Publication
Antwerpen Uitgeverij Vrijdag 2016
ISBN
9789460014581
Language
Collections
Description
The evasions and self-deceptions of Franz Werfel's characters, the various Austrian types both Jewish and non-Jewish, and the pervading air of anti-Semitism perfectly capture Austria between the two world wars in its poignant final days of toleration.
Genres
User reviews
LibraryThing member thorold
This novella was written in exile during the war, and it's a surprisingly delicate satirical view of the Austrian ruling classes in the years immediately before the Anschluss. Leonidas, son of an impoverished schoolmaster, is now a middle-aged senior civil servant with a villa in Hietzing and a
Obviously Werfel is showing off a bit, by taking what may well be the corniest of all possible plot-lines and turning it into something clever, charming and original. Despite the tenderness and finesse with which he handles poor old Leonidas, we can't fail to see the analogy between the political situation of Austria and Leonidas's cowardice and failure to grasp the slim chance of redemption he has been offered. You finish the book with a wry smile, but there is a shiver going down the back of your neck at the same time.
I couldn't help wondering how much of the description of Leonidas's relationship with his high-maintenance wife Amelie reflects the home-life of the Werfels, but I suspect that Alma must have been in a league of her own...
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beautiful wife from a patrician family, but still very conscious of the fact that he owes his membership of the élite to an improbable stroke of good luck (inheriting a suit of evening clothes from a student colleague who killed himself). When a letter addressed in a lady's hand in pale blue ink appears on the breakfast table one day in the autumn of 1936, he knows his past is about to catch up with him. And it does.Obviously Werfel is showing off a bit, by taking what may well be the corniest of all possible plot-lines and turning it into something clever, charming and original. Despite the tenderness and finesse with which he handles poor old Leonidas, we can't fail to see the analogy between the political situation of Austria and Leonidas's cowardice and failure to grasp the slim chance of redemption he has been offered. You finish the book with a wry smile, but there is a shiver going down the back of your neck at the same time.
I couldn't help wondering how much of the description of Leonidas's relationship with his high-maintenance wife Amelie reflects the home-life of the Werfels, but I suspect that Alma must have been in a league of her own...
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Original publication date
1955