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A review by alexanderjamie
Chess Story by Stefan Zweig
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Zweig’s “Chess Story” is a short novella which focuses on the clash between two distinct characters. On one side is the rural unthinking greedy shameless brute Czentovic and on the other urban imaginative cultured humanistic intellectual Dr. B. In the case of Czentovic, he rises out of an unnamed poor Yugoslavian village, his genius unexplained and unexplainable. In contrast, Dr. B’s genius emerges from the isolation of the Nazi takeover of his homeland of Austria where a chess book and the game itself becomes his sole focus driving him to madness. They are driven to a clash by a host of surrounding characters who lead to his clash between two very different characters.
The book is well-written and flows very well as Zweig writing — with random side tangents and twists and turns. As some others have discussed, Dr. B likely has some relation to Zweig’s own character as an Austrian intellectual in exile suffering poor mental health and who ultimately took his own life the next year.In some way, like Dr. B, the distress of the game was too much and so he removed himself from the game against the impossible brute. I honestly would not have minded reading this as a whole novel, I really like Zweig’s writing and his psychological approach. I was left a bit unsatisfied by the end as I was craving more and the book though good felt to lack greater lesson or meaning (not that great books need that). Nevertheless, I acknowledge Zweig’s skill.
The book is well-written and flows very well as Zweig writing — with random side tangents and twists and turns. As some others have discussed, Dr. B likely has some relation to Zweig’s own character as an Austrian intellectual in exile suffering poor mental health and who ultimately took his own life the next year.