Present Based On Books Beware of Pity
| Title | : | Beware of Pity |
| Author | : | Stefan Zweig |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | First Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 353 pages |
| Published | : | June 20th 2006 by NYRB Classics (first published 1939) |
| Categories | : | Fiction. Classics. European Literature. German Literature. Novels. Literature |
Stefan Zweig
Paperback | Pages: 353 pages Rating: 4.21 | 9147 Users | 935 Reviews
Commentary Supposing Books Beware of Pity
The great Austrian writer Stefan Zweig was a master anatomist of the deceitful heart, and Beware of Pity, the only novel he published during his lifetime, uncovers the seed of selfishness within even the finest of feelings. Hofmiller, an Austro-Hungarian cavalry officer stationed at the edge of the empire, is invited to a party at the home of a rich local landowner, a world away from the dreary routine of his barracks. The surroundings are glamorous, wine flows freely, and the exhilarated young Hofmiller asks his host's lovely daughter for a dance, only to discover that sickness has left her painfully crippled. It is a minor blunder, yet one that will go on to destroy his life, as pity and guilt gradually implicate him in a well-meaning but tragically wrongheaded plot to restore the unhappy invalid to health. "Stefan Zweig was a dark and unorthodox artist; it's good to have him back." —Salman Rushdie
Be Specific About Books Toward Beware of Pity
| Original Title: | Ungeduld des Herzens |
| ISBN: | 1590172000 (ISBN13: 9781590172001) |
| Edition Language: | English |
| Characters: | Anton Hofmiller, Edith von Kekesfalva, Doctor Condor, Lajos Kekesfalva |
| Setting: | Vienna,1914(Austria) |
Rating Based On Books Beware of Pity
Ratings: 4.21 From 9147 Users | 935 ReviewsCriticize Based On Books Beware of Pity
Truth in advertising: the title tells us exactly what this book is about. Its set in Austria in peacetime in 1914 in the time leading up to WW I. A young cavalry officer is invited to a party at the home of the most wealthy family in the town he is stationed in. He sees his hosts daughter sitting with women, her legs covered by a blanket. Unaware that her disfigured legs are useless, he asks her to dance (hes 25; shes about 18). Everything goes downhill from there. The young woman falls in loveDisclaimer: Despite whatever I say in the following review, and no matter how much I mock Beware of Pity, I did actually enjoy it. To a limited extent.Stefan Zweig is an enormous drama queen. Every emotion in his novel Beware of Pity is hyperbolic, neon-lit, hammy. His narrator doesn't feel anything as prosaic as mere mere joy. No way. He's more apt to be 'blithe as a twittering bird.' People aren't only surprised; their faces turn white as a specter, their legs threaten to give way, and their
This book was quite powerful. I do not know when I have become so emotionally involved with a story. I found myself involuntarily having conversations with the characters, lecturing them on their fatal flaws.This is a book about fatal flaws. Our protganist, Hofmiller, is an Austro-Hungarian cavalry officer stationed at a small village at the edge of the empire, in what would now be Hungary.While there he encounters a wealthy family who welcomes him like a family member. Hofmiller is delighted
I'd heard good things about Zweig but gosh, this book is unconvincing melodrama. There's the germ of a taut novella here but dragging the whole thing out to 450 pages wore me down. There's just so much of everything: some relevant, a whole load just waffle. Although written in 1938, this has the turgid feel of something far older. We might not know, from the book, that Hitler has annexed Austria and that WW2 is close to starting - instead the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand, one of the
My love affair with Stefan Zweigs work continues! With his elegant prose and sharp insight, he conjured up the most vivid characters and insane - yet completely believable stories, and Beware of Pity (alternately translated as Impatience of the Heart) is his writing at top form; funny, sour, moving, tragic and wistful. It was also his only full-length novel, finished in 1939, when he lived in exile in England. So expect his trademark nostalgia for a Europe now disfigured by totalitarianism.Told
Zweig is a master of the novella, and his mastery shows in BEWARE OF PITY, which unfortunately is a novel. Were this 130 pages long, it would have been salvageable (not CHESS STORY level, but what is?), but the excitement of the Zweigian opening (an author, a stranger, a story within-a-story) began to diminish when it became clear that this wasn't a novel with multiple parts. Here is the spoiler-free plot, in full: a poor cavalry officer sees a beautiful woman in town, finagles an invitation to
Every so often youll read a book that just floors you with its greatness. If were lucky we might read one or two of these books a year, but the number is often much less than that. There just arent many of these kinds of books getting published anymore, so to find a really great one its often necessary to reach back and pull one off the mighty heap that history has given us.Stefan Zweigs Impatience of the Heart is one of those books. Writing about it now leaves me fearful of tripping all over
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.