Stefan Zweig

By Stefan ZweigTranslated from the German by Alexander Starritt In Zweig’s classic novella, an epic chess match on a transatlantic liner unearths a story of Nazi persecution, madness, and obsession. “Perhaps the best chess story ever written.” —Economist A Chess Story, also known as The Royal Game, is the final work completed by the bestselling author of his day. Sent off to his publisher just days before his suicide in 1942, A Chess Story is also the only work where Zweig engages directly with Nazism; he brings all his signature psychological insight and compassion to the tale—but it is also suffused with the darkness of wartime. Stark, intense, and overpowering, A Chess Story is a grandmaster’s examination of madness and the power of a mind willing to sacrifice everything to win. Chess champion Mirko Czentovic is travelling on an ocean liner to Buenos Aires. Dull-witted in all but chess, he entertains himself on board by allowing others to challenge him in the game, before beating each of them and taking their money. But there is another passenger with a passion for chess: Dr B, previously driven to insanity during Nazi imprisonment by his torturers—but also by the games played in his imagination. In agreeing to take on Czentovic, what price will Dr B ultimately pay? Brought vividly to life in a fresh translation by award-winning author Alexander Starritt, this is one of the finest novellas by a master of the form, entirely deserving of its classic status. Also available in German. Paperback112 PagesPushkin Press Classics, 2026Originally published in 19424.39 x 0.38 x 6.98 inchesISBN 9781805332411Austrian Fiction, Stefan Zweig

A Chess Story

By Stefan ZweigTranslated by Phyllis & Trevor BlewittIntroduction by Joan Acocella "Beware of Pity, his first venture in longer fiction, is original and powerful work . . . Zweig has chronicled a hopeless and tragic relationship in a manner that so holds the reader as never to dispirit him, telling a story full of psychological pitfalls that only an experienced writer, and an experienced human being could dare to attempt . . . Zweig remains, after Beware of Pity, what he seemed to be–in his novelettes and biographies–before he wrote it: a brilliant writer."—The New York Times The great Austrian writer Stefan Zweig was a master anatomist of the deceitful heart, and Beware of Pity, the only novel he published during his lifetime, uncovers the seed of selfishness within even the finest of feelings. Hofmiller, an Austro-Hungarian cavalry officer stationed at the edge of the empire, is invited to a party at the home of a rich local landowner, a world away from the dreary routine of the barracks. The surroundings are glamorous, wine flows freely, and the exhilarated young Hofmiller asks his host's lovely daughter for a dance, only to discover that sickness has left her painfully crippled. It is a minor blunder that will destroy his life, as pity and guilt gradually implicate him in a well-meaning but tragically wrongheaded plot to restore the unhappy invalid to health. Paperback392 pagesNYRB Classics, 2006Originally published in 19395 x 1 x 8 inchesISBN 9781590172001Fiction

Beware of Pity

Von Stefan ZweigEin Liebesbrief erreicht den Romancier und Lebemann R. an seinem einundvierzigsten Geburtstag – die leidenschaftliche Lebensbeichte einer Frau, deren Lebensmittelpunkt er war.Doch sie ist für ihn nur eine belanglose Geliebte unter vielen geblieben, letztlich eine Unbekannte. »Ich klage Dich nicht an, mein Geliebter, nein, ich klage Dich nicht an«, verspricht sie, und doch stellen ihre glühenden Worte das Leben dieses Mannes, der »nur das Leichte, das Spielende, das Gewichtlose« lieben kann und vor Bindungen zurückscheut aus »Angst, in ein Schicksal einzugreifen«, vollständig in Frage.Also available in English.Paperback93 pagesText in GermanFischer Verlag, 2006Originally Published in 19224.7 x 0.3 x 7.5 inchesISBN 9783596130245Fiction

Brief einer Unbekannten

By Stefan ZweigTranslated by Anthea Bell Celebrating the range and diversity of Penguin Classics, they take us from snowy Japan to springtime Vienna, from haunted New England to a sun-drenched Mediterranean island, and from a game of chess on the ocean to a love story on the moon. Beautifully designed and printed, these collectible editions are bound in colorful, tactile cloth and stamped with foil. A group of passengers on a cruise ship challenge the world chess champion to a match. At first, they crumble, until they are helped by whispered advice from a stranger in the crowd - a man who will risk everything to win. Stefan Zweig's acclaimed novella Chess is a disturbing, intensely dramatic depiction of obsession and the price of the past.Also available in German. Hardcover128 pagesPenguin Classics, 2023Originally published in 19424.63 x 0.54 x 6.61 inchesISBN 9780241630822Austrian Literature

Chess

By Stefan ZweigTranslated by Anthea BellIntroduction by George Prochnik “Confusion is one of his finest and most exemplary works . . . a marvelously poised account of misunderstood motives, thwarted love, and sublimated desires . . . a perfect reminder of, or introduction to, Zweig’s economy and subtlety as a writer.”—Robert Macfarlane, The Times Literary Supplement“Confusion, which I recently devoured at a sitting, is in essence a simple story. An elderly academic looks back on the most intense and formative relationship of his life."—Harry Eyres, Financial TimesStefan Zweig was particularly drawn to the novella, and Confusion, a rigorous and yet transporting dramatization of the conflict between the heart and the mind, is among his supreme achievements in the form. A young man who is rapidly going to the dogs in Berlin is packed off by his father to a university in a sleepy provincial town. There, a brilliant lecture awakens in him: a wild passion for learning—as well as a peculiarly intense fascination with the graying professor who gave the talk. The student grows close to the professor, becoming a regular visitor to the apartment he shares with his much younger wife. He takes it upon himself to urge his teacher to finish the great work of scholarship that he has been laboring at for years and even offers to help him in any way he can. The professor welcomes the young man’s attentions, at least on some days. On others, he rages without apparent reason or turns away from his disciple with cold scorn. The young man is baffled, wounded. He cannot understand. But the wife understands. She understands perfectly. And one way or another she will help him to understand too.Paperback176 pagesNYRB Classics, 2012Originally published in English in 19275 x 0.5 x 8 inchesISBN 9781590174999Psychological Fiction

Confusion

By Stefan ZweigTranslated by Anthea Bell You loved him for decades and he doesn’t even know your name… A DEVASTATING PORTRAIT OF SILENT OBSESSION: Yearning, heartbreak, and tragedy unfold in this haunting autopsy of a broken heart. “In … Zweig’s most famous story, an obsessive passion lays bare the truth about a hypocritical society civilized to the point of inhumanity.” —Salman Rushdie, The New York Times Translated by the award-winning Anthea Bell, these 4 pieces of Stefan Zweig’s short fiction are among his most celebrated and compelling work. The titular tale offers a devastating depiction of unrequited love. Returning home to Vienna, an author in midlife opens a letter from a woman he has no memory of, but who has loved him her whole life. From a youthful crush to a night of shared passion, she has shaped her entire existence around the quiet pursuit of his attention. Yet, despite their intimacy and a child born of their union, she remains a ghost in his biography. Elsewhere in the collection, Zweig explores the fragile architecture of the heart:A young man mistakes his beloved for her sister.Two former lovers reunite after a lifetime of silence.A married woman repays a haunting debt of gratitude to a childhood sweetheart.Expertly paced, laced with the acutely accurate psychological detail and empathy that are Zweig’s trademarks, this is a powerful addition to Pushkin’s unequalled collection of his work. Also available in German. Paperback160 pagesPushkin Press Classics, 20265.1 x 7.8 inchesISBN 9781782697633Short Stories, Fiction

Letter from an Unknown Woman and Other Stories

Von Stefan Zweig"Stefan Zweig's Novellen wenden die neu gewonnenen Erkenntnisse der zeitgenössischen Psychologie in einem biegsamen, fast nervös vibrierenden Stil auf ihre Themen an." —Richard FriedenthalPaperback490 pagesText in GermanFischer Verlag, 20014.7 x 1.1 x 7.5 inchesISBN 9783596149919Fiction, Novellas

Meisternovellen

By Volker WeidermannTranslated from German by Carol Brown Janeway “Intimate . . . Weidermann gives us a glimpse of what was, to many of these writers, a brief but rare home.”—Claire Hazelton, The Guardian“Potent and melancholy . . . Weidermann has combed letters, books, diaries, and reminiscences and used them to tell his sad tale as if it were a novel."—Michael Prodger, The Times, London“Dazzling. . . Graceful. For such a slim book to convey with such poignancy the extinction of a generation of ‘Great Europeans’ is a triumph.”—The Sunday Telegraph“Beautifully translated by Carol Brown Janeway . . . a short but vital calm-before-the-storm history, one that shines a valuable light on two of the 20th century’s finest writers . . . rich in insight and empathy. This is a sparkling gem.”—Malcolm Forbes, Minneapolis Star-Tribune It’s the summer of 1936, and the writer Stefan Zweig is in crisis. His German publisher no longer wants him, his marriage is collapsing, and his house in Austria—searched by the police two years earlier—no longer feels like home. He’s been dreaming of Ostend, the Belgian beach town that is a paradise of promenades, parasols, and old friends. So he journeys there with his lover, Lotte Altmann, and reunites with fellow writer and semi-estranged close friend Joseph Roth, who is himself about to fall in love. For a moment, they create a fragile haven. But as Europe begins to crumble around them, the writers find themselves trapped on vacation, in exile, watching the world burn. In Ostend, Volker Weidermann lyrically recounts “the summer before the dark,” when a coterie of artists, intellectuals, drunks, revolutionaries, and madmen found themselves in limbo while Europe teetered on the edge of fascism and total war.Ostend is the true story of two of the twentieth century’s great writers, written with a novelist’s eye for pacing, chronology, and language—a dazzling work of historical nonfiction. Hardcover164 pagesPantheon, 2016 5.4 x 0.8 x 7.8 inchesISBN 9781101870266Literature, Biography, European History

Ostend: Stefan Zweig, Joseph Roth, and the Summer Before the Dark

Von Stefan ZweigAuf einem Passagierdampfer, der von New York nach Buenos Aires unterwegs ist, fordert ein Millionär gegen Honorar den mit einer Art mechanischer Präzision spielenden Schachweltmeister Mirko Czentovic zu einer Partie heraus. Der mitreisende Dr. B., ein österreichischer Emigrant, greift beratend ein und erreicht so ein Remis für den Herausforderer. Er hat sich, von der Gestapo, die ihn verhaftete, in ein Hotelzimmer gesperrt und von der Außenwelt hermetisch abgeschlossen, monatelang mit dem blinden Spiel von 150 Partien beschäftigt, um sich so seine intellektuelle Widerstandskraft zu erhalten. Stefan Zweigs episches Werk machte ihn ebenso berühmt wie seine historischen Miniaturen und die biographischen Arbeiten. Also available in English. Paperback110 pages Text in GermanFischer Verlag, 1992Originally Published in 19427.4 x 4.7 x 0.4 inchesISBN 9783596215225Fiction

Schachnovelle

By Stefan ZweigTranslated by Anthea Bell and Alexander Starritt A casual introduction, a challenge to a simple game of chess, a lovers’ reunion, a meaningless infidelity: from such small seeds Zweig brings forth five startlingly tense tales—meditations on the fragility of love, the limits of obsession, the combustibility of secrets and betrayal. To read anything by Zweig is to risk addiction; in this collection the power of his writing—which, with its unabashed intensity and narrative drive, made him one of the bestselling and most acclaimed authors in the world–is clear and irresistible. Each of these stories is a bolt of experience, unforgettable and unique. Five of Stefan Zweig’s most powerful novellas, containing some of his most famous and best-loved work: • Burning Secret • A Chess Story • Fear • Confusion • Journey into the PastPaperback384 pages5.07 x 0.95 x 7.79 inchesPushkin Press, 2021ISBN 9781782277071Fiction, Short Stories

The Collected Novellas of Stefan Zweig (paperback)

By Stefan ZweigTranslated by Anthea Bell In this magnificent collection of Stefan Zweig’s short stories the very best and worst of human nature are captured with sharp observation, understanding and vivid empathy. Ranging from love and death to faith restored and hope regained, these stories present a master at work, at the top of his form. Perfectly paced and brimming with passion, these twenty-two tales from a master storyteller of the Twentieth Century are translated by the award-winning Anthea Bell. Paperback720 pagesPushkin Press Classics, 2025 5.1 x 7.8 inches ISBN 9781805331827Literature, Short Stories

The Collected Stories of Stefan Zweig

By Stefan Zweig “I found it terrible, yet at the same time touching, for in all the years of the war I had not seen so perfect and pure an expression of bliss on any German face.” An ostensibly whimsical story about the adventures of a Berlin art dealer, Stefan Zweig’s The Invisible Collection is a powerful evocation of the condition of Germany between the wars. When Zweig’s anonymous narrator sets off to the provinces in search of a lucrative bargain, he finds himself caught up in the slow unfolding of a family tragedy—and is confronted with a unique reminder of the power of art…Eris Gems make available in the form of beautifully produced saddle-stitched booklets a series of outstanding short works of fiction and non-fiction.Paperback36 pagesEris Gems, 2024Originally published in 19257.68 x 4.33 inchesISBN 9781912475865 Literary Fiction

The Invisible Collection

By Stefan ZweigTranslated by Anthea Bell, Eden Paul, Cedar Paul "The fates of men are nothing to the universe, Zweig tells us – but he makes us care"—Sunday Times "Thoughtful, highly observant, and humane" —Guardian Five tales of family breakdown, political struggle, and monomaniacal obsession from one of the defining voices of the European Jewish diaspora. Moving back through time from the First World War to Ancient Rome, these stories play on the tension between religion, society and individual with masterful irony. We encounter heroes and bookworms, visionaries and gadabouts, patriarchs and rebels – united across the centuries by faith, and by the intensity with which they live and die, their individual passions blazing out against the forces of history. Includes: "Buchmendel," "Downfall of the Heart," "The Miracles of Life," "In the Snow," and "The Buried Candelabrum" Paperback288 pagesPushkin Press, 2025 5.07 x 7.78 inchesISBN 9781805331834Literature

The Last Miracle: Jewish Stories

By Stefan Zweig Translated by Anthea Bell Cover illustration by Edward Steichen Written as both a recollection of the past and a warning for future generations, The World of Yesterday recalls the golden age of literary Vienna—its seeming permanence, its promise, and its devastating fall. Surrounded by the leading literary lights of the epoch, Stefan Zweig draws a vivid and intimate account of his life and travels through Vienna, Paris, Berlin, and London, touching on the very heart of European culture. His passionate, evocative prose paints a stunning portrait of an era that danced brilliantly on the edge of extinction. This new translation by award-winning Anthea Bell captures the spirit of Zweig’s writing in arguably his most revealing work. Stefan Zweig (1881–1942) was born in Vienna, a member of a wealthy Austrian-Jewish family. He studied in Berlin and Vienna and was first known as a poet and translator, then as a biographer. Zweig traveled widely, living in Salzburg between the wars, and enjoyed literary fame. His stories and novellas were collected in 1934. In the same year, with the rise of Nazism, he briefly moved to London, taking British citizenship. After a short period in New York, he settled in Brazil where in 1942 he and his wife were found dead in bed in an apparent double suicide. Also available in German here. Paperback472 pagesNebraska University Press, 2013Originally published in 19415.5 x 1 x 8.5 inchesISBN 9780803226616Biography, History, Travel

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