Beware of Pity

Stefan Zweig · 1881–1942 · Austria

Originally Ungeduld des Herzens (German)

Why it matters

A young cavalry officer's compassion for a paralyzed girl who loves him spirals from awkward kindness into engagement, deception, and disaster. Zweig's only completed novel dissects pity as a weakness disguised as virtue.

At a glance

Plain, confessional prose, though the narrator's self-justifications require a skeptical reader.