Beware of Pity

"Stefan Zweig was a dark and unorthodox artist; it's good to have him back."--Salman Rushdie

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.

斯台芬·茨威格（1881-1942），奥地利小说家、诗人、剧作家和传记作家。

出身富裕犹太家庭，青年时代在维也纳和柏林攻读哲学和文学，日后周游世界，结语罗曼·罗兰和弗洛伊德等人并深受影响。创作诗、小说、戏剧、文论、传记，以传记和小说成就最为著称。

第一次世界大战期间从事反战工作，是著名的和平主义者。一九三四年遭纳粹驱逐，流亡英国和巴西。一九四二年在孤寂与幻灭中自杀。

代表作有短篇小说《象棋的故事》、《一个陌生女人的来信》，长篇小说《心灵的焦灼》，回忆录《昨日的世界》，回忆录《昨日的世界》，传记《三大师》和《一个政治性人物的肖像》。