Short stories
Fear
Angst
Stefan Zweig · 1920
Synopsis
Vienna, at the beginning of the century. Irene Wagner, wife of a prominent lawyer, is bored in a peaceful marriage and has taken a young pianist as her lover. One day, as she leaves his flat, a woman stops her on the stairs: she says she is the musician's former mistress, insults her and demands money. Irene pays, then pays again; the demands rise, and the fear of being discovered gnaws at her all the more because she can hardly guess how her husband would react.
Context
Written in 1913, the novella appeared only in 1920, in Berlin, in a separate edition; in 1925 Zweig gave a tightened version of it, then in 1936 included it in a collection. It was brought to the screen in 1928 by Hans Steinhoff, in 1936 in France by Victor Tourjansky, and in 1954 by Roberto Rossellini, with Ingrid Bergman. Alzir Hella's French translation appeared with Grasset in 1935, at the head of a collection of six novellas.
Who it is for
A short story, immediately accessible, with tension sustained from beginning to end. It can be read independently of the rest of the work.
Prizes and reception
It has become a classic of German-language school reading lists, regularly reissued by Reclam.
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