Angst / Amok

by Stefan Zweig

In dieser Novelle betrügt eine gutsituierte Ehefrau ihren Mann. Längst hat sie sich an die Beziehung gewöhnt und jede Woche einen Tag dafür freigehalten. Doch dann wird sie von einer ehemaligen Freundin ihres Geliebten ertappt und erpresst. Ihr Leben wird zur Hölle …

Genres: Fiction, Classics, 20th Century

52 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 25, 2019

About the author

Stefan Zweig was one of the world's most famous writers during the 1920s and 1930s, especially in the U.S., South America, and Europe. He produced novels, plays, biographies, and journalist pieces. Among his most famous works are Beware of Pity, Letter from an Unknown Woman, and Mary, Queen of Scotland and the Isles. He and his second wife committed suicide in 1942.
Zweig studied in Austria, France, and Germany before settling in Salzburg in 1913. In 1934, driven into exile by the Nazis, he emigrated to England and then, in 1940, to Brazil by way of New York. Finding only growing loneliness and disillusionment in their new surroundings, he and his second wife committed suicide.
Zweig's interest in psychology and the teachings of Sigmund Freud led to his most characteristic work, the subtle portrayal of character. Zweig's essays include studies of Honoré de Balzac, Charles Dickens, and Fyodor Dostoevsky (Drei Meister, 1920; Three Masters) and of Friedrich Hölderlin, Heinrich von Kleist, and Friedrich Nietzsche (Der Kampf mit dem Dämon, 1925; Master Builders). He achieved popularity with Sternstunden der Menschheit (1928; The Tide of Fortune), five historical portraits in miniature. He wrote full-scale, intuitive rather than objective, biographies of the French statesman Joseph Fouché (1929), Mary Stuart (1935), and others. His stories include those in Verwirrung der Gefühle (1925; Conflicts). He also wrote a psychological novel, Ungeduld des Herzens (1938; Beware of Pity), and translated works of Charles Baudelaire, Paul Verlaine, and Emile Verhaeren.
Most recently, his works provided the inspiration for 2014 film The Grand Budapest Hotel.

Reviews

[Mara Bloom · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's really hard to get over insanely racist, misogynystic, narcisstic main character monologues and descriptions of lady's completely objectification, but overall it's a great study on how a man's obduracy, pride and self-centerism can endanger a woman's life. The man in the story cared about nothing else but his own twisted feelings for the whole time. I know it was different times, but it's not like we don't have this way of being now. Actually some pro-birth medical professionals now are even worse. Also,👏 abortion 👏 is 👏 healthcare 👏

[Alina Meriacre · Rating 4 out of 5]

4,5*

[Jacca · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m tempted to say this a stronger short than The Royal Game.
Once again, it is a little parable on obsession. This time, it is a man’s obsession for a woman.
Once again, we face a duality in nature. This man’s masculine nature to “dominate” as he puts it, to wreak power over a woman, and his nobler need to help someone in need and perform justice.
Once again, it is a story told in retrospect by a character and here it has more narrative purpose as there is mystery that is slowly unfolded through the retelling of this man’s obsession. The setting in which the story is told has a really powerful atmosphere that has a Poe-like gothic ambience of horror to it. This really pushes the emotional conflict within the story.
I think thematically, it’s very good and a poignant exploration of animal nature versus intelligent reasoning.

[Melodie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Très bonne lecture et ce fait très vite. J’ai beaucoup aimé l’écriture de l’auteur et le style de narration.

[Lixou is reading · Rating 4 out of 5]

que des dingos chez Stefan

[Ismael Manzanares · Rating 5 out of 5]

Relatos muy crudos, con la habitual precisión quirúrgica del autor. Algunos remueven tanto que obligan a dejar de seguir leyendo para luego retornar con renovadas fuerzas, incapaz de resistirse al embrujo de las palabras. Un libro altamente recomendable.

[Frenky Fra · Rating 3 out of 5]

La storia è narrata in prima persona da un uomo, un medico di origine europea che si trova in una colonia dell’Asia tropicale. Un giorno giunge alla sua porta una donna che gli chiede aiuto in modo tutt'altro che esplicito. Da quel momento, il medico precipita in una spirale di ossessione incontrollabile, dentro l'amok, parola malese che rappresenta una follia rabbiosa, una corsa affannata, che fa perdere la testa senza capire più niente.
La storia breve possiede una tensione crescente e si ha una sensazione di claustrofobia e angoscia perenne che ha un potere magnetico e ti impedisce di staccarti dalla lettura. Il caldo afoso e l'isolamento dalla sua civiltà europea rendono il protagonista insofferente, infatti la donna con lo svolgersi degli eventi dà il colpo di grazia ad un animo già provato.
In questa vicenda si scontrano continuamente ragione e impulso, perché il medico è consapevole di ciò che gli accade, si rende conto di sembrare un invasato agli occhi altrui, ma non riesce comunque a fermarsi. Evidenzia quanto lo sviluppo di un singolo pensiero possa diventare ossessione e prendere il totale controllo della nostra vita. Il ritmo è incalzante essendo questa una confessione urgente che il medico fa ad un passeggero della nave su cui si trova per tornare in Europa. Il finale decisamente tragico è la ciliegina sulla torta. L'autore è magistrale nel descrivere l'ossessione e sollecita il lettore ad interrogarsi tantissimo.
Bello!

[Lies · Rating 4 out of 5]

On a sea voyage the veriest trifle is an event - a sail on the horizon, a shoal of porpoises, a practical joke. < Kazachstan

In this moment of silence we were for the first time speaking frankly to one another.

[Kejsi · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Si mjek e kam pare shpesh vdekjen, e kam pare si rast klinik, si fakt... si te thuash e kam studiuar - por vetem nje here e kam jetuar ... vetem ate nate kam jetuar bashke me te, kam vdekur bashkë me te…”

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5? im dłużej o tym myślę tym trudniej mi ocenić to opowiadanie

[Jacek · Rating 1 out of 5]

boże ale gunwo, kancelować

[Wojtek Konieczny · Rating 3 out of 5]

(Audiobook), 5.5/10
Lektor - 4.5/6

[Kajalina · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.4

[Hastur · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐

[Onno Jakob]

großartig, amüsant, bedrückend. empfehlenswert auch in der hörbuchversion von Martina gedeck gelesen.

[andrepsilva · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5*

[Rubén Mánuel-Briseño · Rating 5 out of 5]

Zweig ist ein Meister der Literatur.
Amok: Super Novelle.