„Schachnovelle“ (Chess Story) is one of my favorite novels. I‘ve read it several times.
when your brain is tired from intellectually challenging novels
I have to disagree with you on this statement. I think Zweig is very profound and it is quite an intellectual (or philosophical or psychological) task to think about one or two paragraphs. But that shouldn't stop anyone from reading - Zweig narrates in a very entertaining way... :-))
It's great that you are introducing a German-speaking author - I read your contribution with a lot of joy and "Oh yes, I remember..."!
I read Chess Story years ago, it is the first novel of Zweig that I have read, now I have read it for the 2nd time. I wish I could read it in German in its mother tongue. It is definitely a very powerful piece of work with its chess plot, literary power, striking sentences, psychological messages, the struggle of man to be free and himself, and his honorable stance against oppression.
The story's strength is the aphorisms, thought, philosophy and interpretations in it. There are very effective sentences, a person's inner conversations, inner contradictions, his struggle with himself is a novel that I wish I could quote more. It is a wonderful work that tells how an oppressive administration crushes the human spirit and personality and pulls it into nothingness. I especially felt this in Mecburiyet (Der Zwang).
Actually, I may have expressed myself wrong, I said that because of its immersive and understandable, otherwise I didn't mean it in the sense of simple or cookie.
Stefan Zweig is one of the most read authors in Turkiye and his popularity continues. A Turkish writer had a comment about him that I really liked: "Zweig won't take you for a walk on the London asphalt, he won't take you to the glaciers of Alaska, he won't take a tour you on the steppes of Anatolia, Zweig will take you in the labyrinths of your mind, take you to the depths of your soul, psychology, and inner world." he said. Zweig talks about the torture of the soul, not the body, which allows to look at it from a very impressive perspective.
Thank you very much for your valuable comment and allowing me to make this statement with your comment 😊🌸
Wow, thanks so much for your such a thorough, in-depth response! If I wasn't on vacation, I would go into more detail, but now I can only say: The quote from the Turkish writer says it all... ;-)
Very interesting that Zweig is one of the most read German speaking authors in Turkey. I would not have thought now.
What about Günter Grass? That is my absolute favorite author - not only because he lived very close to my hometown. No, I already chose him when he wasn't yet a Nobel Prize winner.... ;-) I don't even know if Grass is so worth reading in translation. He played with his mother tongue like no other! A single sentence of his sometimes covers a whole book page and is still comprehensible. Ingenious!