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A review by screen_memory
Chess Story by Stefan Zweig
5.0
My first exposure to Zweig after years of interest and similar years of only ever finding his books with the most garish 'romantic' covers. This particular story's been on my to-read since I first caught wind of Zweig and, my God, was it wonderful.
The use of chess as an allegory or analogy might be one of the most tired tropes in literature, but Zweig makes masterful use of chess as representative of the opposition of self v. world/environment and self v. self.
The narrative shifts between two narrators: the chief narrator of the story, and a character known as Dr. B., an ex-captive who recounts his solitary confinement wherein he developed his mania for chess, having had recourse to nothing to occupy his time aside from a pilfered book of chess tournament games.
Over twenty years have passed since then, when, aboard a cruise ship, he chances upon a chess game occurring between a crowd and a world-renowned chess champion. Noticing the skill evident in his suggestions, the champion challenges him to a game which Dr. B begrudgingly accepts, having not once played a game against anyone other than himself, let alone on a real chessboard.
The chess match is written with such vigor and immediacy that the feverish deliberation and movement of pieces is more possessing than many wartime scenes all culminating in an exhilarating finale.
This chess story, one of mania and obsession, and, if the game of chess is taken as an allegory for Europe itself following WWII, hopelessness, could be construed as indicative of Zweig's attitude toward Europe and life itself that led to his later suicide.
In any case, this story was well worth the wait.
The use of chess as an allegory or analogy might be one of the most tired tropes in literature, but Zweig makes masterful use of chess as representative of the opposition of self v. world/environment and self v. self.
The narrative shifts between two narrators: the chief narrator of the story, and a character known as Dr. B., an ex-captive who recounts his solitary confinement wherein he developed his mania for chess, having had recourse to nothing to occupy his time aside from a pilfered book of chess tournament games.
Over twenty years have passed since then, when, aboard a cruise ship, he chances upon a chess game occurring between a crowd and a world-renowned chess champion. Noticing the skill evident in his suggestions, the champion challenges him to a game which Dr. B begrudgingly accepts, having not once played a game against anyone other than himself, let alone on a real chessboard.
The chess match is written with such vigor and immediacy that the feverish deliberation and movement of pieces is more possessing than many wartime scenes all culminating in an exhilarating finale.
This chess story, one of mania and obsession, and, if the game of chess is taken as an allegory for Europe itself following WWII, hopelessness, could be construed as indicative of Zweig's attitude toward Europe and life itself that led to his later suicide.
In any case, this story was well worth the wait.