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verosnotebook 's review for:
Chess
by Stefan Zweig
4.5*
In eighty odd pages, Zweig succeeds in commenting on WWII, on politics, on culture, on intelligence and what that means, on class, on the nature of the mind and how far it can go before breaking, etc. And the running thread through all this are mind games. Not just chess, mind you, or even how the players try to get into each other’s mind in order to win, but much more widely. You have to scratch at the simple narration, and the more you do, the more you find. Layers upon layers. Ultimately, even the chess match pales in the context. Genius!
“And are we not guilty of offensive disparagement in calling chess a game?"This novella, for all its shortness, packs a punch. I read it yesterday and have been completely obsessed by it. Seemingly, this is the simple story of a chess match between a master and some of his fellow passengers, until one turns out to be more than he expected. And it is, but also so much more.
In eighty odd pages, Zweig succeeds in commenting on WWII, on politics, on culture, on intelligence and what that means, on class, on the nature of the mind and how far it can go before breaking, etc. And the running thread through all this are mind games. Not just chess, mind you, or even how the players try to get into each other’s mind in order to win, but much more widely. You have to scratch at the simple narration, and the more you do, the more you find. Layers upon layers. Ultimately, even the chess match pales in the context. Genius!
"(...) a human being, an intellectual human being who constantly bends the entire force of his mind on the ridiculous task of forcing a wooden king into the corner of a wooden board, and does it without going mad!”