiled by everyone around her. Watching the consequences of actions gives the reader a jolt. Sometimes one may not think ahead; doing something “kind” may cause more problems than one may imagine.

What gave me trouble with the book? First of all, I know I could never behave as (view spoiler) does. I know I would have to lay everything above board and his wavering, his inability to make up his mind drags the action out and makes the book too long. (view spoiler) And actually I would be fine with this if the author created empathy for him in me; I felt no empathy for (view spoiler) Thirdly, there are two long stories plunked into the central tale. We are told the history of both the doctor and a military officer. They read as two separate novellas. We are told their stories. The reader does not live their experiences. I think the information should have been woven in better, in some other manner.

I have given the audiobook narration by Nicholas Boulton five stars. Good speed, easy to follow and correct pronunciation of foreign words.

I am glad I read the book. I probably will read more by the author, but this is his only full-length novel and it is for this reason I chose it. His other works are short stories or novellas and some biographies. Now I would like to read a biography about him. He and his second wife, Lotte Altman, committed suicide together in 1942, in Brazil, in despair at the state of the world. ...more

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Nov 27, 2011 Laura rated it liked it

Shelves: fiction-20th-century, audio-books, fiction, read-2011, austria, nyrb-classics

A real masterpiece by Stefan Zweig. Another good reason to continue to read his books.

6 likes · Like · see review

May 26, 2014 Christine rated it really liked it

Shelves: romance-lovers-challenge-2014, classics, read-in-2014, authors-q-to-t, german-literature, freebiez, 20th-century, country-austria

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b017lbqk

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 likely prognosis, "it being too good to read except with the closest attention" and he became immersed in the story of "a young man betrayed ...more

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