Beware of Pity by Stefan Zweig will transport you back to the very end of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, just before the start of the First World War. In itโs simplest form, Beware of Pity is a cautionary tale about a young cavalry officer, Anton Hofmiller, who, feeling sorry for Edith, the crippled daughter of a rich local landowner, misleads her into thinking he is in love with her. As the hole he digs gets deeper, the consequences of his actions become more and more disastrous. There is a fine line between being kind and being cowardly, cruel even, and Hofmiller stumbles right across it. And it is Edith who ends up suffering all the more for his actions.
First published in 1938, when the author Stefan Zweig was already living in exile due to Hitlerโs rise to power, this novel is imbued with nostalgia. In recounting Hofmiller naรฏve youthful mistakes, Zweig also takes us back to a more innocent period in Austrian history, before the political upheaval of the times that he was actually living through.
Austrian Literature Walking Tour
Planning a trip to Vienna? You can book a Literature Tour in Vienna and see where a number of famous Austrian authors lived. You will also visit one of the famous Vienna coffee houses where famous writers used to meet.
Book here: Literature Tour in Vienna
Leave a Reply