The Collected Stories of Stefan Zweig Paperback – February 16, 2021

Book Review: Stefan ZweigStefan Zweig is hardly read these days so perhaps a brief bio is in order. His heyday lasted through 1920's and into the 1930's. During that period he was a popular author, more so in Europe than America I believe. He wrote one novel, his forte being the short story and novella. German was his native language in speech and prose. He penned biographies and critiques as well as an occasional libretto. Being Jewish he experienced the Nazi animosity through the mid and late 1930's. He fled to America and then to Brazil. In the latter he and his wife, despondent over a war ravaged Europe, committed suicide. The internet is my source for these high lights.The collection consists of twenty two stories published from 1900 through 1940. They provide a fair representation of his skill in plot and character. Judging his power in prose is another matter since they are translations. Most came out in the 1920's; several achieved print posthumously.Zweig favors the 'frame' story form which amounts to a tale within a tale. Ingenuity is required to make both sides interesting. He seems adapt at the device. Some stories in the collection are in epistle form.I like "Mendel the Bibliophile" a story that without overt comment condemns the Nazi regime. Every short story collection has a range from great to good to so-so. For me this story is the great one. It would do Zweig honor in any anthology. The collection doesn't detect he knew about the 'Final Solution'. He died in 1942. The scale of that grisly project became better known after 1945. The story, published in 1929 at the dawn more or less of Nazidom displays an almost prophetic scenario of the regime's consequence."In the Snow" treats late medieval Christian persecution of Jews. It came out in 1901."The Debt Paid Late" breaks from the pessimistic conclusions of its predecessors. Most 'literary' stories I've read favor a tragic rather than a happy ending. This is an observation, not a disparagement. This one provides an upbeat resolution in a touching way.Stephan Zweig is nearly contemporary to F. Scott Fitzgerald (1881-1942/1896-1940). It seems the style of each evolves from rather sentimental depictions to more realistic ones. Like Henry James, his stories derive much of their length from psychoanalysis than from plot complexities. At times I think the analysis overdone; the cake smothered by the icing. But when he is good, he is very good.

I'm not a big fan of short stories and have read a few so called masters over the last year or so...one I thought was horrible and the other just so so. But reading this book renewed my hope in short story collections. I don't think there was a story in the entire collection that didn't feel as if it was a small masterpiece. I'm baffled by some of the 1 star reviews for this book but I guess everyone is entitled to their opinion. I also liked the this story collection exposed me to different cultures, to history, and how these characters all had their own struggles just the same way we do today. I also loved the writing, not overly complex but the prose was detailed with strong narrative from the characters. After reading this I might check out some of Sefan Zweig's novels!

Zweig was a great writer---"Beware of Pity" is one of the great novels, a humanist document about the problem of human weakness---even though you try to do good things. These short stories are very good---but only after Zweig found his voice, in my view. Some of the early ones trade in romantic hysteria---but the later ones have a kind of deadpan fatalism that is incredible moving. I especially liked "The Governess," "The Star Above the Forest", and "The Invisible Collection"--- and, of course the often-anthologized "Mendel The Bibliophile." Wonderful stories---worth reading.

Zweig was one of the most popular writers of his generation, sometimes accused to be a mass writer. I am a big fan of his stories and novels, and some the biographies are in class by themselves: Montaigne and my favorite Castelio versus Calvino. i would classify them as great literature. In this volume I particularly liked Letter from an Unknown Woman, Twenty-Four Hours in the Life of a Woman and Mendel the Bibliophile. It is fantastic value, 24 stories for $15. Highly recommended.

This ample short story collection by Stefan Zweig was a wonderful experience to have read. He is a very fine writer. I was impressed by the way he involved me in the stories he wrote.

Zweig's writing seems to be - and undoubtedly is - from a previous era. He's writing about a world - and in a style - that was disappearing as he wrote. The stories are interesting for how they illustrate the past, but don't have the impact that "modern" stories do.

While I read this stories I saw a race for old cars. Looking at them I saw them very clean and good looking sturdy and competitive. In my mind they looked very much like old people having their five o'clock tea somewhere in London or elsewhere. And like these are the characters in Stefan Zweig stories. They are very complex, nostalgic or really sad, representing a world ...of yesterday?!.But every story and every page and every word was choosen to express exactly what the author ment all are fool of meening even if they meen less for the new generation. these books can remain modern long after their author passede awayAnd I feel really gratefull for Pushkin editors who took the challenge to translate(beautifully) and edit Stefan Zweig books which otherwise were lost for me, for my family for my grandchildren whom I hope they will interess some day

I discovered Stephen Zweig, as presumably others by reading the credits for 'The Grand Budapest Hotel'.The collection of short stories did not disappoint. They generally have melancholic endings but they wrap and carry you through all the emotions, each analysing the complexity via simplicity of the human condition. For me, reading on the train commute to and from work they are an ideal length, some stories joining me the week and other shorter ones done on a daily journey. I was sad to finish the fantasy world of these stories but have purchased another Zweig to be continued