Beware of Pity

By Stefan Zweig

Categories: Literature & Fiction

Stefan Zweig's Beware of Pity (1939), his longest work of fiction, unfolds in a Hungarian garrison town in the months before the First World War. Cavalry lieutenant Anton Hofmiller, invited to the Kekesfalva castle, asks the host's daughter Edith to dance without realizing she cannot walk. Shame turns into dutiful visits, and his kindness raises hopes he has no wish to meet. Zweig studies the gap between real sympathy and weak-willed pity. This NYRB Classics edition pairs Phyllis and Trevor Blewitt's translation with Joan Acocella's introduction.

Recommended by 1 person

• Patrick Collison: “While I don't typically read much fiction, I recently read *Beware of Pity* (Stefan Zweig) and *Transit of Venus* (Shirley Hazzard). Both are really fantastic.”