Beware of Pity (New York Review Classics)

Although mostly unheard of now, Stefan Zweig was a very popular writer of his time (1920's and 30's) who attained fame and notoriety akin to that bestowed upon those enterprising young people today that exploit film or music. Zweig was at one point described as the most widely translated author in the world. As a friend and admirer of Sigmund Freud, a fellow Viennese, Zweig was persuaded of the fundamental irrationalism of the human mind after witnessing two world wars. It was to a large extent the fixation on the endeavors of the mind that enticed Zweig to write with that theme as the core element in his work, especially the subject of obsession. In "Beware of Pity" the whole aspect of a determined love forced unwontedly upon another as the reciprocal of a mistake for pity is thoroughly and remarkably examined. It is also suspected that Zweig was writing about his own deep emotional conflictions with the subject, something that would lead to his undoing at the hand of an overdose of barbiturates ending his career and life. The writing style is variously complex as the early methodology of construction produced lengthy and descriptive verse. It is however, the style of writing that is at once appreciated by the reader as something that draws him to a comfortable presence with the scenes and characters as they develop. There is also a goodly number of vocabulary words used that, at least for me, were foreign members. I was able to deduce their meaning for the most part, but I still found myself with the ever present dictionary to settle my uncertainty. As an example, the term "mufti" was completely lost to me as it pertained to the civilian dress of the military when off duty; and there were other such words in the same realm. Zweig begins the narrative in his own words explaining that he is going to relate a story as told to him exactly; then seamlessly moves the tale to the first person of one Lieutenant Anton Hofmiller. The story opens in 1913 with Anton Hofmiller assigned to a small garrison town on the Hungarian frontier. The twenty five year old Hofmiller is a second lieutenant in a cavalry unit there. Having spent most of his young adult life in a military academy amongst males like himself, young Hofmiller is far from worldly mature for his age. By chance of circumstances, Lieutenant Hofmiller finds himself invited to a dinner party at the home of a rich industrialist, one Herr Lajos von Kekesfalva. Hofmiller is at once enamored with the excess to which riches have produced such a lavish affair. Enjoying himself to a far greater extent than he imagined, he enjoins himself in the revelry by dancing with the host's daughter Ilona; she finding a distinguished dancer in young Hofmiller. About to leave the festivities, the Lieutenant remembers that his host also has a young daughter of seventeen or eighteen years old and that he should ask her to dance. Upon finding the daughter, Edith, who he sees as frail-looking with gray eyes, he bows to her and asks to have this dance. The Lieutenant was wholly unprepared for the reaction he received from the daughter and is roundly humiliated; only subsequently to recognize his incredible gaffe of having asked a crippled girl to dance does he slink silently away. Thoroughly nonplussed by his insensitivity, Lieutenant Hofmiller expends nearly the whole remaining amount of his monthly pay on roses to be delivered to the girl as amends for his social error. Edith receives the roses acknowledging the injustice paid to Hofmiller for his ignorance of her condition and invites the young Lieutenant to visit her. This then begins a relationship born of circumstances that will be exploited and misunderstood by both Hofmiller and Edith from that day forth until the tragic end. I greatly enjoyed reading this novel. Although at first glance the theme seemed somewhat uninteresting, it was quite the opposite. The personal travails of the characters as Zweig presented them were indeed compelling as were the psychosis of their actions and the futility of the plight of the two young people. Edith's character, a portrait of one impossible to love, yet demanding to be loved is a captivating study as is Hofmiller's unmistakable revulsion of being loved against his will. In the course of the novel, Edith's narcissism progresses with the eerie cadence of the tap-tap, tap-tap of her crutches and the Lieutenant finds himself reveling in providing his emotional services, always convinced that it is born of pity. I highly recommend this novel be added to your reading list and rate it "Memorable".

A young lieutenant in the Austrian army becomes acquainted with a rich family with a crippled daughter. The girl was a happy active child until she was struck down by something that damaged her legs mading it impossible to walk. Her father has engaged a famous Doctor Who tries to restore her to normal health, but has been unable. She had undergone numerous treatments with no success. She was indulged by the family who because of her illness let her behave like a spoiled child. She was now 19. Her companion was a cousin Who agreed to stay there while they were searching for a cure. The Lieutenant becomes a regular visitor and the three young people talk and play games nearly every day. He feels good about visiting and being nice to a crippled girl. He has a great deal of pity for her. But he doesn’t realize that she doesn’t see his visits that way. She thinks he is coming because he likes her or loves her and he is unaware that she has fallen in love with him. The complications that arise are due to that misunderstanding. This entire episode happens in the week before World War II breaks out.. This book was written in the mid 1800s and reflect the thinking of that time, including the attitude toward women. The message clearly illustrated is the danger of having pity for anyone. Both For the person who is doing the pitying and the recipient.

Along with Joseph Roth's "The Radezky March", this is one of the two great novels depicting the last years ofthe Austro Hungarian Empire. What is particularly impressive is the way that Zweig takes the main theme--the problematic relationship between a handsome cavalry officer and a wealthy but disabled young woman--and then widens the focus to the small society of rural Hungary with a large cast of characters. and situations. Particularly memorable is the depiction of the peculiar customs of the army, all the more remarkable since Zweig himself did not do military service himself. It is a kind of Austro Hunarian War and Peace in miniature. Not to be missed-

Although my master’s degree is in Holocaust/Exile literature and Zweig is well-known to me, I am, some 25 years later, reading and understanding him in a whole new light. I have not been moved by such a writer in a very long time. I cannot recommend Stefan Zweig’s writings enough. His insight into the human psyche and gift storytelling is remarkable and touches the depths of one’s soul. Truly one of the greatest writers of all time.

I'll preface my review by saying that I'm not an avid reader. Most of my time reading is spent on source books. After watching the Grand Budapest again and again, I finally noticed that the movie was loosely based off the writings of Zweig. I loved the movie, especially the way they communicated with each other, so I thought I'd give it a shot. While the writing is very similar in style to the movie, the charm of the book wore off quickly when I realized that the author used a bounty of vocabulary to say very little. I am not a fan of how quickly the story concludes itself after taking all but the last few pages to get there. While I do think it's very well written, I just didn't find it very engaging.

The greatness of this book can best be summarized by the fact that I knew how this book was going to end forty pages into it, but it was nonetheless a gripping narrative ----- I liken it to Anna Karenina, but 1/3 the length. The plot starts as tragicomedy - a simple social blunder by Subaltern Toni Hofmiller gradually grows to something that inextricably links him to the Kevesfalva family and their paraplegic daughter, Edith. Initially motivated by the desire to rectify his embarrassment, Hofmiller allows himself to be cast as healer and ultimate savior to the hopelessly debilitated girl. Both Edith's father, the Baron, and her physician, the enigmatic Dr. Condor, see Hofmiller as the girl's last hope. Gradually, it occurs to Hofmiller that he might actually love Edith. This revelation comes to him through the blind wife of Dr. Condor, but by then Hofmiller has transferred to another unit just as the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand occurs. Predictably, he learns of Edith's suicide shortly after the fact, an event that had been foreshadowed early and often throughout the book. Hofmiller's subsequent attainment of hero status based on his feats in the First World War is diminished by his own acknowledgement that his "heroism" was based on not caring about his own life in the wake of Edith's death. While pity and misguided compassion are the overriding themes of the book, conformity and Hofmiller's fear of his comrades derision over his relationship with the crippled Edith play equally important roles leading to the ultimate tragedy.

This is not an easy read, but it is a deep and meaningful one. It made me question many of my assumptions and ideas, and even now I am still trying to digest the novel's full range of meaning. It is told from a first-person perspective, and I like that since this tends to ensure that there is no omnipotent authorial imprint on the story. Instead, we are hurled into a world of uncertainties. The young protagonist, Hofmiller, is ripped from his cookie-cutter, military existence and is suddenly faced with a bewildering array of challenges and emotions, many of which are dilemmas that we still instinctively shy away from today. He is woefully inexperienced and idealistic and so he plunges (sometimes nobly) into disaster. To my mind, we are left by Zweig to consider how much our words and actions are the result of genuine feelings such as compassion, pity and love, and how much they are the result of our desire that others think well of us, and that we fit in with our social groups. Hofmiller does not want to recognize that he may be motivated largely by the latter, and so he tries to please all the people all of the time. The result is like watching one long, fascinating, slow-motion train wreck. Zweig's subtle revelations of psychological motivations and responses are what power this narrative, and I cannot think of another novelist (I have read (a limited number of authors, I admit, so I am happy to become better informed) who has dealt with this difficult subject matter so well.

Everyone in my book club fell in love with Stefan Zweig when we read The Post Office Girl - and we would read anything he has written. We also enjoyed Beware of Pity very much. Marie-Antoinette and Mary, Queen of Scots by Zweig is also on our TBR list!

Ein wirklich schönes Buch, mit schöner Geschichte und man erfährt noch einiges über die Zeit von damals.

A história, narrada de uma forma elegante, própria do autor, mais que relevam o excesso de detalhes, que tornam o livro mais longo do que o necessário

I came to this book with some trepidation, firstly because it looked rather long and dense (long is fine, but long and dense maybe not) and secondly because the topic of a mistaken love affair is not really up my street. However, it was the January choice of my book group, so I had to read it. Within a few pages I was hooked. The novel, set in the Austro-Hungarian empire in the early part of the 20th century, tells the story of a young second lieutenant who finds himself embroiled in a relationship with a partly paralysed 17 year old girl. Her family encourage the relationship and it is only when it is too late that he discovers the girl's love for him and also the impossibility of breaking her heart at a time she is about to embark on a new course of medical treatment, so she can get better "just for him". The novel is not just about love, it is about obsession, guilt, and the way the expectations of others can so easily dominate our choices so that we act as others expect us rather than as we want to. It is interesting to view this story in the light of modern assertiveness training, because all the way through the reader can see that Toni, the young officer, is subjugating his own needs for the needs of someone to whom he has no obligations whatsoever - he is in fact ruled only by her fantasies and the expectations of her father and sister. The novel is remarkably suspenseful because the plot unfolds gradually and at each stage the reader cringes as the net of this sick love slowly ensnares him. It is full of strong characters: the doctor who treats the young woman and slowly enveigles Toni in her treatment regime; the old brutal colonel who turns out to be more wise than the other characters; the girls father who's whole life is a quest for his daughter's well-being. Different aspects of these characters are revealed as the novel slowly travels towards its inevitable conclusion and each one has a unique role in the ensnarement and ultimate release of the young officer. The novel is beautifully produced by Pushkin press - the clear typeface, fine paper and strong cover makes this a pleasure to read. Alas, this is Zweig's only novel and I was left thirsting for more from this fine writer.

Extraordinaria novela que detalla la batalla interna de un hombre que pretende tener control sobre su vida y su entorno y al ser amado por una mujer a la cual el no puede amar, pierde las riendas sobre el mismo y es invadido por culpas y el sentido del deber. Se sumerge en un mar de angustia y confusión que Paradójicamente encuentra alivio a sus.demonios internos en el surgimiento del caos y los horrores de la Primera Guerra Mundial.

Not only for myself, Stefan Zweig is being discovered all over again by readers worldwide. He was a bestseller and widely read German writer in his own time, but sank into oblivion (rather forced to) due to his self imposed exile to avoid nazi nuisance and later his sudden, shocking demise by suicide. But thanks to Pushkin Press, Zweig is getting re-discovered again, his time of oblivion is over for good. There is another standard translation of Beware of Pity published by Penguin titled "Impatience of the Heart". (Another one is there by Rupa Publication, too. But I don't know much about that.) But in my humble opinion the one translated by Anthea Bell (Pushkin Press edition) is more definitive than the Penguin version. Coming to the novel itself, this is nothing but a masterpiece. An original and powerful exploration of human emotions. A tense, feverish, exciting tale structured with gripping intensity. Sunday Telegraph advices in their review of the book that "you should go out at once and buy his books". I couldn't agree more.