Stefan Zweig

[Nigeyb]

I've only read two books by Stefan Zweig however he most certainly falls into the favourite author category.




Stefan Zweig (1881-1942) was an Austrian novelist, playwright, journalist and biographer. At the height of his literary career, in the 1920s and 1930s, he was one of the most popular writers in the world.

Beware of Pity is Stefan Zweig's only full length novel. Stefan Zweig generally cut and cut his longer stories until arriving at the essence of the tale. Beware of Pity is therefore an anomaly, one that forces me to conclude he should have written more novels.

Memorable characters abound in this book that actually contains three extraordinary stories, the primary one set against the lead up to World War One. The protagonist, Lieutenant Anton Hofmiller is an idealistic Austrian army officer and it is his pity, something of a double edged sword, which is at the root of this tragedy.

Had Stefan Zweig written more novels I would have already added them to my "to read" list, as it is at least he created this one memorable work. It is well worth reading.

I'll also take this opportunity to recommend the only other book I have read by Stefan Zweig, and that is his fascinating memoir The World of Yesterday.

The World of Yesterday is a wonderful portrait of Stefan Zweig and the world he inhabited and which includes the tail end of the Habsburg empire and the seismic social and cultural changes in Vienna following World War 1 as Stefan Zweig was making his name. Sadly all too soon the confidence and prosperity turned to nationalism, anti semitism and despair, which were completely at odds with Stefan Zweig's pacifism and humanity.

This book brings to life extraordinary times and is a great book for anyone hoping to understand twentieth century European history. It also features some fascinating encounters with many of the major writers and composers of the era from across Europe. These touching anecdotes are in stark contrast to Stefan Zweig's first hand account of the Nazis and their systematic destruction of the humane culture he cherished. Stefan Zweig's subsequent persecution and exile, followed by more on his death in the Publisher's notes at the end of the book, make for a heartbreaking finale.

Essential reading for anyone interested in the period between 1880 and 1941.

Any other Stefan Zweig fans here at RTTC?

What else should we be reading by Stefan Zweig?

[Susan]

I loved The World of Yesterday. Apart from that, I have only read Chess Story, but would love to read more.

[Jessica-sim]

I also only read the Chess Story, which I utterly loved! Also, the German title is just lovely: Schachnovelle

[Val]

Chess or "Schachnovelle" is probably the best known of his pared down stories, but since several of us have already read it, perhaps we could have a different one as a buddy read some time next year.

[Judy]

I loved Beware of Pity! Although, as you say, Nigeyb, technically it is the only full-length novel he completed, there is another one, The Post-Office Girl, which he almost completed and where the ending has been reconstructed from his drafts.

So in effect it is a complete novel by Zweig even though he would have done some rewriting to the later sections if he had lived.

I thought this was absolutely wonderful, another 5-star read for me, and would definitely recommend it to anyone who liked Beware of Pity - it has a similar bitter-sweet flavour and powerful plot. It is about a young girl called Christine living in a provincial Austrian town just after WW1, who receives a letter from a wealthy relative inviting her to take a holiday in Switzerland.



I've only read one or two of his short stories but would like to read more - I remember a very powerful one which I read in German classes at school, but the title escapes me, must check which one it was.

[Judy]

I also really liked The World of Yesterday and the flavour of old Vienna which comes across so strongly from it.

[Susan]

Ooh, Zweig buddy read. I am liking the sound of that already! Personally, I prefer a novel, or non-fiction, to short stories.

[Marcus]

I’ll like to read Stefan Zweig. Read so much about his work, but never read it properly.

[Nigeyb]

Great to see so much enthusiasm for Stefan Zweig


I am very keen to try Judy's recommendation - The Post-Office Girl - as it is another novel, albeit one finished after his death and based on his drafts.



The Post Office Girl is fierce, sad, moving and, ultimately, frightening. True, it is over-written - Simenon would have done it better, in half the space - but it is also hypnotic in its downward spiral into tragedy. In the figures of Christine and, especially, Ferdinand, Zweig gives us a portrait of a world coming horribly to an end.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/200...

[Val]

It is not bad, I enjoyed it, but it is certainly not in a state that Zweig would have been happy with.

[Nigeyb]

Thanks Val.



Would you recommend Chess instead?

If not, what?

Chess Story, also known as The Royal Game, is the Austrian master Stefan Zweig's final achievement, completed in Brazilian exile and sent off to his American publisher only days before his suicide in 1942. It is the only story in which Zweig looks at Nazism, and he does so with characteristic emphasis on the psychological.

Travelers by ship from New York to Buenos Aires find that on board with them is the world champion of chess, an arrogant and unfriendly man. They come together to try their skills against him and are soundly defeated. Then a mysterious passenger steps forward to advise them and their fortunes change. How he came to possess his extraordinary grasp of the game of chess and at what cost lie at the heart of Zweig's story.

[Val]

As a buddy read or for you?

[Judy]

That Guardian article pretty much gives away the whole plot. so best to skim that bit if you haven’t read it. Interesting though.

[Susan]

Chess is good, but short. I would rather, if we do a future buddy read, pick something a little longer. Of course, others may not agree with me!

[Val]

We could read The World of Yesterday again (as a buddy read).
I'm not sure how easy it is to get hold of his other non-fiction works and almost all of his fiction is short.

[Roman Clodia]

I'd be keen on Beware of Pity but am conscious many of you have already read it...

[Nigeyb]

Val wrote: "As a buddy read or for you?"


I was thinking as a possible buddy read - but the question was just a way of following up on your suggestion that, perhaps, we could do better than The Post-Office Girl, as I know you have read quite a few of his works.

[Nigeyb]

The Collected Stories of Stefan Zweig has 18 very positive reviews on Amazon UK and is also favourably reviewed here on GoodReads - 720 pages though, so it would take some time to work through


In this magnificent collection of Stefan Zweig's short stories the very best and worst of human nature are captured with sharp observation, understanding and vivid empathy. Ranging from love and death to faith restored and hope regained, these stories present a master at work, at the top of his form. Perfectly paced and brimming with passion, these twenty-two tales from a master storyteller of the Twentieth Century are translated by the award-winning Anthea Bell.

[Marcus]

I’m in this buddy read. Either fiction or nonfiction. “Beware of Pity” sounds good to me!

[Susan]

I haven't read Beware of Pity and would happily re-read The World of Yesterday. Not crazy about short stories generally, but will go with the consensus. Is this for the March buddy read? Just to clarify?

[Nigeyb]

There's also a compendium of the Novellas....


The Collected Novellas of Stefan Zweig

It includes Burning Secret, Chess Story, Fear, Confusion, and Journey into the Past

A casual introduction, a challenge to a simple game of chess, a lovers' reunion, a meaningless infidelity: from such small seeds Zweig brings forth five startlingly tense tales-meditations on the fragility of love, the limits of obsession, the combustibility of secrets and betrayal.

It comes in at a more manageable 384 pages - or we could just pick one novella, or two.....etc.

So many possibilities

[Nigeyb]

Susan wrote: "Is this for the March buddy read? Just to clarify?"


Possibly. What do you think? Or, if it's just a smaller number who are interested, we could do it as a "bonus" buddy read. I don't have a strong opinion - just throwing out possibilities.

[Susan]

Messages from a Lost World: Europe on the Brink

A collection of essays and speeches by Stefan Zweig from the 1930s and 1940s published here in English for the very first time.

'Darkness must fall before we are aware of the majesty of the stars above our heads. It was necessary for this dark hour to fall, perhaps the darkest in history, to make us realize that freedom is as vital to our soul as breathing to our body.'

As Europe faced its darkest days, Stefan Zweig was a passionate voice for tolerance, peace and a world without borders. In these moving, ardent essays, speeches and articles, composed before and during the Second World War, one of the twentieth century's greatest writers mounts a defence of European unity against terror and brutality.

From the dreamlike 'The Sleepless World', written in 1914, through the poignant 'The Vienna of Yesterday', to the impassioned 'In This Dark Hour', one of his final addresses, given in 1941, Zweig envisages a Europe free of nationalism and pledged to pluralism, culture and brotherhood.

These haunting lost messages, all appearing in English for the first time and some newly discovered, distil Zweig's courage, belief and richness of learning to give the essence of a writer; a spiritual will and testament to stand alongside his memoir, The World of Yesterday. Brief and yet intense, they are a tragic reminder of a world lost to the 'bloody vortex of history', but also a powerful statement of one man's belief in the creative imagination and the potential of humanity, with a resounding relevance today.

Stefan Zweig was one of the most popular and widely translated writers of the early twentieth century. Born into an Austrian-Jewish family in 1881, he became a leading figure in Vienna's cosmopolitan cultural world and was famed for his gripping novellas and vivid psychological biographies.

In 1934, following the Nazis' rise to power, Zweig fled Austria, first for England, where he wrote his famous novel Beware of Pity, then the United States and finally Brazil. It was here that he completed his acclaimed autobiography The World of Yesterday, a lament for the golden age of a Europe destroyed by two world wars. The articles and speeches in Messages from a Lost World were written as Zweig, a pacifist and internationalist, witnessed this destruction and warned of the threat to his beloved Europe. On 23 February 1942, Zweig and his second wife Lotte were found dead, following an apparent double suicide.

and

Summer Before the Dark

A dazzling portrait of Zweig and Roth, and a community of intellectual exiles, during the extraordinary summer of 1936.

It's as if they're made for each other. Two men, both falling, but holding each other up for a time.

Ostend, 1936: the Belgian seaside town is playing host to a coterie of artists, intellectuals and madmen, who find themselves in limbo while Europe gazes into an abyss of fascism and war. Among them is Stefan Zweig, a man in crisis: his German publisher has shunned him, his marriage is collapsing, his house in Austria no longer feels like home. Along with his lover Lotte, he seeks refuge in this paradise of promenades and parasols, where he reunites with his estranged friend Joseph Roth. For a moment, they create a fragile haven; but as Europe begins to crumble around them, they find themselves trapped on an uncanny kind of holiday, watching the world burn.

The award-winning writer and literary critic Volker Weidermann was born in Germany in 1969, and studied political science and German language and literature in Heidelberg and Berlin. He is the cultural editor of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung and lives in Berlin.

are also interesting non-fiction alternatives

[Nigeyb]

Thanks Susan - both look blimmin wonderful


Zweig is a rich, rich vein of possibilities

[Susan]

Looking at the second book I mention, Roth is another author I haven't read yet and keep meaning to.

[Judy]

Val wrote: "It is not bad, I enjoyed it, but it is certainly not in a state that Zweig would have been happy with."

I take your point that Zweig hadn't finished work on The Post Office Girl, Val, but I think it is a masterpiece even so - I suppose he might have distilled it down into a short story as he often did, but I find it hard to imagine how it could be more devastating, especially in the first half, than it is already.

But anyway I'd be happy to read any Zweig, any time. :)

[Susan]

I haven't read The Post Office Girl, but it sounds most intriguing...

[Val]

Well, we have three non-fiction possibilities, two by and one about Zweig, plus two novels, one or more novellas and a short story collection, so I think we should go for Zweig as a buddy read.
I do have reservations about "The Post-Office Girl", but because I don't think it is as representative of his work as some of the others, it is still a good read.

[Marcus]

Plenty of choices...

[Nigeyb]

Val wrote: "I think we should go for Zweig as a buddy read"


I agree Val - and it appears we have enough other takers to make it worthwhile

Val wrote: "We have three non-fiction possibilities, two by and one about Zweig, plus two novels, one or more novellas and a short story collection"

What would you choose, if you were making the decision?

I am very flexible and I suspect so are many others here. So, if you come up with a suggestion let's see how other possible participants feel about it.

[Susan]

We have time to decide, as we already have buddy reads for Jan and Feb.

[Val]

The World of Yesterday, a selection of novellas which include Chess, Beware of Pity, a selection of short stories, Summer Before the Dark: Stefan Zweig and Joseph Roth, Ostend 1936, The Post-Office Girl or anything else he wrote.
I can't decide how highly to recommend the essays yet because I haven't read them, but I intend to before March.

[Jan C]

I read the Ostend book last year. Thoroughly enjoyed it. Perked up my enthusiasm for Zweig. I'd be glad to join in.

[Susan]

Good to hear, Jan. Perhaps, as a suggestion, Val, we could narrow it down:

Either the short stories or novellas
Either novel - Beware of Pity or Post office Girl
One of the non-fiction: Summer before the Dark, Essays or Memoir

Then choose between them?

[Nigeyb]

Or how about this compendium of the Novellas available on Kindle....


The Collected Novellas of Stefan Zweig

It's a manageable 384 pages which feels a good length for a buddy read

It includes Burning Secret, Chess Story, Fear, Confusion, and Journey into the Past. Or we could pick just one or of the novellas to make it even more doable for people with lots of other things to read.

Chess Story (aka Chess) seems to be very well regarded.

[Susan]

I would certainly prefer novella length stories to short stories. I am currently reading a volume of Miss Marple short stories, but I tend to find them quite unsatisfying generally. Chess is certainly a classic and I would be happy to re-read it.

[Val]

Val wrote: "We could read The World of Yesterday again (as a buddy read)."
From message 15.
Then message 32 lists all the suggestions in the order I would recommend them.
700 pages of short stories would be a daunting prospect.

[Nigeyb]

Thanks Val.


The more I mull it over the more the novellas appears like a good choice for a buddy read - but I'm not wedded to that idea - so if anyone else has a strong preference then add a post with your thoughts.

[Val]

The novellas were my second choice, so I will go along with that.

[Roman Clodia]

Personally, I would prefer one of the novels - and have Beware of Pity waiting on my Kindle...

[Susan]

I haven't read either of the novels and I loved his memoir, The World of Yesterday. I am happy to go with the consensus decision.

[Nigeyb]

Roman Clodia wrote: "Personally, I would prefer one of the novels - and have Beware of Pity waiting on my Kindle..."

Fine by me. I wouldn't reread Beware of Pity, but I can remember it well enough to take part in a discussion - and there's plenty to discuss too. It's a fine novel.

[Jan C]

Susan wrote: "I would certainly prefer novella length stories to short stories. I am currently reading a volume of Miss Marple short stories, but I tend to find them quite unsatisfying generally. Chess is certai..."

I have been reading Howards End Is on the Landing: A Year of Reading from Home by Susan Hill and last night I was reading the part about her beaucoup collection of short story anthologies. However, they seem to have, at most, one readable story each. She notes that writing short stories is an art in itself. Just because people can write a novel doesn't mean they can write a decent short story.

[Susan]

I loved Howards Ens is on the Landing, Jan. You remind me that her follow up book Jacob's Room is Full of Books: A Year of Reading is yet to be read...

[Nigeyb]

Nigeyb wrote: "I wouldn't reread Beware of Pity, but I can remember it well enough to take part in a discussion - and there's plenty to discuss too. It's a fine novel."

So my sense is that Beware of Pity would be most people's first choice for a March 2018 buddy read - those who have a preference.

Is that correct?

[Susan]

I am happy to go along with the majority. I haven't read Beware of Pity before, so would be keen to read it. Am I correct in saying this was his only completed full length novel?

[Nigeyb]

Susan wrote: "Am I correct in saying Beware of Pity was his only completed full length novel? "

That's correct - so far as I know

[Susan]

I haven't read much by him at all, so I will happily join in with whatever is picked.

[Judy]

Nigeyb wrote: : "I wouldn't reread Beware of Pity, but I can remember it well enough to take part in a discussion - and there's plenty to discuss too. It's a fine novel.".."

That's how I feel too - it would be too soon for me to reread it, but I'd be happy to join in the discussion.

[Susan]

I also liked the look of the novel you suggested, Judy, The Post Office Girl. I'd be perfectly happy to read that, if too many people have read Beware of Pity.