Beware of Pity (novel)

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Beware of Pity

Author	Stefan Zweig
Original title	Ungeduld des Herzens
Translator	Anthea Bell
Country	Germany
Language	German
Publisher	S. Fischer Verlag
Publication date	1939
Published in English	1939 Cassell (UK) Viking Press (US)
Pages	386

Beware of Pity (German: Ungeduld des Herzens, literally The Heart's Impatience) is a 1939 novel by the Austrian writer Stefan Zweig. It was Zweig's longest work of fiction. It was adapted into a 1946 film of the same title, directed by Maurice Elvey.^[1]

Plot summary[]

The young lieutenant Anton Hofmiller is invited to the castle of the wealthy Hungarian Lajos Kekesfalva. He meets Kekesfalva's paralyzed daughter Edith and develops subtle affection and deep compassion for her. Edith falls in love with him. When she develops a hope for a speedy recovery, he eventually promises to marry her when she is recovered, with the hope that this will convince her to take the treatment. However, for fear of ridicule and contempt, he denies the engagement in public. When Edith learns of this, she takes her own life. Overwhelmed by guilt, he is deployed to the First World War.

In popular culture[]

Wes Anderson very loosely based his film The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) on Beware of Pity and The Post Office Girl.^[2]

It was adapted to a stage play at the Barbican in 2017 directed by Simon McBurney.^[3]

See also[]

• 1939 in literature
• Austrian literature

References[]

Further reading[]

• Beware of Pity, review by Joan Acocella in The New York Review of Books, July 13, 2006

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