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Beware of Pity
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November 2014- Beware of Pity by Stefan Zweig
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Taide, you're never too late to comment. The threads never close, although they might get archived. Last week I commented on a book we "read" in 2010. All right, so I was a little late.
Thank you Nigeyb and Jan!
Little late! I still have not finished it. : )
^ Thanks Roisin. I always enjoy reading people's thoughts as they work their way through a book, so if you feel inspired to post a few thoughts I for one would be very interested to know what you are making of it.
Well, one of the things that seems prominent throughout the book is the importance of class, manners and how things are done or should not be done. Just how important all that kind of thing was.Social standing etc.
...just how important that kind of thing was back then. How important it was to be
Trying to finish a sentence! The importance of being a good example to others and position in society. Got there!
^ Absolutely. i suspect more European societies of that era shared that preoccupation with status and manners.
I think we often forget how much that has changed in modern societies, especially how men and women should behave in public less so in others like the gypsy, some Asian and Muslim communities.To my mother's generation, that a woman might want to go to pub on her own, well that was not done. You must be escorted by a man she would tell me. Quite happy to go to the pub with her daughters, but never on her own not even now. : )
The other thing that struck me now that I have finished it is that Edith and Hoffmiller are trapped as people and want to break out from their situations. Edith wants to be loved as as normal human being, an ordinary woman and accepted in a loving way by a man, in particular Hoffmiller. She has pinned all her hopes on a loving relationship as a means to make her feel better, cure her ills.Hoffmiller has a certain amount of respect as a soldier by ordinary people (thinking of how the innkeeper treats him, fussing over him etc), but he his trapped by the stuffy attitudes, rules and expectation of how a soldier should behave. A soldiers life, having to follow rules. He is also not wealthy and therefore feels at first his choices are limited. His reluctance to be honest about his true feelings feeds is worries.
He is obsessed with how others perceive him, view him. His main worry is not that he doesn't love Edith they way that she does, but how others will view him if he married her. At times in the story, it is not only Edith that appears depressed/ill but so his Hoffmiller.
The other thing that comes to mind is maturity/immaturity of perception. Hoffmiller sometimes makes prejudicial judgments about people, for example, Condor's wife and later on realises that his poor judgment, cruelty got in the way of who this person is.
^ All good points Roisin - thanks.
"For the first time in my life I began to realize that it is not evil and brutality, but nearly always weakness, that is to blame for the worst things that happen in this world." So discovers Anton Hofmiller as he tries to be pleasant and tell others what they want to hear. He doesn't mean to give Edith false hope, but he can't bear to tell her the truth. He doesn't mean to get engaged to her, but he can't face hurting her. Again and again, his weakness makes things easy for the moment but causes further pain in the long run. His "pity" threatens to ruin his own life and that of others.Stafan Zweig explores three stories of pity in this book. Kekesfalva basically cheats an unsophisticated woman out of her property and then feels so badly about it that he marries her. What began as a way to deal with his pity and guilt became a happy, loving marriage.
Dr. Condor marries his blind patient not out of guilt but from a more altruistic sense of pity--he knows how much she believes in him and doesn't want to damage her trust. He says, "It's always good to know that one has saved at least one person, kept faith with one person, made a good job of one thing...It's worth while taking a hard task upon oneself if thereby one makes life easier for another person." That marriage also turns out positively.
Anton seems on the verge of marrying Edith after all--from guilt, nobility, and/or pity-- and we wonder how it would turn out. After much internal debate, Hofmiller at last reaches the point of realizing that Condor is right, that "anyone who made a single person happy had fulfilled the purpose of his existence" and that "every sacrifice was justified and even a lie that made others happy was more important than truth itself." He feels "like a man cured of an illness." Unfortunately,the war intervenes and he is unable to carry out his resolve. He spends the war years hiding feelings of guilt with heroic action and comes at last to realize that "no guilt is forgotten so long as the conscience still knows about it."
What a lot Zweig gives us to think about in this book! The nature of pity, of course, but also love, responsibility, duty, and sacrifice. I found it a wonderful read and am eager to read more of his writing.
^ Magnificent review. Thanks.
Barbara, a great review - fascinating comparisons here between the different relationships, the 'three stories of pity', as you say. I think you've shown up here how the novel really does work together as a whole. I feel that Anton's character is consistent in its inconsistency - and so wonder if he could stick to his resolution to marry Edith after all? I really liked Edith, and kept wanting it to turn out as she hoped - maybe the romantic in me - even though it was so clear from Anton's inner thoughts that it wasn't possible for him to love her.
I think I'd like to reread this novel in the future and look at the early part again in the knowledge of what is going to come later.
Good review Barbara! Duty and responsibility, rules, how things are done and how things are not are key do. Anton is someone who is fighting at times against the rules and dogma in his life. Perhaps, not realistic enough in attitude?
Val wrote: "That sense of ...loss is present in The Go-Between by L.P. Hartley..."Judy wrote: "The Go-Between is a novel I read many years ago but don't remember very well - I would like to revisit it."
Val wrote: "I don't think the group has read The Go-Between, so I will nominate it one month. (I also read it several years ago and don't remember it very well.) "
I have just started The Go-Between by L.P. Hartley and, having only read the Prologue, and the first couple of chapters, I can confidently state it would make a superb BYT fiction group read. It's wonderful.
A bit more about The Go-Between...
L.P. Hartley's moving exploration of a young boy's loss of innocence The Go-Between is edited with an introduction and notes by Douglas Brooks-Davies in Penguin Modern Classics.
'The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there'
When one long, hot summer, young Leo is staying with a school-friend at Brandham Hall, he begins to act as a messenger between Ted, the farmer, and Marian, the beautiful young woman up at the hall. He becomes drawn deeper and deeper into their dangerous game of deceit and desire, until his role brings him to a shocking and premature revelation. The haunting story of a young boy's awakening into the secrets of the adult world, The Go-Between is also an unforgettable evocation of the boundaries of Edwardian society.
Leslie Poles Hartley (1895-1972) was born in Whittlesey, Cambridgeshire, and educated at Harrow and Balliol College, Oxford. For more than thirty years from 1923 he was an indefatigable fiction reviewer for periodicals including the Spectator and Saturday Review. His first book, Night Fears (1924) was a collection of short stories; but it was not until the publication of Eustace and Hilda (1947), which won the James Tait Black prize, that Hartley gained widespread recognition as an author. His other novels include The Go-Between (1953), which was adapted into an internationally-successful film starring Julie Christie and Alan Bates, and The Hireling (1957), the film version of which won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival.
If you enjoyed The Go-Between, you might like Barry Hines's A Kestrel for a Knave, also available in Penguin Modern Classics.
'Magical and disturbing'
Independent
'On a first reading, it is a beautifully wrought description of a small boy's loss of innocence long ago. But, visited a second time, the knowledge of approaching, unavoidable tragedy makes it far more poignant and painful'
Express
Val wrote: "That sense of ...loss is present in The Go-Between by L.P. Hartley..."Judy wrote: "The Go-Between is a novel I read many years ago but don't remember very well - I would like to revisit it."
Val wrote: "I don't think the group has read The Go-Between, so I will nominate it one month. (I also read it several years ago and don't remember it very well.) "
Thanks again Val and Judy - I am still really enjoying The Go-Between - just under half of it still left to go. It would make a splendid BYT group fiction read.
Hello all! I know this is an old thread, but hopefully this new post will still show up. (I'll post it elsewhere just in case). I found out the other day that there is going to be a stage version of Beware of Pity will be on at the Barbican from 9 to 12 February. Sadly it is sold out BUT it is being streamed live on Sunday 12 February so anyone interested can watch it - yay! The streamed version will be available until Sunday 26 February. More details here: https://www.barbican.org.uk/theatre/e...
Ooh, thanks for this, Lori. I'd love to see this! Also I recently read Zweig's other novel, The Post-Office Girl, which is excellent too - he hadn't completely finished revising the last part, so it isn't quite as great as the earlier sections, but overall a really stunning book.
Bright Young Things
Books mentioned in this topic
The Post-Office Girl (other topics)The Go-Between (other topics)
The Go-Between (other topics)
Twenty-Four Hours in the Life of a Woman (other topics)
Chess Story (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
L.P. Hartley (other topics)L.P. Hartley (other topics)
Evelyn Waugh (other topics)
Stefan Zweig (other topics)
Stefan Zweig (other topics)
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I am certainly up for reading more Zweig including the short stories you suggest.