austrian fiction « A Common Reader

Review: The Snows of Yesteryear – Gregor Von Rezzori

Note: This is an updated version of an earlier post. I suspect this new edition of a work by Gregor Von Rezzori is going to be the first of many. For background information on the author, please see my post, Gregor Von Rezzor – an appreciation

I am very pleased that Penguin books are soon [...]

Review: The Orient Express – Gregor von Rezzori

The The Orient Express, was the last novel to be written by Gregor von Rezzori. It was published in 1992, six years before his death, and it allows his un-named narrator to reflect on his life’s journey as a wealthy business man, well into the last era of his life, as he travels the world [...]

Review: Oedipus at Stalingrad – Gregor von Rezzori

I have recently discovered the books of Gregor von Rezzori (1914-1988) and feel that I have stumbled upon a layer of gold down in the deeper mines of 20th century literature. Its just surprising that at this point in time that publishers of such authors as Stefan Zweig, Thomas Mann, Gunther Grass etc, aren’t falling [...]

Review: Memoirs of an Anti-Semite – Gregor von Rezzori

I came to read Gregor Von Rezzori through reading an article, Chronicle of Loss, by John de Falbe in Slightly Foxed magazine no. 15. As a book reviewer, it is easy to concentrate on new books to the exclusion of many excellent novels which are fast-fading from public gaze. Who for example reads Somerset Maugham, [...]

Review: Chess – Stefan Zweig

Ever since reading Stefan Zweig’s longest novel, Beware of Pity, I tend to pounce on any book I find by this early 20th century Austrian author. Chess is what may be called a “slim volume”, being only 73 pages long, but readers of Zweig will be used to slim volumes – for with such a [...]

Review: The Post Office Girl – Stefan Zweig

Many thanks to Sort Of Books for publishing yet another posthumous work by Stefan Zweig – even if as in the case of The Post Office Girl, Zweig’s intentions for the book were somewhat unclear. In an Afterword, the the essayist and literary critic, William Deresiewicz, points out that Zweig “nibbled away at the Post [...]

Review: Burning Secret – Stefan Zweig

Pushkin Press are doing Zweig fans a great favour by publishing everything they can find by by him in their quality paperback editions. Although Burning Secret is not a full-length novel at only 117 small format pages, it is a worthwhile purchase for those who appreciate the work of this important writer from the first [...]

Review: Amok and Other Stories – Stefan Zweig

It was interesting to read in Human Smoke, the subject of my earlier review, references to Stefan Zweig, and his opposition to the Nazi regime. Zweig became convinced that Nazi domination of Europe was inevitable and would lead to the extinguishing of all he held dear, leading to his death by suicide, together with his [...]

Review: Beware of Pity – Stefan Zweig

I came to Beware of Pity with some trepidation, not being overly keen on books which focus on unrequited romance, not realising its almost overwhelming message that living entirely to please others is a recipe for disaster, not only to yourself, but also to those to whom you imagine you are so vitally important.

The [...]

Review: Fantastic Night and Other Short Stories – Stefan Zweig

Like many people I greatly regret that Stefan Zweig only wrote one full length novel, but his short stories, as here in Fantastic Night and Other Short Stories are so good that it seems churlish to see them as in any way a poor relation to a full length novel.

The title story Fantastic Night [...]

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