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Burning Secret
A suave baron takes a fancy to twelve-year-old Edgar's mother, while the three are holidaying in an Austrian mountain resort. His initial advances rejected, the baron befriends Edgar in order to get closer to the woman he desires. The initially unsuspecting child soon senses something is amiss, but has no idea of the burning secret that is driving the affair, and that will soon change his life for ever.
160 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1911
About the author
Stefan Zweig
1,796 books9,369 followersStefan Zweig was one of the world's most famous writers during the 1920s and 1930s, especially in the U.S., South America, and Europe. He produced novels, plays, biographies, and journalist pieces. Among his most famous works are Beware of Pity, Letter from an Unknown Woman, and Mary, Queen of Scotland and the Isles. He and his second wife committed suicide in 1942.
Zweig studied in Austria, France, and Germany before settling in Salzburg in 1913. In 1934, driven into exile by the Nazis, he emigrated to England and then, in 1940, to Brazil by way of New York. Finding only growing loneliness and disillusionment in their new surroundings, he and his second wife committed suicide.
Zweig's interest in psychology and the teachings of Sigmund Freud led to his most characteristic work, the subtle portrayal of character. Zweig's essays include studies of Honoré de Balzac, Charles Dickens, and Fyodor Dostoevsky (Drei Meister, 1920; Three Masters) and of Friedrich Hölderlin, Heinrich von Kleist, and Friedrich Nietzsche (Der Kampf mit dem Dämon, 1925; Master Builders). He achieved popularity with Sternstunden der Menschheit (1928; The Tide of Fortune), five historical portraits in miniature. He wrote full-scale, intuitive rather than objective, biographies of the French statesman Joseph Fouché (1929), Mary Stuart (1935), and others. His stories include those in Verwirrung der Gefühle (1925; Conflicts). He also wrote a psychological novel, Ungeduld des Herzens (1938; Beware of Pity), and translated works of Charles Baudelaire, Paul Verlaine, and Emile Verhaeren.
Most recently, his works provided the inspiration for 2014 film The Grand Budapest Hotel.
Zweig studied in Austria, France, and Germany before settling in Salzburg in 1913. In 1934, driven into exile by the Nazis, he emigrated to England and then, in 1940, to Brazil by way of New York. Finding only growing loneliness and disillusionment in their new surroundings, he and his second wife committed suicide.
Zweig's interest in psychology and the teachings of Sigmund Freud led to his most characteristic work, the subtle portrayal of character. Zweig's essays include studies of Honoré de Balzac, Charles Dickens, and Fyodor Dostoevsky (Drei Meister, 1920; Three Masters) and of Friedrich Hölderlin, Heinrich von Kleist, and Friedrich Nietzsche (Der Kampf mit dem Dämon, 1925; Master Builders). He achieved popularity with Sternstunden der Menschheit (1928; The Tide of Fortune), five historical portraits in miniature. He wrote full-scale, intuitive rather than objective, biographies of the French statesman Joseph Fouché (1929), Mary Stuart (1935), and others. His stories include those in Verwirrung der Gefühle (1925; Conflicts). He also wrote a psychological novel, Ungeduld des Herzens (1938; Beware of Pity), and translated works of Charles Baudelaire, Paul Verlaine, and Emile Verhaeren.
Most recently, his works provided the inspiration for 2014 film The Grand Budapest Hotel.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,318 reviews
July 27, 2022
Burning Secret is a subtle coming-of-age story of a rare psychological insight.
Edgar is a naive twelve-year old boy and the adult world is a mystery to him…
But when he becomes an unsuspicious vertex in an adult love triangle he begins to surmise that there is some secret and grownups may lie and deceive in order to prevent him from penetrating their world.
Some are growing up slowly and become adult when their time comes, some just come of age without ever growing up and some only need a little push…
Edgar is a naive twelve-year old boy and the adult world is a mystery to him…
A line was dug into his brow, the slight twelve-year-old looked almost old as he sat there brooding, without sparing a glance for the landscape unfolding its resonant colours all around: the mountains in the pure green of the coniferous forests, the valleys still young with the fresh bloom of spring, which was late this year. All he saw was the couple opposite him on the back seat of the carriage, as if his intense glances, like a fishing-line, could bring the secret up from the gleaming depths of their eyes. Nothing whets the intelligence more than a passionate suspicion, nothing develops all the faculties of an immature mind more than a trail running away into the dark. Sometimes it is only a flimsy door that cuts children off from what we call the real world, and a chance gust of wind will blow it open for them.
But when he becomes an unsuspicious vertex in an adult love triangle he begins to surmise that there is some secret and grownups may lie and deceive in order to prevent him from penetrating their world.
Some are growing up slowly and become adult when their time comes, some just come of age without ever growing up and some only need a little push…
April 11, 2020
An attractive, young married woman takes her 12-year old boy to a summer resort in Austria to improve his health. A cosmopolitan “baron” hits on her. She’s probably never really loved her husband so she is tempted. But that romance is not the approach that the author takes to the story.
Instead he focuses on the impact of the affair on the young boy. The baron carefully plots his approach to the woman through the boy. The boy is shy, more or less friendless, and “sickly and excitable.” The boy is overwhelmed by the attention of an adult. The man tells him and his mother of his (supposed) adventures hunting lions and elephants in India. As a bookish kid these are the things he has read and dreamed of.
But the boy is no fool and he is devastated to eventually realize that the man has no real interest in him, and that the baron is after his mother. The enraged boy breaks with both of them, calling them at one point “Liars and dogs!” “In that moment of uncontrolled fury his tears washed away his whole childhood, trust, love, credulity, respect.”
This is where the title comes in, The Burning Secret. He’s a bright kid but he doesn’t have a clue what this attraction between men and women is about. What are those noises from his parents’ bedroom at night? He sees the baron’s and his mother’s companionship at the resort as alliance against him – they are always trying to get rid of him to go for drives or walks. He spies on them when the baron and his mother go off alone. Why is the baron always trying to get his mother into his room or into the woods? The boy has read a lot of crime and adventure novels -- will he hurt her? He actively campaigns to separate them.
The author does an excellent job of illustrating the choice the woman faces – her simultaneous attraction and repulsion. “She was at the critical age when a woman begins to regret having remained faithful to a husband she has never truly loved, and when the purple sunset of her beauty still affords her a final urgent choice between motherliness and womanliness.” She walks a line between objecting to his advances or acting coquettishly in response to them. She’s fearful that he might embrace her but regretful if he does not.
Actually the baron has her right where he wants her – with champagne helping fuel her confusion. But there’s that damn kid! Now the boy has learned his own trick – a magic word that acts like a referee’s whistle and freezes the potential lovers in mid-frame: “Papa.” “Papa says I should always stay with you.” “Papa says you should take me for walks.”
Another great novella from Zweig (1881-1942), a prolific author with 25 or so books. He was at one time considered the most translated author in the world.
Top photo, Salzkammergut on Lake Hallstatt, Austria from traveltriangle.com
Middle: Hotel Schwarzenberg, Voralberg, Austria from telegraph.co.uk
The author from m.media-amazon.com
Instead he focuses on the impact of the affair on the young boy. The baron carefully plots his approach to the woman through the boy. The boy is shy, more or less friendless, and “sickly and excitable.” The boy is overwhelmed by the attention of an adult. The man tells him and his mother of his (supposed) adventures hunting lions and elephants in India. As a bookish kid these are the things he has read and dreamed of.
But the boy is no fool and he is devastated to eventually realize that the man has no real interest in him, and that the baron is after his mother. The enraged boy breaks with both of them, calling them at one point “Liars and dogs!” “In that moment of uncontrolled fury his tears washed away his whole childhood, trust, love, credulity, respect.”
This is where the title comes in, The Burning Secret. He’s a bright kid but he doesn’t have a clue what this attraction between men and women is about. What are those noises from his parents’ bedroom at night? He sees the baron’s and his mother’s companionship at the resort as alliance against him – they are always trying to get rid of him to go for drives or walks. He spies on them when the baron and his mother go off alone. Why is the baron always trying to get his mother into his room or into the woods? The boy has read a lot of crime and adventure novels -- will he hurt her? He actively campaigns to separate them.
The author does an excellent job of illustrating the choice the woman faces – her simultaneous attraction and repulsion. “She was at the critical age when a woman begins to regret having remained faithful to a husband she has never truly loved, and when the purple sunset of her beauty still affords her a final urgent choice between motherliness and womanliness.” She walks a line between objecting to his advances or acting coquettishly in response to them. She’s fearful that he might embrace her but regretful if he does not.
Actually the baron has her right where he wants her – with champagne helping fuel her confusion. But there’s that damn kid! Now the boy has learned his own trick – a magic word that acts like a referee’s whistle and freezes the potential lovers in mid-frame: “Papa.” “Papa says I should always stay with you.” “Papa says you should take me for walks.”
Another great novella from Zweig (1881-1942), a prolific author with 25 or so books. He was at one time considered the most translated author in the world.
Top photo, Salzkammergut on Lake Hallstatt, Austria from traveltriangle.com
Middle: Hotel Schwarzenberg, Voralberg, Austria from telegraph.co.uk
The author from m.media-amazon.com
September 10, 2024
السر الحارق ..القراءة الخامسة لزفايغ وتعتبر قراءة مختلفة قليلاً عن التجارب السابقة ...
في هذه النوڤيلا إستطاع زفايغ ببراعة إنه يعبر مش عن مشاعر المرأة أو الرجل كالمعتاد-ولكن قدر إنه يوصف ويدخل داخل أعماق طفل عنده ١٢ سنة وهو يري أمه تنجرف نحو علاقة غير شرعية مع رجل غريب ..
إسلوب زفايغ كالعادة ممتع و بيقدر في صفحات قليلة يعبر عن الكثير من المشاعر اللي غيره ممكن يكتب عنها في مئات الصفحات و حتي مش شرط إنها تكون بهذا العمق الذي يتميز به هذا الكاتب المبدع...
نوفيلا عميقة.. ممتعة ولكني مازلت أُفضِل قلم زفايغ في التعبير عن مشاعر الرجالة والستات أكتر من دخوله لعالم الأطفال:)
في هذه النوڤيلا إستطاع زفايغ ببراعة إنه يعبر مش عن مشاعر المرأة أو الرجل كالمعتاد-ولكن قدر إنه يوصف ويدخل داخل أعماق طفل عنده ١٢ سنة وهو يري أمه تنجرف نحو علاقة غير شرعية مع رجل غريب ..
إسلوب زفايغ كالعادة ممتع و بيقدر في صفحات قليلة يعبر عن الكثير من المشاعر اللي غيره ممكن يكتب عنها في مئات الصفحات و حتي مش شرط إنها تكون بهذا العمق الذي يتميز به هذا الكاتب المبدع...
نوفيلا عميقة.. ممتعة ولكني مازلت أُفضِل قلم زفايغ في التعبير عن مشاعر الرجالة والستات أكتر من دخوله لعالم الأطفال:)
February 11, 2022
IL RISVEGLIO DELLA PRIMAVERA
I tre protagonisti del racconto di Zweig nel film omonimo diretto da Andrew Birkin nel 1988.
Questo racconto di Zweig mi suscita ricordi.
A cominciare dal fatto che l’ho letto a Praga nell’agosto del 1991 pochi giorni dopo il putsch russo durante il quale Gorbačëv fu arrestato, o trattenuto contro la sua volontà (in Crimea).
Si sentivano versioni diverse e gli amici praghesi temevano il ritorno dei carri armati russi. Ma per fortuna non era più l’epoca di Jan Palach, i tempi erano ben diversi: il sequestro di Gorbačëv durò qualche giorno, non di più – l’effetto più notevole fu l’opposto dell'obiettivo dei golpisti, rafforzare l’Unione Sovietica, che al contrario accelerò il proprio sgretolamento.
Per quanto riguarda Praga, il monumento al carro armato russo che commemorava la liberazione dai nazisti fu ridipinto di rosa e uno slip da donna fu infilato sulla lunga canna per completare lo sberleffo.
Amici rivali.
Il secondo ricordo è ben meno personale, ma riguarda comunque una persona che mi è molto cara: Stanley Kubrick.
Che con queste parole condensa la trama del racconto di Zweig:
È la storia di una madre che va in vacanza senza il marito, accompagnata dal figlio dodicenne. Nella stazione termale in cui soggiornano, lei si lascia sedurre da un fascinoso barone. Il figlio scopre l'intrigo e, tornato a casa, non sa se rivelare la verità al padre.
Era il 1956, Kubrick era reduce dal successo di The Killing - Rapina a mano armata, la MGM felice di quel film credeva nel talento di quel giovane regista (28 anni) e l’aveva messo sotto contratto: lo lasciarono libero di scegliere un testo di cui detenevano i diritti da adattare per lo schermo. E Stanley scelse proprio il racconto di Zweig.
Il produttore provò a distorglielo: guarda, gli disse,
È una storia un po' debole» diceva, «è come una barzelletta che non fa ridere. Alla fine la madre si mette il dito sulle labbra per far capire al figlio che deve stare zitto e non deve rivelare al padre l'adulterio. Tutto qui.
La qual cosa, ovviamente, rafforzò la convinzione di Kubrick.
Il saluto al padre che non può aggregarsi alla vacanza.
Il regista era stato introdotto alla letteratura mitteleuropea dalla ballerina viennese Ruth Sobotka, che era la sua seconda moglie.
Sappiamo bene che la fascinazione per le storie dense di influssi freudiani, sospese tra infedeltà coniugali, sogni a occhi aperti e più o meno celati desideri erotici faceva parte del mondo di Kubrick, che è morto inseguendo il suo “doppio sogno”: il suo ultimo film, uscito postumo, Eyes Wide Shut è tratto appunto dal romanzo breve di Schnitzler Doppio sogno.
Sembra che Kubrick stesso all’epoca fosse in pieno delirio di gelosia: sua moglie era troppo più sensuale attraente e spigliata rispetto alla goffaggine di lui. Quel matrimonio durò appena tre anni (non che il primo fosse stato più lungo – è il terzo, quello con Christiane Harlan, che resiste al tempo, fino alla morte). E così sembra che parlasse con i suoi più intimi di incontri casuali che diventano passioni, di attrazioni irresistibili, del sesso fatto per vendetta: il racconto di Zweig era un modo per affrontare i suoi fantasmi (demoni?).
Madre e figlio. Lei è interpretata da Faye Duneway.
Alla sceneggiatura si dedicò lo scrittore Calder Willingham, che poi con Kubrick realizzò il film seguente e poi Spartacus, e con altri registi alcuni film indimenticabili quali One Eyed Jacks – I due volti della vendetta, l’unica regia di Marlon Brando, The Graduate - Il laureato, Gang, Little Big Man - Piccolo grande uomo.
Il copione cambia prospettiva non tenendo come punto di vista esclusivamente quello del ragazzino, ma attribuisce più peso a ciascun personaggio: per esempio, viene introdotta una scena nella quale la mamma telefona al marito rimasto a casa. È proprio la madre il personaggio che la sceneggiatura sviluppa di più rispetto all’originale di Zweig (che alla donna non regala neppure un nome!).
Come nel suo ultimo film, Kubrick trasferisce le vicende viennesi di inizio secolo alla contemporaneità di New York, la sua città di nascita, il posto che conosce meglio al mondo.
La sceneggiatura fu portata a termine, ma mai realizzata: perché cambiò la dirigenza della MGM, e la nuova, con prassi consolidata internazionalmente, fece piazza pulita dei progetti di quella precedente.
E Stanley se ne andò in Germania a girare Paths of Glory – Orizzonti di gloria.
Il barone è Klaus Maria Brandauer.
A suo modo, anche questo è un racconto di formazione: il dodicenne protagonista impara (a sue spese) la complessità dei sentimenti e della pulsione sessuale, ma soprattutto quanto sia bugiarda la vita degli adulti. Così bugiarda che come rimarca bene l’ultimo romanzo di Elena Ferrante, conviene imparare presto le regole e trasformare in bugiarda anche la vita degli adolescenti. E perché no, includiamo pure quella dei bambini.
Ma, a suo modo, è anche un rovesciamento del romanzo di Nabokov, ben prima che scrivesse Lolita: qui l’adulto avvicina il bambino mirando alla madre, là l’uomo avvicinava una madre mirando alla giovane figlia.
Il bambino, Edgar, è convalescente, la madre lo porta in una stazione termale, il padre non può aggregarsi e rimane in città. Nel luogo di villeggiatura, un annoiato barone mette gli occhi sull’avvenente madre, e fa amicizia col dodicenne mirando ad avvicinarsi alla donna.
Edgar passa dall’amicizia e ammirazione iniziale per quest’uomo che gli mostra interesse e attenzione, alla gelosia e all’odio, man mano che comprende il progetto del subdolo conquistatore e come sua madre stia per cedere.
Kubrick, Kirk Douglas e Woody Strode sul set di “Spartacus”.
I tre protagonisti del racconto di Zweig nel film omonimo diretto da Andrew Birkin nel 1988.
Questo racconto di Zweig mi suscita ricordi.
A cominciare dal fatto che l’ho letto a Praga nell’agosto del 1991 pochi giorni dopo il putsch russo durante il quale Gorbačëv fu arrestato, o trattenuto contro la sua volontà (in Crimea).
Si sentivano versioni diverse e gli amici praghesi temevano il ritorno dei carri armati russi. Ma per fortuna non era più l’epoca di Jan Palach, i tempi erano ben diversi: il sequestro di Gorbačëv durò qualche giorno, non di più – l’effetto più notevole fu l’opposto dell'obiettivo dei golpisti, rafforzare l’Unione Sovietica, che al contrario accelerò il proprio sgretolamento.
Per quanto riguarda Praga, il monumento al carro armato russo che commemorava la liberazione dai nazisti fu ridipinto di rosa e uno slip da donna fu infilato sulla lunga canna per completare lo sberleffo.
Amici rivali.
Il secondo ricordo è ben meno personale, ma riguarda comunque una persona che mi è molto cara: Stanley Kubrick.
Che con queste parole condensa la trama del racconto di Zweig:
È la storia di una madre che va in vacanza senza il marito, accompagnata dal figlio dodicenne. Nella stazione termale in cui soggiornano, lei si lascia sedurre da un fascinoso barone. Il figlio scopre l'intrigo e, tornato a casa, non sa se rivelare la verità al padre.
Era il 1956, Kubrick era reduce dal successo di The Killing - Rapina a mano armata, la MGM felice di quel film credeva nel talento di quel giovane regista (28 anni) e l’aveva messo sotto contratto: lo lasciarono libero di scegliere un testo di cui detenevano i diritti da adattare per lo schermo. E Stanley scelse proprio il racconto di Zweig.
Il produttore provò a distorglielo: guarda, gli disse,
È una storia un po' debole» diceva, «è come una barzelletta che non fa ridere. Alla fine la madre si mette il dito sulle labbra per far capire al figlio che deve stare zitto e non deve rivelare al padre l'adulterio. Tutto qui.
La qual cosa, ovviamente, rafforzò la convinzione di Kubrick.
Il saluto al padre che non può aggregarsi alla vacanza.
Il regista era stato introdotto alla letteratura mitteleuropea dalla ballerina viennese Ruth Sobotka, che era la sua seconda moglie.
Sappiamo bene che la fascinazione per le storie dense di influssi freudiani, sospese tra infedeltà coniugali, sogni a occhi aperti e più o meno celati desideri erotici faceva parte del mondo di Kubrick, che è morto inseguendo il suo “doppio sogno”: il suo ultimo film, uscito postumo, Eyes Wide Shut è tratto appunto dal romanzo breve di Schnitzler Doppio sogno.
Sembra che Kubrick stesso all’epoca fosse in pieno delirio di gelosia: sua moglie era troppo più sensuale attraente e spigliata rispetto alla goffaggine di lui. Quel matrimonio durò appena tre anni (non che il primo fosse stato più lungo – è il terzo, quello con Christiane Harlan, che resiste al tempo, fino alla morte). E così sembra che parlasse con i suoi più intimi di incontri casuali che diventano passioni, di attrazioni irresistibili, del sesso fatto per vendetta: il racconto di Zweig era un modo per affrontare i suoi fantasmi (demoni?).
Madre e figlio. Lei è interpretata da Faye Duneway.
Alla sceneggiatura si dedicò lo scrittore Calder Willingham, che poi con Kubrick realizzò il film seguente e poi Spartacus, e con altri registi alcuni film indimenticabili quali One Eyed Jacks – I due volti della vendetta, l’unica regia di Marlon Brando, The Graduate - Il laureato, Gang, Little Big Man - Piccolo grande uomo.
Il copione cambia prospettiva non tenendo come punto di vista esclusivamente quello del ragazzino, ma attribuisce più peso a ciascun personaggio: per esempio, viene introdotta una scena nella quale la mamma telefona al marito rimasto a casa. È proprio la madre il personaggio che la sceneggiatura sviluppa di più rispetto all’originale di Zweig (che alla donna non regala neppure un nome!).
Come nel suo ultimo film, Kubrick trasferisce le vicende viennesi di inizio secolo alla contemporaneità di New York, la sua città di nascita, il posto che conosce meglio al mondo.
La sceneggiatura fu portata a termine, ma mai realizzata: perché cambiò la dirigenza della MGM, e la nuova, con prassi consolidata internazionalmente, fece piazza pulita dei progetti di quella precedente.
E Stanley se ne andò in Germania a girare Paths of Glory – Orizzonti di gloria.
Il barone è Klaus Maria Brandauer.
A suo modo, anche questo è un racconto di formazione: il dodicenne protagonista impara (a sue spese) la complessità dei sentimenti e della pulsione sessuale, ma soprattutto quanto sia bugiarda la vita degli adulti. Così bugiarda che come rimarca bene l’ultimo romanzo di Elena Ferrante, conviene imparare presto le regole e trasformare in bugiarda anche la vita degli adolescenti. E perché no, includiamo pure quella dei bambini.
Ma, a suo modo, è anche un rovesciamento del romanzo di Nabokov, ben prima che scrivesse Lolita: qui l’adulto avvicina il bambino mirando alla madre, là l’uomo avvicinava una madre mirando alla giovane figlia.
Il bambino, Edgar, è convalescente, la madre lo porta in una stazione termale, il padre non può aggregarsi e rimane in città. Nel luogo di villeggiatura, un annoiato barone mette gli occhi sull’avvenente madre, e fa amicizia col dodicenne mirando ad avvicinarsi alla donna.
Edgar passa dall’amicizia e ammirazione iniziale per quest’uomo che gli mostra interesse e attenzione, alla gelosia e all’odio, man mano che comprende il progetto del subdolo conquistatore e come sua madre stia per cedere.
Kubrick, Kirk Douglas e Woody Strode sul set di “Spartacus”.
September 21, 2013
This is the story of Gustav von Aschenbach. No, wait a minute. I’m confused. It is Hans Castorp whom we follow. OMG, what a mess I’m making. We don’t really know the name of the protagonist. We only know that he is a Baron, and The Baron he remains for the rest of the book, although we later learn, in passing, the name of his father, Count Grundheim. But the Baron is the Baron, a type. He is a member of the second or third level of the complex aristocratic structure as it existed in the Austro-Hungarian Empire prior to WWI.
The story then is about this Baron who travels by train to Davos, to visit a Sanatorium. No, no… Erase that. He travels further south than Davos. He goes to Trieste and from there takes the boat to Pola and then Venice where he goes on holidays to a nice hotel.
I obviously do not know what I am writing. Our Austrian hero is indeed traveling by train but to a resort, and not to a Sanatorium, and he is not going abroad but remaining in his country. He is going to the elegant Semmering, in the Eastern part of modern Austria.
Finally I got it straight.
So, the Baron is bored, because he is not one of those individuals who knows how to be alone; he is therefore not a reader and could not have formed part of the GR population. As someone for whom his own interior is no company he decides to go hunting instead. By hunting I mean that he sets himself on the prey of a woman. And now I am getting again confused with Georges Duroy, our beautiful Bel Ami. But no, our Baron is not a social climber, he just wants female entertainment. So we can leave nineteenth century literature completely and its concern with social mobility.
But what is it about Germanic fiction in the years prior to WWI that presents us with similar beginnings? Having read Death in Venice (1912) recently and being now in the midst of The Magic Mountain (conceived also in 1912), this novella from 1911 has thrown me into a confusing muddle.
But suddenly there is a turn in the book and now I know well where I am. I am reading Brennendes Geheimnis or Burning Secret.
There is a child here. There is the twist. This is Edgar and we now see the world through the eyes of this young teenager. I feel in new sound ground.
And with this swing I am far away from Thomas Mann and his fixations with his abstract and dualistic ideas, and I can breathe. We are not presented with characters preoccupied with the abyss and destructive passions or deceiving rationalities that do not appease the tormented or explain the phenomenon of life. There is a different scent in the air.
This is Stefan Zweig writing. There is a wider range and subtlety of shades. Through the child, and unfolding a gripping plot, which at times has the tantalizing tones of a thriller, Zweig explores the whole array of human emotions as they germinate in a budding individual. If hatred, and jealousy, and revenge, and betrayal, and bitterness, and rancor are all human reactions, Zweig also uncovers the forgiving, the tolerant, the brave, the benign, the thankful, and the warmhearted, as these qualities take the upper hand. It is the realization that life has many faces and that people need each other, no matter what, that make this courageous youth enter the mind of his new self with all his humane facets fully unveiled.
This is a beautiful novella and I wish I could watch the film produced in 1988 with Klaus-Maria Brandauer and Faye Dunaway in the cast.
February 19, 2020
Curioso cuanto ha escrito Zweig sobre la infidelidad y en la forma tan dura en la que lo ha hecho, quizás con la esperanza de expiar su culpa por las muchas veces que él la cometió, a veces de forma consentida, a veces no.
En fin, por lo que se refiere a la novela y dejando aparte toda la moralina final que me ha parecido cargante y empalagosa, la elegancia con la que escribe Zweig y su profundo conocimiento de los resortes que mueven a la mente y al comportamiento humano se exponen aquí tan brillantemente como siempre. Su inteligencia a la hora de rodear a la trama de la atmósfera idónea es más que notable y no es una excepción la que envuelve a este triángulo sobre el que se sostiene la novela y que tiene como vértices a un aburrido señorito en busca de la mejor manera de ocupar su tiempo, a una mujer al borde de la temida zona de invisibilidad que se alcanzaba a cierta edad, y al hijo de esta, a punto de cruzar el puente que le conducirá de una forma brusca a la edad adulta.
“Se encontraba en esa edad decisiva en la que una mujer empieza a lamentar el hecho de haberse mantenido fiel a un marido al que al fin y al cabo nunca ha querido, y en la que el purpúreo crepúsculo de su belleza le concede una última y apremiante elección entre lo maternal y lo femenino. La vida, a la que hace tiempo parece que se le han dado ya todas las respuestas, se convierte una vez más en pregunta, por última vez tiembla la mágica aguja del deseo, oscilando entre la esperanza de una experiencia erótica y la resignación definitiva.”El hijo será el vértice sobre el que Zweig sitúe el foco, y así sentiremos tanto la angustia del niño por lo que intuye y no acaba de entender como el rechazo y la incomodidad que sufre la pareja adúltera ante la vigilancia a la que se ven expuestos por este. Zweig logra atrapar al lector entre la falta de escrúpulos y el apetito sexual del cazador, la disyuntiva de la presa entre el deber maternal y el deseo, y las ansias del niño por proteger a la una del otro sin saber muy bien de qué la está protegiendo y por qué esta no se deja proteger.
“Ocultan algo. Entre ellos existe algún secreto que no quieren revelarme. Un secreto que debo averiguar a toda costa. Ya lo sé, tiene que ser el mismo que siempre me ocultan cerrando las puertas con llave, ese secreto del que se habla en los libros y en la ópera, cuando hombres y mujeres cantan los unos frente a los otros con los brazos abiertos, se abrazan y se apartan de un empujón. De alguna forma tiene que ser lo mismo que aquello que ocurrió con mi profesora de francés, que se llevó mal con papá y a la que después despidieron”No se puede decir que esté entre lo mejor del autor, pero aun así sigue siendo una delicia.
May 4, 2020
The Burning Secret is a slim but powerful novella by Austrian novelist, Stefan Zweig. It kept me enthralled from start to finish by its comic and perspicacious revelation of what underlies human behavior, both its noble and ignoble impulses.
In an Austrian health resort nestled in the mountains, Edgar, a 12-year-old child, is convalescing from a serious illness. His middle-aged mother who accompanied him seems emotionally distant and impatient with him. A baron who is on vacation in the same resort, a serial seducer, eyes his voluptuous mother, and hitches a game plan to entrap her by paying overtures to this lonely child who becomes greatly enamored of him.
Zweig did an outstanding job bringing to the fore a child’s emotional confusion: flattery from the attention bestowed by a debonair baron, anger from apprehending the baron’s greater interest in his mother, betrayal from a realization of being used, curiosity over the burning secret behind male-female attraction, and fear of losing his mother to a friend turned bitterest enemy. The temptation and tension faced by the woman were also realistically conveyed.
I loved how Zweig steered my sympathies toward Edgar as he goes about goading the couple into madness and foiling the baron’s hunting game. Yet, this is more than just a story of a boy who gets in between two adults teetering on the verge of an illicit affair. It is about a child on the cusp of adolescence losing his innocence and his induction into the adult world of lust and passion.
What a feat to write a psychologically entertaining and insightful story in a mere 85 pages! Five captivating stars.
In an Austrian health resort nestled in the mountains, Edgar, a 12-year-old child, is convalescing from a serious illness. His middle-aged mother who accompanied him seems emotionally distant and impatient with him. A baron who is on vacation in the same resort, a serial seducer, eyes his voluptuous mother, and hitches a game plan to entrap her by paying overtures to this lonely child who becomes greatly enamored of him.
Zweig did an outstanding job bringing to the fore a child’s emotional confusion: flattery from the attention bestowed by a debonair baron, anger from apprehending the baron’s greater interest in his mother, betrayal from a realization of being used, curiosity over the burning secret behind male-female attraction, and fear of losing his mother to a friend turned bitterest enemy. The temptation and tension faced by the woman were also realistically conveyed.
I loved how Zweig steered my sympathies toward Edgar as he goes about goading the couple into madness and foiling the baron’s hunting game. Yet, this is more than just a story of a boy who gets in between two adults teetering on the verge of an illicit affair. It is about a child on the cusp of adolescence losing his innocence and his induction into the adult world of lust and passion.
What a feat to write a psychologically entertaining and insightful story in a mere 85 pages! Five captivating stars.
July 6, 2022
A surprisingly tense novella, on being a child and a marriage tethering on the brink of adultery. Very skillfully executed by the author
Children must be seen, not heard
Stefan Zweig is an excellent writer of short form, with Chess Story rightly being a classic. Burning Secret is a little gem in the same vein, with Edgar, a single child captured in a lustful game between a jaded baron and his mother. The psychological depth Zweig manages to put into the efforts of Edgar to initially win the friendship and then to thwart (But hate learns quickly, and hate learns many things) the baron is superb. I also felt transported in the slightly ethereal environment of an Austrian mountain resort.
The writing is precise and builds the tension very skilfully. Definitely need to more Middle Europe stories of Zweig!
Children must be seen, not heard
Stefan Zweig is an excellent writer of short form, with Chess Story rightly being a classic. Burning Secret is a little gem in the same vein, with Edgar, a single child captured in a lustful game between a jaded baron and his mother. The psychological depth Zweig manages to put into the efforts of Edgar to initially win the friendship and then to thwart (But hate learns quickly, and hate learns many things) the baron is superb. I also felt transported in the slightly ethereal environment of an Austrian mountain resort.
The writing is precise and builds the tension very skilfully. Definitely need to more Middle Europe stories of Zweig!
July 4, 2020
جميلة، تُلخّص عالَم الطّفل عندما ينتقل من الطّفولة إلى الرّشد، ويبدأ يفهم طبيعة الأمور الّتي تجري بين الكِبار، كما تلخّص حاجة الإنسان إلى أنْ يكون محبوبًا، وقد أنقذ أمّه من انجِرارها خلف البارون وإغوائه لَها، عندما كانا (الأمّ والطّفل) في فترة نقاهة في أحد الفنادق، وأمام أبيه عندما سأله لماذا هربتَ من الفندق وسَبّبْتَ الرّعبَ لأمّك، كان يُمكن أنْ يقول الحقيقة، ولكنّه لم يقلْها حِفاظًا على أمّه: "فَهِمَ أنّها تضع سِرّها بينَ يدَيه ليحفظه، وأنّ شفتَيه الصّغيرتَين أمسَتا أمينتَين على قَدَرٍ بكامله". أمّه الّتي امتنّتْ له كثيرًا بحفظِه سِرّها، وبكتْ لأنّه فعل: "سيتعرّف في هذه الدّموع الخرساء إلى وعد المرأة الّتي صارتْ تشيخ بأنّها ��ن تكون بعدَ الآن إلاّ له، إلاّ لطفولته، وأنّها ستتخلّى عن المُغامرة وسُتودّع الرّغبات الأنانيّة".
October 20, 2019
“The huntsman in him was aroused. He was intoxicated, excited to have found his right trail so quickly, to feel that the game was close to his gun. His eyes gleamed, the blood flowed easily through his veins, the words sprang from his lips with an effervescence that he himself could not explain." - Stefan Zweig, Burning Secret
We are introduced to a young baron who is on holiday and whose desire to seduce a married woman causes him to befriend her 12 year old son. Here I thought the focus of the story would be on the baron; in fact it was on Edgar, and the story turned out to be a fascinating case-study of a lonely boy convalescing from an illness, who had “a great, unused capacity for emotion,” and was thus able to transfer his emotions to the first person who paid him any attention: the Baron.
Children see more than we think they see and one of the most interesting aspects of this book was Edgar’s transformation from naïveté to relative maturity. Reading his thoughts reminded me of my own observations about the world as a child, not knowing all the answers, sensing something was being kept from me, but somehow knowing that one day I would figure it out, after all: “Sometimes it is only a flimsy door that cuts children off from what we call the real world, and a chance gust of wind will blow it open for them.”
It was interesting to see the relationship of the mother and son transform through this burning secret. Edgar’s thoughts in particular were fascinating as he grew to awareness :
“All those things are connected, I can feel that, it’s just that I don’t know how. Oh, how I wish I knew the secret, I wish I understood it, I wish I had the key that opens all these doors, and I wasn’t a child any more with people hiding things from me and pretending. I wish I didn’t have to be deceived and put off with excuses.”
Highly recommended!
We are introduced to a young baron who is on holiday and whose desire to seduce a married woman causes him to befriend her 12 year old son. Here I thought the focus of the story would be on the baron; in fact it was on Edgar, and the story turned out to be a fascinating case-study of a lonely boy convalescing from an illness, who had “a great, unused capacity for emotion,” and was thus able to transfer his emotions to the first person who paid him any attention: the Baron.
Children see more than we think they see and one of the most interesting aspects of this book was Edgar’s transformation from naïveté to relative maturity. Reading his thoughts reminded me of my own observations about the world as a child, not knowing all the answers, sensing something was being kept from me, but somehow knowing that one day I would figure it out, after all: “Sometimes it is only a flimsy door that cuts children off from what we call the real world, and a chance gust of wind will blow it open for them.”
It was interesting to see the relationship of the mother and son transform through this burning secret. Edgar’s thoughts in particular were fascinating as he grew to awareness :
“All those things are connected, I can feel that, it’s just that I don’t know how. Oh, how I wish I knew the secret, I wish I understood it, I wish I had the key that opens all these doors, and I wasn’t a child any more with people hiding things from me and pretending. I wish I didn’t have to be deceived and put off with excuses.”
Highly recommended!
January 31, 2020
This burning secret burnt me at last. But then it also rubbed ice in the form of a lifelike innocence of a little child onto my burning wounds.
What a way of telling a tale!
I was reading this author for the first time and he impressed me right away. I'll very highly regard the way this story has taken me to the end. Though, there was the suspense that was created by the author in a very latent manner at the outset yet the vagueness of this suspense was undoubtedly obvious.
This is the story of a young man, a baron, with a handsome face, who was always prepared for a new experience. A ready-made word "woman - hunter" was used for him by the author. this guy is always loaded with passion, not with the passion of a lover, but with the cold, calculating, dangerous passion of a gambler. He comes to a hotel to spend his vacation and there he meets a tall woman and a small boy. Mother and son. He makes a quick friendship with the child, though his wicked gaze remains fixed on the mother. In a very shameful manner, this guy extracts those family secrets from the unsuspecting child.
Will he be able to achieve his wicked intentions? what was really his purpose? this is the burning secret. read it you can find it out.
But, here is something else the author has done. This story is not really about the baron and that mother. In fact, this story is the story of that child. A child... 12 years old. His name is Edgar. He is not an adult, he is not a child too. He is something in between. He has a child-like innocence and his unsuspecting innocence was cleverly used by the baron. The psychology of the mind of this child has been written by the author in a very cherubic language and I think that is the most fetching and delectable part of this book.
Befriended with the baron, in the beginning, it gives this child a feeling of importance and he feels like a grown-up, but when in the presence of baron his mother ignores and rebukes him and asks him to go to bed, he gets angry and thinks that his mother is trying to make him look small in front of his friend.
"Why did she do it? why did she always want to set him down as a child when he was convinced he was no longer a child? evidently she was jealous of his friend and was planning to get him all to herself. Yes, that was it, and it was she who had purposely led the baron the wrong way."
This child's constant fight with his own inner self has been portrayed so well. After the change in behavior of his mother and the baron both toward him, he constantly keeps asking himself questions. why they don't behave with me the way they did at first? why does mamma avoid my eyes when I look at her? why their faces even seem different? could I have said anything to annoy them?
He further took some dauntless decisions and his actions were far bigger than that of a 12-year-old child, to protect his mother from the evil intentions of the baron but... was there really an evil intention at all? the element of suspense remains there till the end.
I must say that I loved the way this story has been written and it is a unique one. I have not read anything of this sort so far. I came to know that Zweig had a connection with Sigmund Freud and they interchanged so many ideas. I can understand the source of such wonderful psychoanalysis in this book. So this story turned out to be a very good starting point for me to explore more of Zweig in the future.
What a way of telling a tale!
I was reading this author for the first time and he impressed me right away. I'll very highly regard the way this story has taken me to the end. Though, there was the suspense that was created by the author in a very latent manner at the outset yet the vagueness of this suspense was undoubtedly obvious.
This is the story of a young man, a baron, with a handsome face, who was always prepared for a new experience. A ready-made word "woman - hunter" was used for him by the author. this guy is always loaded with passion, not with the passion of a lover, but with the cold, calculating, dangerous passion of a gambler. He comes to a hotel to spend his vacation and there he meets a tall woman and a small boy. Mother and son. He makes a quick friendship with the child, though his wicked gaze remains fixed on the mother. In a very shameful manner, this guy extracts those family secrets from the unsuspecting child.
Will he be able to achieve his wicked intentions? what was really his purpose? this is the burning secret. read it you can find it out.
But, here is something else the author has done. This story is not really about the baron and that mother. In fact, this story is the story of that child. A child... 12 years old. His name is Edgar. He is not an adult, he is not a child too. He is something in between. He has a child-like innocence and his unsuspecting innocence was cleverly used by the baron. The psychology of the mind of this child has been written by the author in a very cherubic language and I think that is the most fetching and delectable part of this book.
Befriended with the baron, in the beginning, it gives this child a feeling of importance and he feels like a grown-up, but when in the presence of baron his mother ignores and rebukes him and asks him to go to bed, he gets angry and thinks that his mother is trying to make him look small in front of his friend.
"Why did she do it? why did she always want to set him down as a child when he was convinced he was no longer a child? evidently she was jealous of his friend and was planning to get him all to herself. Yes, that was it, and it was she who had purposely led the baron the wrong way."
This child's constant fight with his own inner self has been portrayed so well. After the change in behavior of his mother and the baron both toward him, he constantly keeps asking himself questions. why they don't behave with me the way they did at first? why does mamma avoid my eyes when I look at her? why their faces even seem different? could I have said anything to annoy them?
He further took some dauntless decisions and his actions were far bigger than that of a 12-year-old child, to protect his mother from the evil intentions of the baron but... was there really an evil intention at all? the element of suspense remains there till the end.
I must say that I loved the way this story has been written and it is a unique one. I have not read anything of this sort so far. I came to know that Zweig had a connection with Sigmund Freud and they interchanged so many ideas. I can understand the source of such wonderful psychoanalysis in this book. So this story turned out to be a very good starting point for me to explore more of Zweig in the future.
December 28, 2020
قصة قصيرة لكنها جميلة وعميقة في تحليل شخصية الطفل ذو الاثني عشرة عامًا.
اقتباسات
كم من السهل أنْ تخدع الأطفال، فهم مخلوقاتٌ بريئة لا تجدُ أحدًا يهتمُّ بمشاعرها”.
“دائمًا ما نخطئُ في تقدير قوة الحب، لأننا نقيّمه بأثرِهِ الحاليّ فقط، لا بالتوتر الذي زالَ عند قدومه. ثمة فضاءٌ مظلمٌ خاوٍ، تملؤه الوحدة واليأس، يسبقُ كلَّ الأحداث الرائعة في تاريخ القلب. للحبّ طاقاتٌ كامنةٌ عظيمة، تمكثُ في حالة انتظار، ثم تنطلق بذراعين ممددتين تجاه أوّل شخصٍ يبدو أنّه يستحقّها”.
“حين تشعر المرأة بالندم لأنها بقيت تخلص لزوج لم تحبّه في الحقيقة. عندما يقتربُ جمالُها من الغروب، وتقدّمُ ألوانه المتوهّجة خيارًا حاسمًا وأخيرًا لها، إما الأمومة أو العشق الأنثويّ”.
“الآن صار له سرٌّ خاصٌّ به، اسمه الكراهية. الكراهية المطلقة لكليهما معًا”.
اقتباسات
كم من السهل أنْ تخدع الأطفال، فهم مخلوقاتٌ بريئة لا تجدُ أحدًا يهتمُّ بمشاعرها”.
“دائمًا ما نخطئُ في تقدير قوة الحب، لأننا نقيّمه بأثرِهِ الحاليّ فقط، لا بالتوتر الذي زالَ عند قدومه. ثمة فضاءٌ مظلمٌ خاوٍ، تملؤه الوحدة واليأس، يسبقُ كلَّ الأحداث الرائعة في تاريخ القلب. للحبّ طاقاتٌ كامنةٌ عظيمة، تمكثُ في حالة انتظار، ثم تنطلق بذراعين ممددتين تجاه أوّل شخصٍ يبدو أنّه يستحقّها”.
“حين تشعر المرأة بالندم لأنها بقيت تخلص لزوج لم تحبّه في الحقيقة. عندما يقتربُ جمالُها من الغروب، وتقدّمُ ألوانه المتوهّجة خيارًا حاسمًا وأخيرًا لها، إما الأمومة أو العشق الأنثويّ”.
“الآن صار له سرٌّ خاصٌّ به، اسمه الكراهية. الكراهية المطلقة لكليهما معًا”.
December 30, 2020
A young boy, 12, arrives at an Austrian resort with his mother, and things quickly go awry. A Baron, is also there and has designs on his mother, she quickly shows she is not interested. So, the Baron befriends young Edgar, using him as a way to get to his mother. Edgar, may not know the burning secret, what happens between adults, but he soon recognizes he is being used.
This novella covers a certain slice of time, with limited characters and only one motive and does it brilliantly. Man, used to getting his way, wants what he wants, Edgar wants to stop him and save his mother. Though he isn't quite clear in his mind exactly what he is saying her from. Edgar is our narrator and his thoughts and actions are admirably rendered as those of a 12 year old boy. I know, I raised five of them.
I loved this short novella, it is perfectly and completely executed. Quite impressive.
Audio narrator was Mark Young and will award the narration four stars as well.
This novella covers a certain slice of time, with limited characters and only one motive and does it brilliantly. Man, used to getting his way, wants what he wants, Edgar wants to stop him and save his mother. Though he isn't quite clear in his mind exactly what he is saying her from. Edgar is our narrator and his thoughts and actions are admirably rendered as those of a 12 year old boy. I know, I raised five of them.
I loved this short novella, it is perfectly and completely executed. Quite impressive.
Audio narrator was Mark Young and will award the narration four stars as well.
October 6, 2018
كتاب تشويق من الطراز الرفيع، قرأته في جلسة واحدة
طفل مريض اسمه ادغار يقدم مع امه الى منتجع ما في رحلة من اجل العلاج، يصادفهم بارون (شخص من طبقة نبيلة) سولت له نفسه ببلوغ ما أراده مما ليس له، يستعمل البارون الطفل ادغار كوسيلة لبلوغ مآربه فيدعي مصادقته،
كان ادغار طفلا تتآكله الانهزامية ولم يحظ بالتقدير اللازم، لذلك طار فرحا بهذا الصديق المهم، كانت حفنة من كلمات الثناء والاهتمام كفيلة بأن تسرق قلب ادغار، ولكن كيف يا ترى ستتطور الأمور بعد ذلك؟!
في هذه القصة تفكر كطفل بريء، ولكن في أجواء غير بريئة بالمرة،
القصة لن تترك تدعها حتى تنهيها، من الفصل الثاني حتى الفصل قبل الأخير انت مع سلسلة متتالية من الاحداث المشوقة، والكلمات المستخدمة في القصة والتراكيب اللغوية وطريقة السرد شيء غاية في الخيال، حتى كأن القصة منجم من الاقتباسات، ومحطات القصة والأماكن وترتيب الاحداث واضح بشكل غريب في ذهني كأنها فيلم من روعة الوصف في القصة،
في القصة انت تتعاطف مع الطفل ادغار الى درجة تحرك فيها قسمات وجهك معه، فتغضب عندما يغضب وتستهزئ وتفكر وكل شيء، الكاتب لديه قصة في منتهى الجمال، ولكن النهاية لم تكن بقوة المتن، أو ربما كان غرضها تشويقا فحسب ، كان الحدث صاعدا متوهجا فانتهى كل شيء مع اخر صفحة، لم اعد افكر بادغار او كل احداث القصة، وهذه من ميزات الرواية وليست القصة القصيرة، فالمميز في هذه القصة هي تفاصيلها واحداثها التي تتالت على طول الصفحات وليست الصورة الكلية التي تتجلى لك مع انتهاء القصة
عمر القارئ المناسب +18
كاتب منتحر
(هامش على المراجعة)
ماذا يعني أن تقرأ لشخص منتحر؟ ستيفان زفايغ انتحر عندما تألمت نفسيته باحداث الحرب العالمية الثانية، فهل تنعكس هذه الشخصية القابلة للانتحار على اعماله الادبية؟ وهل داء الكآبة واليأس المزمن ممكن ان ينتقل بهدوء اليك بينما تقلب صفحات كتبه؟ بالنسبة لي أكره أن أقرأ لشخص منتحر، لأنه في رأيي أسوء من يمكن أن يحدثك عن جمال الحياة وعن الحب والأمل والروح والايمان والسعادة والكوميديا الذي لم يره في حياته البائسة وبعقليته المكتئبة،
إن أكثر النصوص كآبة يمكن أن يأوله القارئ فيتصوره مليء بالامل والحياة والكوميديا، ولكن عندما يكون صاحبه منتحرا تسد كل الأبواب الرحبة للتأويل
استغربت بصراحة أن القصة ليست كئيبة تماما، نعم يوجد ذلك الاحساس بالالم والمعاناة التي يتقنها الكتاب اليهود أكثر من غيرهم، لكن القصة يوجد بها ذلك العالم الواعد الذي تحمس له البطل ادغار، كان يمكن للقارئ ان يحس بالسعادة في نهاية الرواية او بجمال القمر والغيوم في تلك الليلة المظلمة وبمدى روعة الفندق وبالحب الذي يغمر العائلة من جدة وعمة واب وفي ذلك البيت البعيد، او بالامل بالمستقبل، ولكن عندما تعرف بأن هذه الشخصيات والمشاهد متولدة من عقل منتحر هل ستكون عوالم الرواية الا مشاهد كابوسية ملؤها سواد الألم والمرارة؟
طفل مريض اسمه ادغار يقدم مع امه الى منتجع ما في رحلة من اجل العلاج، يصادفهم بارون (شخص من طبقة نبيلة) سولت له نفسه ببلوغ ما أراده مما ليس له، يستعمل البارون الطفل ادغار كوسيلة لبلوغ مآربه فيدعي مصادقته،
كان ادغار طفلا تتآكله الانهزامية ولم يحظ بالتقدير اللازم، لذلك طار فرحا بهذا الصديق المهم، كانت حفنة من كلمات الثناء والاهتمام كفيلة بأن تسرق قلب ادغار، ولكن كيف يا ترى ستتطور الأمور بعد ذلك؟!
في هذه القصة تفكر كطفل بريء، ولكن في أجواء غير بريئة بالمرة،
القصة لن تترك تدعها حتى تنهيها، من الفصل الثاني حتى الفصل قبل الأخير انت مع سلسلة متتالية من الاحداث المشوقة، والكلمات المستخدمة في القصة والتراكيب اللغوية وطريقة السرد شيء غاية في الخيال، حتى كأن القصة منجم من الاقتباسات، ومحطات القصة والأماكن وترتيب الاحداث واضح بشكل غريب في ذهني كأنها فيلم من روعة الوصف في القصة،
في القصة انت تتعاطف مع الطفل ادغار الى درجة تحرك فيها قسمات وجهك معه، فتغضب عندما يغضب وتستهزئ وتفكر وكل شيء، الكاتب لديه قصة في منتهى الجمال، ولكن النهاية لم تكن بقوة المتن، أو ربما كان غرضها تشويقا فحسب ، كان الحدث صاعدا متوهجا فانتهى كل شيء مع اخر صفحة، لم اعد افكر بادغار او كل احداث القصة، وهذه من ميزات الرواية وليست القصة القصيرة، فالمميز في هذه القصة هي تفاصيلها واحداثها التي تتالت على طول الصفحات وليست الصورة الكلية التي تتجلى لك مع انتهاء القصة
عمر القارئ المناسب +18
كاتب منتحر
(هامش على المراجعة)
ماذا يعني أن تقرأ لشخص منتحر؟ ستيفان زفايغ انتحر عندما تألمت نفسيته باحداث الحرب العالمية الثانية، فهل تنعكس هذه الشخصية القابلة للانتحار على اعماله الادبية؟ وهل داء الكآبة واليأس المزمن ممكن ان ينتقل بهدوء اليك بينما تقلب صفحات كتبه؟ بالنسبة لي أكره أن أقرأ لشخص منتحر، لأنه في رأيي أسوء من يمكن أن يحدثك عن جمال الحياة وعن الحب والأمل والروح والايمان والسعادة والكوميديا الذي لم يره في حياته البائسة وبعقليته المكتئبة،
إن أكثر النصوص كآبة يمكن أن يأوله القارئ فيتصوره مليء بالامل والحياة والكوميديا، ولكن عندما يكون صاحبه منتحرا تسد كل الأبواب الرحبة للتأويل
استغربت بصراحة أن القصة ليست كئيبة تماما، نعم يوجد ذلك الاحساس بالالم والمعاناة التي يتقنها الكتاب اليهود أكثر من غيرهم، لكن القصة يوجد بها ذلك العالم الواعد الذي تحمس له البطل ادغار، كان يمكن للقارئ ان يحس بالسعادة في نهاية الرواية او بجمال القمر والغيوم في تلك الليلة المظلمة وبمدى روعة الفندق وبالحب الذي يغمر العائلة من جدة وعمة واب وفي ذلك البيت البعيد، او بالامل بالمستقبل، ولكن عندما تعرف بأن هذه الشخصيات والمشاهد متولدة من عقل منتحر هل ستكون عوالم الرواية الا مشاهد كابوسية ملؤها سواد الألم والمرارة؟
July 24, 2022
My letter to Burning Secret
Dear Burning Secret,
You have ensnared me. So many things are perfect about you.
💘 Your sensual, elegant style.
💘 The suspense in you was crafted so deftly. You constantly kept me on the edge of my chair.
💘 The subtlety and poignance of the way your author delves into the painful process of Edgar’s transformation from a child to an adult and differences between these two worlds.
💘 The way Zweig portrayed a twelve-year-old: not only I got to know the boy, his intimate thoughts included, but I actually saw the world through Edgar’s eyes, I felt his emotions, not just imagined them. That is something, huh?
💘 The top-notch characterization: Baron, a manipulative womanizer, and Mathilde, Edgar’s mother, one of the best female characters ever.
💘 The duality of the plot. There are two overlapping, juxtaposing territories in you: a surface with the events which happened in the story but, at the same time, so much is going on underneath — there is a pulsating amalgam of desires, like boiling lava ready to erupt. While reading, I had the impression that I was walking on a deceptively dormant volcano.
💘 I liked that some things are left untold and the readers have to discover some tiny clues and interpret them to understand the characters better, for example, the seemingly unimportant remark about the governess.
💘 Stefan Zweig’s empathy, his understanding of human frailty. It would have been so easy to be judgmental or to turn Baron and Mathilde into ridiculous vaudeville caricatures. None of that happened.
One tiny teaspoon of tar in the barrel of honey: the ending. It disappointed me a wee bit.
Dear Burning Secret, after reading you I feel as if I have just finished a heavenly delicious meal and although my stomach is full, I am craving more.
Affectionately yours,
Jola
Daria Petrilli, Loneliness of an Anthurium.
Dear Burning Secret,
You have ensnared me. So many things are perfect about you.
💘 Your sensual, elegant style.
💘 The suspense in you was crafted so deftly. You constantly kept me on the edge of my chair.
💘 The subtlety and poignance of the way your author delves into the painful process of Edgar’s transformation from a child to an adult and differences between these two worlds.
💘 The way Zweig portrayed a twelve-year-old: not only I got to know the boy, his intimate thoughts included, but I actually saw the world through Edgar’s eyes, I felt his emotions, not just imagined them. That is something, huh?
💘 The top-notch characterization: Baron, a manipulative womanizer, and Mathilde, Edgar’s mother, one of the best female characters ever.
💘 The duality of the plot. There are two overlapping, juxtaposing territories in you: a surface with the events which happened in the story but, at the same time, so much is going on underneath — there is a pulsating amalgam of desires, like boiling lava ready to erupt. While reading, I had the impression that I was walking on a deceptively dormant volcano.
💘 I liked that some things are left untold and the readers have to discover some tiny clues and interpret them to understand the characters better, for example, the seemingly unimportant remark about the governess.
💘 Stefan Zweig’s empathy, his understanding of human frailty. It would have been so easy to be judgmental or to turn Baron and Mathilde into ridiculous vaudeville caricatures. None of that happened.
One tiny teaspoon of tar in the barrel of honey: the ending. It disappointed me a wee bit.
Dear Burning Secret, after reading you I feel as if I have just finished a heavenly delicious meal and although my stomach is full, I am craving more.
Affectionately yours,
Jola
Daria Petrilli, Loneliness of an Anthurium.
February 21, 2017
Yine başlı başına bir Zweig harikasıydı. Bir çocuğun duyguları, büyüklerin dünyasını keşfi anca bu kadar güzel anlatılabilirdi.
Sadece diğer okuduklarımdan bir tık daha aşağıda bulduğum için bir puan kırdım.
Sadece diğer okuduklarımdan bir tık daha aşağıda bulduğum için bir puan kırdım.
June 10, 2022
Quando encontrei numa loja de artigos em segunda mão este livro na exacta edição kitsch da foto, enfrentei um dilema: manter intacta uma edição de 1963 com as páginas ainda por cortar ou esfacelá-la toda para poder lê-la. Valeu claramente a pena tratar este livro como o objecto utilitário que é e ainda receber de bónus um folheto publicitário da época à Pomada NITAL do Doutor Lefan que “impede a queda do cabelo e extrai a caspa tornando o cabelo forte e macio”, que custava apenas 15 escudos.
“Um Segredo Ardente” começa com a chegada de um jovem barão a uma estância onde desde logo receia entediar-se sem uma única cara conhecida nem uma mulher para seduzir.
Não era pessoa com disposição para ficar só em frente de si próprio, e evitava, quanto podia, esses encontros, porque não queria tomar conhecimento íntimo com a sua pessoa; sabia que precisava do atrito de outras criaturas para mostrar os seus talentos, o seu entusiasmo e alegria de coração.
Não tem, no entanto, de esperar muito até se cruzar com uma mulher ali hospedada com o seu convalescente filho de 12 anos e pôr a uso os seus dotes de conquistador implacável.
Era, de resto, o tipo de que ele mais apreciava, uma dessas judias um nadinha sensuais, já a entrar na casa dos 40, uma passional sem dúvida, mas bastante esperta para dissimular o seu temperamento atrás de uma melancolia cheia de distinção.
A partir do momento em que trava amizade com o rapaz para chegar à mãe, a obra passa a ser contada da perspectiva do jovem Edgar, que tem dificuldade em perceber as atitudes dúbias dos adultos à sua volta.
Este segredo, se o apanho, será a chave que abre todas as portas; deixarei de ser uma criança a quem tudo se oculta e se dissimula e nunca me tornarão a enganar! Ah! Hei-de desvendar este terrível segredo.
“Um Segredo Ardente”, apesar do seu título arrebatador, é um romance de formação, mais um dos que me têm calhado em sorte ultimamente, em que a criança deixa de ser parte integrante da mãe para passar a ser um indivíduo distinto, com os conflitos inerentes ao corte do metafórico cordão umbilical.
Edgar, então, levantou os olhos, por momentos. Os olhares da mãe e do filho chocaram-se, para se baixarem em seguida, pois perceberam que se espiavam pela primeira vez. Até ali, tinham depositado cega confiança um no outro, mas agora surgia qualquer coisa entre ambos: num momento, a situação mudara. Começaram pela primeira vez a observar-se, a separarem os seus destinos - já havia neles um oculto ódio mútuo, muito recente ainda para se atreverem a reconhecê-lo.
Por outro lado, Zweig, conhecido pela forma magnífica como expõe a psique atormentada das mulheres, aborda aqui também outro tipo de amadurecimento.
Estava nessa época decisiva em que a mulher começa a arrepender-se de ter sido fiel ao marido, a quem de facto nunca amou, quando a luz vespertina da sua beleza lhe permite ainda uma verdadeira escolha urgente entre o ser mãe ou mulher. A sua vida, que há muito parecia estar definitivamente resolvida, aparecia-lhe agora como um ponto de interrogação; pela primeira vez, a agulha magnética da vontade oscilava entre a esperança de uma vida amorosa e a definitiva resignação.
“Um Segredo Ardente” começa com a chegada de um jovem barão a uma estância onde desde logo receia entediar-se sem uma única cara conhecida nem uma mulher para seduzir.
Não era pessoa com disposição para ficar só em frente de si próprio, e evitava, quanto podia, esses encontros, porque não queria tomar conhecimento íntimo com a sua pessoa; sabia que precisava do atrito de outras criaturas para mostrar os seus talentos, o seu entusiasmo e alegria de coração.
Não tem, no entanto, de esperar muito até se cruzar com uma mulher ali hospedada com o seu convalescente filho de 12 anos e pôr a uso os seus dotes de conquistador implacável.
Era, de resto, o tipo de que ele mais apreciava, uma dessas judias um nadinha sensuais, já a entrar na casa dos 40, uma passional sem dúvida, mas bastante esperta para dissimular o seu temperamento atrás de uma melancolia cheia de distinção.
A partir do momento em que trava amizade com o rapaz para chegar à mãe, a obra passa a ser contada da perspectiva do jovem Edgar, que tem dificuldade em perceber as atitudes dúbias dos adultos à sua volta.
Este segredo, se o apanho, será a chave que abre todas as portas; deixarei de ser uma criança a quem tudo se oculta e se dissimula e nunca me tornarão a enganar! Ah! Hei-de desvendar este terrível segredo.
“Um Segredo Ardente”, apesar do seu título arrebatador, é um romance de formação, mais um dos que me têm calhado em sorte ultimamente, em que a criança deixa de ser parte integrante da mãe para passar a ser um indivíduo distinto, com os conflitos inerentes ao corte do metafórico cordão umbilical.
Edgar, então, levantou os olhos, por momentos. Os olhares da mãe e do filho chocaram-se, para se baixarem em seguida, pois perceberam que se espiavam pela primeira vez. Até ali, tinham depositado cega confiança um no outro, mas agora surgia qualquer coisa entre ambos: num momento, a situação mudara. Começaram pela primeira vez a observar-se, a separarem os seus destinos - já havia neles um oculto ódio mútuo, muito recente ainda para se atreverem a reconhecê-lo.
Por outro lado, Zweig, conhecido pela forma magnífica como expõe a psique atormentada das mulheres, aborda aqui também outro tipo de amadurecimento.
Estava nessa época decisiva em que a mulher começa a arrepender-se de ter sido fiel ao marido, a quem de facto nunca amou, quando a luz vespertina da sua beleza lhe permite ainda uma verdadeira escolha urgente entre o ser mãe ou mulher. A sua vida, que há muito parecia estar definitivamente resolvida, aparecia-lhe agora como um ponto de interrogação; pela primeira vez, a agulha magnética da vontade oscilava entre a esperança de uma vida amorosa e a definitiva resignação.
September 7, 2020
Here’s a story about a twelve-year-old boy. He’s in an Austrian resort with his mother. He is approaching puberty. He is at that stage in life when he is transitioning from child to adult. How we view our parents, emotional currents and the opening of one’s eyes to the richness of the adult world is accurately, lyrically, suspensefully, movingly, yes, magnificently drawn. On completing the novella, you are thoroughly impressed! Four stars? Five stars? Deciding depends on your mood and the flip of a coin.
Zweig perfectly captures that time in life when one is no longer a child and still not yet an adult. Reading this, you recall and relive your own emotions. The story is beautifully and suspensefully told.
Now, I’ll stop repeating myself. I don’t want to tell you too much, nor too little. Don’t miss this book! I’ll close with a quote:
“He had seen life naked, no loner veiled behind the thousand lies of childhood. He saw it in its complete fearful voluptuous beauty.”
Mark Young narrates the audiobook. His reading is very good, but I was not thrilled with the production. His voice sounds distant. He captures well the excitement and suspense of the tale and if you just pay attention you can distinguish every word. I never had to rewind to listen a second time. His narration is worth four stars, the production crew should have been more on their toes.
********************
*Chess Story 5 stars
*Burning Secret 4 stars
*Beware of Pity 3 stars
*The World of Yesterday 3 stars
*Letter From An Unknown Woman 3 stars
*Summer Before the Dark: Stefan Zweig and Joseph Roth, Ostend 1936 3 stars
*Amok TBR
Zweig perfectly captures that time in life when one is no longer a child and still not yet an adult. Reading this, you recall and relive your own emotions. The story is beautifully and suspensefully told.
Now, I’ll stop repeating myself. I don’t want to tell you too much, nor too little. Don’t miss this book! I’ll close with a quote:
“He had seen life naked, no loner veiled behind the thousand lies of childhood. He saw it in its complete fearful voluptuous beauty.”
Mark Young narrates the audiobook. His reading is very good, but I was not thrilled with the production. His voice sounds distant. He captures well the excitement and suspense of the tale and if you just pay attention you can distinguish every word. I never had to rewind to listen a second time. His narration is worth four stars, the production crew should have been more on their toes.
********************
*Chess Story 5 stars
*Burning Secret 4 stars
*Beware of Pity 3 stars
*The World of Yesterday 3 stars
*Letter From An Unknown Woman 3 stars
*Summer Before the Dark: Stefan Zweig and Joseph Roth, Ostend 1936 3 stars
*Amok TBR
October 11, 2020
The Burning Secret is a coming of age story, specifically an awakening from childhood into the adult world of sexuality. It takes place in an Austrian sanitorium at the beginning of the 20th Century. This is yet another emotionally powerful novella by Stefan Zweig which shows his ability to look inside the human soul and to write truths about it. This novella was a compelling read which I couldn’t put down until I found out how it ended.
The story begins with a Baron arriving at a sanatorium for a week’s vacation and the first thing he does is look at the register to see who is there. No one he knows and no single women with whom to “socialize." He thinks of himself as a social person but knows the truth, that he doesn't want to be alone in his own company, ....." to stay by himself or to meet himself.”
Daily he is on the lookout for company and finally sees a pretty woman walk into the hotel with her son who is 12 years old. Frustrated by his first attempts to speak to the mother (no one has names in this story except for the boy). He makes friends with the boy, Edgar, in order to get to the mother which eventually works. He is a perfect gentleman and regales them with all kinds of stories, especially about hunting, for he is a hunter, of animals and women and this analogy is used throughout the novella. Edgar has fallen in love with the Baron and is initially broken hearted that the Baron no longer seems interested in being his friend. As things heat up with his mother Edgar begins to understand that he was used by the Baron and he knows it has something to do with the “burning secret” of the title, which he has seen and heard about before but never understood. Angry now, Edgar “hunts them,” following them wherever they go but not understanding what he sees.
Zweig writes this story in such a way that he allows for the reader to feel for each of the 3 characters involved. We feel for the Baron in his pursuit of the woman which is constantly frustrated each time by Edgar. We feel for the woman, too, torn as she is by her desire for respectability and her consciousness that time is passing, and that she might be beginning to regret a passionless marriage. But Edgar is the centre of the story. He is more than a little irritating but the reader feels for him as the adults slip away from him, lying to him, leaving him alone for hours. He knows that the only way to understand what is going on is to understand the "burning secret" but at the same time he is terrified to learn about it. How Zweig handles this is breathtaking; not for the first time when reading him, I thought "how the heck does he do that?"
The story begins with a Baron arriving at a sanatorium for a week’s vacation and the first thing he does is look at the register to see who is there. No one he knows and no single women with whom to “socialize." He thinks of himself as a social person but knows the truth, that he doesn't want to be alone in his own company, ....." to stay by himself or to meet himself.”
Daily he is on the lookout for company and finally sees a pretty woman walk into the hotel with her son who is 12 years old. Frustrated by his first attempts to speak to the mother (no one has names in this story except for the boy). He makes friends with the boy, Edgar, in order to get to the mother which eventually works. He is a perfect gentleman and regales them with all kinds of stories, especially about hunting, for he is a hunter, of animals and women and this analogy is used throughout the novella. Edgar has fallen in love with the Baron and is initially broken hearted that the Baron no longer seems interested in being his friend. As things heat up with his mother Edgar begins to understand that he was used by the Baron and he knows it has something to do with the “burning secret” of the title, which he has seen and heard about before but never understood. Angry now, Edgar “hunts them,” following them wherever they go but not understanding what he sees.
Zweig writes this story in such a way that he allows for the reader to feel for each of the 3 characters involved. We feel for the Baron in his pursuit of the woman which is constantly frustrated each time by Edgar. We feel for the woman, too, torn as she is by her desire for respectability and her consciousness that time is passing, and that she might be beginning to regret a passionless marriage. But Edgar is the centre of the story. He is more than a little irritating but the reader feels for him as the adults slip away from him, lying to him, leaving him alone for hours. He knows that the only way to understand what is going on is to understand the "burning secret" but at the same time he is terrified to learn about it. How Zweig handles this is breathtaking; not for the first time when reading him, I thought "how the heck does he do that?"
May 25, 2020
This coming-of-age tale opens as Edgar, and his mother, arrive in Summering.
"The train, with a shrill whistle, pulled into Summering. For a moment the black coaches stood still in the silvery light of the uplands to eject a few vivid human figures and to swallow up others."
The purpose of this trip is so young Edgar can recover from a recent illness, but rest is not to be. A baron stays at their hotel and steals into their lives like the serpent in the Garden of Eden. Edgar is an adorable child, his mother the height of propriety. The baron’s plan to use a false friendship with the boy to seduce his otherwise unreachable mother is just the sort of behavior one could expect from a snake-like human.
The writing is lovely, but a short story only has a moment to form a reader's connection to the characters; for me, it never gelled.
There are a plethora of five-star ratings, so please don’t let my point of view dissuade you from reading The Burning Secret.
A big thank you to Laysee for sharing!
"The train, with a shrill whistle, pulled into Summering. For a moment the black coaches stood still in the silvery light of the uplands to eject a few vivid human figures and to swallow up others."
The purpose of this trip is so young Edgar can recover from a recent illness, but rest is not to be. A baron stays at their hotel and steals into their lives like the serpent in the Garden of Eden. Edgar is an adorable child, his mother the height of propriety. The baron’s plan to use a false friendship with the boy to seduce his otherwise unreachable mother is just the sort of behavior one could expect from a snake-like human.
The writing is lovely, but a short story only has a moment to form a reader's connection to the characters; for me, it never gelled.
There are a plethora of five-star ratings, so please don’t let my point of view dissuade you from reading The Burning Secret.
A big thank you to Laysee for sharing!
November 20, 2022
كيف تتحول مشاعر طفل من حب ، وصداقة ، الى كره وحقد ورغبة في الإنتقام؟!
زفايغ المرعب في قوة التحليل النفسي ، وتقمّص الشخصية برَعَ وبشكل مذهل ، في تصوير فوضويّة العلاقات البشريّة ودوافعها ، وعدوانيتها ، وتناقضاتها ، ودوافع الحب والكره ، المحرك لأتون هذه الدوافع.
لو وضعنا قلب هذا الطفل ، بطل الرواية على جهاز تخطيط القلب ، وقياس النبضات على وقع أحداثها ، لخرجنا برسم بياني مذهل لخريطة الحياة وتغيّر مجرياتها .
الحياة ليست ورديّة في هذه الرواية، فالعلاقات البشريّة على اختلاف الغرض منها ، تحكمها دوافعها وأهدافها ، وكثيراً لا تلقي بالاً للمبادئ والأخلاق ، حتى عاطفة الأمومة قد تسقط في فخ إشباع الرغبات وتحقيق الأهداف بمعزلٍ عن القيم الأخلاقية .
لقد دفع زفايغ هذا الطفل ليصبح بالغاً، حكيماً في عدة سطور .
وتعلمت من زفايغ ، أن الأعمال الخالدة لاتحتاج الى كم كبير من الصفحات.
زفايغ المرعب في قوة التحليل النفسي ، وتقمّص الشخصية برَعَ وبشكل مذهل ، في تصوير فوضويّة العلاقات البشريّة ودوافعها ، وعدوانيتها ، وتناقضاتها ، ودوافع الحب والكره ، المحرك لأتون هذه الدوافع.
لو وضعنا قلب هذا الطفل ، بطل الرواية على جهاز تخطيط القلب ، وقياس النبضات على وقع أحداثها ، لخرجنا برسم بياني مذهل لخريطة الحياة وتغيّر مجرياتها .
الحياة ليست ورديّة في هذه الرواية، فالعلاقات البشريّة على اختلاف الغرض منها ، تحكمها دوافعها وأهدافها ، وكثيراً لا تلقي بالاً للمبادئ والأخلاق ، حتى عاطفة الأمومة قد تسقط في فخ إشباع الرغبات وتحقيق الأهداف بمعزلٍ عن القيم الأخلاقية .
لقد دفع زفايغ هذا الطفل ليصبح بالغاً، حكيماً في عدة سطور .
وتعلمت من زفايغ ، أن الأعمال الخالدة لاتحتاج الى كم كبير من الصفحات.
July 16, 2018
السر الحارق .. السر العظيم المدهش المصيري الفاصل بين عالم الطفولة وعالم البالغين .. السر الذي يتهامس به البالغون دوما عندما يكون معهم ..
أراد وبشدة دخول عالم البالغين فهو طفل وحيد دائما وعندما وجد غايته لم يكن يعلم أنه وقع هو و أمه فريسة صياد يبحث عن مغامرة جديدة مغامرة تجمع بين التحدي والجرأة ..
أحب إدغار الطفل البريء العالم الذي فتح له البارون أبوابه .. الحب والاهتمام والبلوغ .. ولم يكن يعلم أنه مجرد جسر صغير ليصل البارون إلي فريسته الحقيقية ..
ليس صعبا أن يشعر الطفل بكل العواطف بين البالغين فهو يعلم بالحب والخيانة والحقد وأخيرا الكره الشديد لأمه والبارون ..
وبعد أن فقد طريقه في عالم البالغين وأحس بالغربة أراد الرجوع إلي الطفولة البريئة ...
علم أن الحب الذي كان غارقا فيه أصلا ، هو السر الأعظم ...
استمتعوا ...
دمتم قراء ❤❤❤
أراد وبشدة دخول عالم البالغين فهو طفل وحيد دائما وعندما وجد غايته لم يكن يعلم أنه وقع هو و أمه فريسة صياد يبحث عن مغامرة جديدة مغامرة تجمع بين التحدي والجرأة ..
أحب إدغار الطفل البريء العالم الذي فتح له البارون أبوابه .. الحب والاهتمام والبلوغ .. ولم يكن يعلم أنه مجرد جسر صغير ليصل البارون إلي فريسته الحقيقية ..
ليس صعبا أن يشعر الطفل بكل العواطف بين البالغين فهو يعلم بالحب والخيانة والحقد وأخيرا الكره الشديد لأمه والبارون ..
وبعد أن فقد طريقه في عالم البالغين وأحس بالغربة أراد الرجوع إلي الطفولة البريئة ...
علم أن الحب الذي كان غارقا فيه أصلا ، هو السر الأعظم ...
استمتعوا ...
دمتم قراء ❤❤❤
Read
January 5, 2018what an amazing novel by the greatest writer ever
this is a story of losing innocence, Children coming of age , learning to lie and also a little Freudian Oedipus Complex added
this is a story of losing innocence, Children coming of age , learning to lie and also a little Freudian Oedipus Complex added
September 11, 2022
YouTube kanalımda Yakıcı Sır kitabının da içinde bulunduğu kitaplık turu videomu izleyebilirsiniz:
https://youtu.be/a3ctaLux8B4
Nasıl ki milletler arasında savaş olduğunda buna dünya savaşı deniyorsa, insan ilişkileri konusunda sadece insanlar arasında gerçekleşen dünya savaşları da vardır.
Edgar'ın annesinin yaptığı şeyi unutturmaya çalışması "bastırma"yı ve "bahane bulma"yı, kendi suçunu sanki kendisinin değilmiş gibi göstermesi "yansıtma"yı, kitabın sonunda yaşanılan onca olaydan sonra edinilen buruk zafer "telafi etme"yi, annelik sorumluluğuna sahip birinin tamamen annelikten uzaklaşması "karşıt tepki geliştirme"yi, annenin sıkıcı hayatına özenti bir heyecan katarak kendini başarıya ulaşmış gibi göstermeye çalışması "özdeşim kurma"yı, anneyi tavlamaya çalışan baronun bütün hareketleri "hayal kurma"yı, Edgar'ın yaşadığı ruhsal kaos ve sonunda kendinden uzaklaşması "kaçma"yı, asıl tepkinin barona verilmesi gerekirken çocuğa veriliyor olması "yön değiştirme"yi, Edgar'ın annesinin ve adamın onca iyi hareketinden sonra yaptıklarını bir türlü kabullenememesi "yadsıma"yı, Edgar'ın ne olursa olsun kötünün iyisi bir sonuca kavuşmayı "pollyannacılığı" temsil ediyor. Yani bu kitabın adı Yakıcı Sır değil de Zweig ile Savunma Mekanizmaları Manifestosu olsaydı hiç şaşırmazdım.
Olay sadece kör olup olmamakla ilgili. Bahsetmeye çalıştığım şey de fiziki körlükten öte manevi körlük zaten. Kalp bile düz bir çizgide devam edemiyorken ruhumuzun devinimlerinin de dümdüz olmasını bekleyemeyiz. Ruhlarımız da başka insanlarla iletişimde, ilişkide, herhangi bir deneyim üstünde olurken dünya savaşları yaşayacak. Herkesin kazanmayı arzuladığı bu savaşta bizim de savunma mekanizmalarımız olacak saldırılarımızdan fazla. Herkes Bukowski'nin de dediği gibi "Benim anlamadığım bir şeyi anlamışlardı sanki." psikolojisinde yaşıyor olacak. Bir yerde sevgiyi ararken zulümle, merhameti ararken nefretle, zevki ararken pişmanlıklarla karşılacağız. Ama sonuçta bir arayışta olacağız. En güzeli de bu değil mi zaten? Sonuçların verdiği o keskin sayısal birimlerin dışında sürecin ve arayışın verdiği o belirsiz ve ruhumuzu daima canlı tutan sorgulama ihtiyacı en değerli şey değil mi? Sorgulamalarımız olmasaydı Zweig bu kitabı yazıp sadece bir çocuk karakter üzerinden siyasi göndermelere, psikolojik tahlillere, anne-baba-çocuk ilişkilerine ulaşabilir miydi? Diplomalarımız olur her zaman ama üzerlerinde sorgulayışlarımızın notu yazmaz hiçbir zaman. Onun içindir ki günlük rutin ve heyecansız hayatlarımız için kullanacağımız, üzerinde birtakım sayılar yazan kağıt parçalarından başka bir şey bilmeyiz biz.
Bir kenarda oturup zamanında çokça vakit geçirdiğimiz insanları, nesneleri, olayları, şehirleri, dersleri, okulları ve işleri düşüneceğiz. Bunların hepsinin birbirleriyle uyum içinde yaptığı o sırlı dansı anlamaya çalışacağız. Pek tabii ki meraklı kişiler için bu biraz anlamsız gelecek. Edgar gibi Malala gibi Atatürk gibi sadece kendimiz için değil aynı zamanda başkalarının da mutluluğu için çalışacağız. Bir kenarda otururken aslında beynimiz de bir o kadar bir kenarda oturmayacak. Hep düşüneceğiz, hep düşüneceğiz ve hep düşüneceğiz ki artık şu sonsuz evrenin sırlarını çözmeye çalışmaktan beynimiz patlama noktasına gelecek. Ve bu o kadar değerli bir patlama sınırı ki sayın Hiroşima'nın kıskanmasıyla sonuçlanacak. Öldüren cinsten değil de tam tersine daha çok yaşatan, daha çok renklendiren ve ruhundan çiçek açtıran cinsten reaksiyonlara sebep olacak şekilde. O kadar dokunaklı olacak ki güzel olmasına gerek kalmayacak. Ve o kadar doğru bir hareket olacak ki cesaretle yapılmasına gerek kalmayacak.
Yine de sırları olmalı insanın başka insanlardan saklamaya çalıştığı... Yoksa ne anlamı kalırdı sadece onun üzerinde yaşam olduğunu sandığımız dünyanın?
https://youtu.be/a3ctaLux8B4
Nasıl ki milletler arasında savaş olduğunda buna dünya savaşı deniyorsa, insan ilişkileri konusunda sadece insanlar arasında gerçekleşen dünya savaşları da vardır.
Edgar'ın annesinin yaptığı şeyi unutturmaya çalışması "bastırma"yı ve "bahane bulma"yı, kendi suçunu sanki kendisinin değilmiş gibi göstermesi "yansıtma"yı, kitabın sonunda yaşanılan onca olaydan sonra edinilen buruk zafer "telafi etme"yi, annelik sorumluluğuna sahip birinin tamamen annelikten uzaklaşması "karşıt tepki geliştirme"yi, annenin sıkıcı hayatına özenti bir heyecan katarak kendini başarıya ulaşmış gibi göstermeye çalışması "özdeşim kurma"yı, anneyi tavlamaya çalışan baronun bütün hareketleri "hayal kurma"yı, Edgar'ın yaşadığı ruhsal kaos ve sonunda kendinden uzaklaşması "kaçma"yı, asıl tepkinin barona verilmesi gerekirken çocuğa veriliyor olması "yön değiştirme"yi, Edgar'ın annesinin ve adamın onca iyi hareketinden sonra yaptıklarını bir türlü kabullenememesi "yadsıma"yı, Edgar'ın ne olursa olsun kötünün iyisi bir sonuca kavuşmayı "pollyannacılığı" temsil ediyor. Yani bu kitabın adı Yakıcı Sır değil de Zweig ile Savunma Mekanizmaları Manifestosu olsaydı hiç şaşırmazdım.
Olay sadece kör olup olmamakla ilgili. Bahsetmeye çalıştığım şey de fiziki körlükten öte manevi körlük zaten. Kalp bile düz bir çizgide devam edemiyorken ruhumuzun devinimlerinin de dümdüz olmasını bekleyemeyiz. Ruhlarımız da başka insanlarla iletişimde, ilişkide, herhangi bir deneyim üstünde olurken dünya savaşları yaşayacak. Herkesin kazanmayı arzuladığı bu savaşta bizim de savunma mekanizmalarımız olacak saldırılarımızdan fazla. Herkes Bukowski'nin de dediği gibi "Benim anlamadığım bir şeyi anlamışlardı sanki." psikolojisinde yaşıyor olacak. Bir yerde sevgiyi ararken zulümle, merhameti ararken nefretle, zevki ararken pişmanlıklarla karşılacağız. Ama sonuçta bir arayışta olacağız. En güzeli de bu değil mi zaten? Sonuçların verdiği o keskin sayısal birimlerin dışında sürecin ve arayışın verdiği o belirsiz ve ruhumuzu daima canlı tutan sorgulama ihtiyacı en değerli şey değil mi? Sorgulamalarımız olmasaydı Zweig bu kitabı yazıp sadece bir çocuk karakter üzerinden siyasi göndermelere, psikolojik tahlillere, anne-baba-çocuk ilişkilerine ulaşabilir miydi? Diplomalarımız olur her zaman ama üzerlerinde sorgulayışlarımızın notu yazmaz hiçbir zaman. Onun içindir ki günlük rutin ve heyecansız hayatlarımız için kullanacağımız, üzerinde birtakım sayılar yazan kağıt parçalarından başka bir şey bilmeyiz biz.
Bir kenarda oturup zamanında çokça vakit geçirdiğimiz insanları, nesneleri, olayları, şehirleri, dersleri, okulları ve işleri düşüneceğiz. Bunların hepsinin birbirleriyle uyum içinde yaptığı o sırlı dansı anlamaya çalışacağız. Pek tabii ki meraklı kişiler için bu biraz anlamsız gelecek. Edgar gibi Malala gibi Atatürk gibi sadece kendimiz için değil aynı zamanda başkalarının da mutluluğu için çalışacağız. Bir kenarda otururken aslında beynimiz de bir o kadar bir kenarda oturmayacak. Hep düşüneceğiz, hep düşüneceğiz ve hep düşüneceğiz ki artık şu sonsuz evrenin sırlarını çözmeye çalışmaktan beynimiz patlama noktasına gelecek. Ve bu o kadar değerli bir patlama sınırı ki sayın Hiroşima'nın kıskanmasıyla sonuçlanacak. Öldüren cinsten değil de tam tersine daha çok yaşatan, daha çok renklendiren ve ruhundan çiçek açtıran cinsten reaksiyonlara sebep olacak şekilde. O kadar dokunaklı olacak ki güzel olmasına gerek kalmayacak. Ve o kadar doğru bir hareket olacak ki cesaretle yapılmasına gerek kalmayacak.
Yine de sırları olmalı insanın başka insanlardan saklamaya çalıştığı... Yoksa ne anlamı kalırdı sadece onun üzerinde yaşam olduğunu sandığımız dünyanın?
December 12, 2019
لم يفهم الطفل حينها شيئاً من ذلك لكنه شعر كم من المبهج أن تكون محبوباً جداً ، لهذا اعتقد أنّ هذا الحب الذي كان غارقاً فيه أصلاً ، هو السر الأعظم في العالم 💜
زفايغ أيها الشرير ...
سبرت أغوار النساء ، و ها أنت تنتقل لأكثر البشر هشاشة : الأطفال ، للندبة التي تحفر مكاناّ عميقاً في نفس الطفل دون إدراك كنهها ، حين يشاركه في أمه شخصٌ ما ، حين يداهمها خطرٌ داهم على شكل نزوة عابرة ..
حقاً ، ما أعظمك من كاتب !
حين تشعر المرأة بالندم لأنها بقيت تخلص لزوج ل�� تحبه في الحقيقة ، عندما يقترب جمالها من الغروب ، و تقدّم ألوانه المتوهجة خياراً حاسماّ و أخيراً لها ، إما الأمومة أو العشق الأنثوي ..
إن كان ولا بد من كشفُ سرٍ حارق هنا ، فهو لماذا دائماً ما تكون المرأة خائنة عند زفايغ !؟ حقاً يؤرقني اختياره لشخصياته الأنثوية ..
December 15, 2017
رواية قصيرة، تُقرأ في جلسةٍ واحدة. لعلّ كاتبها أراد وصف تلك ا��مرحلة التي ينتقل فيها الإنسان من الطفولة إلى البلوغ النفسي. هذه الفكرة تحديدًا هي أجمل ما في هذا العمل. أي الالتفات إلى هذه المرحلة التي تمرّ عادةً بسرعة واضطراب في حياة كلّ شخص، وسرعان ما تغيب في الذاكرة، ويصعب الوصول إليها.
اختار "زفايغ" لحظات تحوّل وانتقال هذا الطفل ليرويها بأسلوبٍ مباشرٍ وسهلٍ يتناسب مع طفل في الثانية عشر. ولعلّ هذا ما جعل الرواية تبدو سطحيةً نوعًا ما.
لا يرقى هذا العمل إلى مستوى "لاعب الشطرنج" بأيّ حال. ولعلّ 20 سنة تفصل الثاني عن الأوّل كافيةٌ لإنضاج الموهبة والأسلوب.
اختار "زفايغ" لحظات تحوّل وانتقال هذا الطفل ليرويها بأسلوبٍ مباشرٍ وسهلٍ يتناسب مع طفل في الثانية عشر. ولعلّ هذا ما جعل الرواية تبدو سطحيةً نوعًا ما.
لا يرقى هذا العمل إلى مستوى "لاعب الشطرنج" بأيّ حال. ولعلّ 20 سنة تفصل الثاني عن الأوّل كافيةٌ لإنضاج الموهبة والأسلوب.
January 17, 2021
Una manera de narrar muy distintiva, elegante y refinada 👌
10⭐️
10⭐️
June 8, 2023
Внимание к этой новелле привлекла Daisyread, за что ей огромное спасибо.
Этот рассказ трогателен в его детской чистоте. Даже когда главный герой 12-летний мальчик Эдгар начал догадываться, что же это за тайна. Сейчас дети, конечно, взрослеют раньше и, возможно, подобная реакция современного ребенка соответствовала бы 8-9 летнему ребенку.
Мне очень понравилась новелла. Да, психология ребенка, впервые осознающего, для чего взрослые ищут уединения, великолепно передана. Да, чудесно тонко показан внутренний бунт, протест против этих отношений, особенно, когда мальчик своими слабыми кулачками бьёт в темноте гостиничного коридора барона и позже, когда отказывается писать письмо с извинениями.
Но поведение взрослых также очень выпукло изложено. Барон, изящно одетый, прибывает в Земмеринг, первым делом ищет знакомых в списке постояльцев, решает, что ему нужно познакомится в женщиной, раз никого на курорте нет. И вот, он видит добычу - женщину в его вкусе. Мне также показалась очень любопытной реакция матери. Во-первых, приехав на курорт с поправляющимся после болезни ребенком, она сразу была готова к роману. У барона не заняло много времени ее заинтересовать. Думаю, не будет преувеличением сказать, что с первого обмена вежливыми фразами, как гордый знакомством Эдгар представил их друг другу, а может ещё раньше, когда состоялся первый зрительный контакт. Во-вторых, меня удивило поведение матери, которая, услав сына с поручением на почту, села с бароном в экипаж и уехала на прогулку. Обычно люди предупреждают друг друга, особенно на курортах, если куда-то уходят, просто чтобы не волновались. В третьих, после ночного столкновения, в столовой, она сообщает ему, что написала его отцу, что ребенку нужен воспитатель или его нужно отправить в пансион. Она больше не хочет мучиться с ним.
Все это говорит о том, что она не нагулялась, ей важнее чувствовать себя желанной, испытать снова чувство страсти, чем состояние выздоравливающего ребенка, которому ничего не остаётся, как бежать к бабушке. Тем более, что поведение барона исчерпывающе показывает, что его интересует лишь кратковременная интрижка.
Только после побега, у матери возникает понимание, что же важнее. Цвейг пишет благородно о ней, что "эти немые слезы были обетом стареющей женщины принадлежать только ему, своему ребенку, понял, что это был отказ от себялюбивых желаний, прощанье с надеждой на пылкую страсть. Он не знал, что она ему благодарна и за то, что он спас ее от опасного приключения, и что, обнимая его, она завещала ему на всю его будущую жизнь горькое и сладостное бремя любви. Всего этого мальчик не понял тогда, но он чувствовал, что нет большего блаженства, чем быть любимым, и что любовью матери он уже приобщился к великой тайне мира."
Но мне кажется, что она понимала, что роман умер, так и не состоявшись, барон уехал, никакие извинительные письма тут не помогут, момент упущен, и, благоразумнее вести себя, как приличная жена и мать, а не искать последней страсти, последней любви.
Этот рассказ трогателен в его детской чистоте. Даже когда главный герой 12-летний мальчик Эдгар начал догадываться, что же это за тайна. Сейчас дети, конечно, взрослеют раньше и, возможно, подобная реакция современного ребенка соответствовала бы 8-9 летнему ребенку.
Мне очень понравилась новелла. Да, психология ребенка, впервые осознающего, для чего взрослые ищут уединения, великолепно передана. Да, чудесно тонко показан внутренний бунт, протест против этих отношений, особенно, когда мальчик своими слабыми кулачками бьёт в темноте гостиничного коридора барона и позже, когда отказывается писать письмо с извинениями.
Но поведение взрослых также очень выпукло изложено. Барон, изящно одетый, прибывает в Земмеринг, первым делом ищет знакомых в списке постояльцев, решает, что ему нужно познакомится в женщиной, раз никого на курорте нет. И вот, он видит добычу - женщину в его вкусе. Мне также показалась очень любопытной реакция матери. Во-первых, приехав на курорт с поправляющимся после болезни ребенком, она сразу была готова к роману. У барона не заняло много времени ее заинтересовать. Думаю, не будет преувеличением сказать, что с первого обмена вежливыми фразами, как гордый знакомством Эдгар представил их друг другу, а может ещё раньше, когда состоялся первый зрительный контакт. Во-вторых, меня удивило поведение матери, которая, услав сына с поручением на почту, села с бароном в экипаж и уехала на прогулку. Обычно люди предупреждают друг друга, особенно на курортах, если куда-то уходят, просто чтобы не волновались. В третьих, после ночного столкновения, в столовой, она сообщает ему, что написала его отцу, что ребенку нужен воспитатель или его нужно отправить в пансион. Она больше не хочет мучиться с ним.
Все это говорит о том, что она не нагулялась, ей важнее чувствовать себя желанной, испытать снова чувство страсти, чем состояние выздоравливающего ребенка, которому ничего не остаётся, как бежать к бабушке. Тем более, что поведение барона исчерпывающе показывает, что его интересует лишь кратковременная интрижка.
Только после побега, у матери возникает понимание, что же важнее. Цвейг пишет благородно о ней, что "эти немые слезы были обетом стареющей женщины принадлежать только ему, своему ребенку, понял, что это был отказ от себялюбивых желаний, прощанье с надеждой на пылкую страсть. Он не знал, что она ему благодарна и за то, что он спас ее от опасного приключения, и что, обнимая его, она завещала ему на всю его будущую жизнь горькое и сладостное бремя любви. Всего этого мальчик не понял тогда, но он чувствовал, что нет большего блаженства, чем быть любимым, и что любовью матери он уже приобщился к великой тайне мира."
Но мне кажется, что она понимала, что роман умер, так и не состоявшись, барон уехал, никакие извинительные письма тут не помогут, момент упущен, и, благоразумнее вести себя, как приличная жена и мать, а не искать последней страсти, последней любви.
September 17, 2023
« ثمة شئ انهار فى داخل الطفل ، وكأنه أخر بصيص من الثقة . لم يستوعب كيف يمكن أن تداس الحقيقة تحت الأرجل بهذه البساطة وكأنها عود ثقاب ».
عندما تعلم أن بطل الرواية طفل أول ما ستفكر فيه أن الرواية ستكون طفولية ساذجة ولكن مع زفايغ لا يحدث ذلك أبدا فيستطيع أن يجعل أى شىء به فلسفته الخاصة المميزة والبعيد كل البعد عن السطحية والبعيد كذلك عن التكلف فيجعلك تشعر أنك تقرأ السهل الممتنع وتفهم ما يريد أن يقوله بل وتشعر بما يريد أن يقوله بكل سهولة ودون مجهود .
يسير بك زفايغ فى رحلة داخل نفس الطفولة ففى البداية تلمس براءة الطفولة ثم تدريجيا تشعر بالكراهية والحقد مع الطفل تجاه الكبار ثم أخيرا تعلم أن الحياه تتناوب بين الألم واللذة وان كثيرا من الأيام مازالت أمامنا وأن حياه كاملة ستكتشف أسرارها لنا وتفهم طبيعه البشر وأنهم بحاجة إلى بعضهم بعضا حتى لو كانوا متخاصمين فى الظاهر وكم هو جميل أن تكون محبوبا من قبلهم .
الحقيقة أن بعد الرواية بالتأكيد سوف أنظر للأطفال نظرة أخرى بعد الأن فيستطيعون أن يمثلوا دور الأغبياء وهم فى الوقت ذاته أذكياء جدا 😂❤️
عندما تعلم أن بطل الرواية طفل أول ما ستفكر فيه أن الرواية ستكون طفولية ساذجة ولكن مع زفايغ لا يحدث ذلك أبدا فيستطيع أن يجعل أى شىء به فلسفته الخاصة المميزة والبعيد كل البعد عن السطحية والبعيد كذلك عن التكلف فيجعلك تشعر أنك تقرأ السهل الممتنع وتفهم ما يريد أن يقوله بل وتشعر بما يريد أن يقوله بكل سهولة ودون مجهود .
يسير بك زفايغ فى رحلة داخل نفس الطفولة ففى البداية تلمس براءة الطفولة ثم تدريجيا تشعر بالكراهية والحقد مع الطفل تجاه الكبار ثم أخيرا تعلم أن الحياه تتناوب بين الألم واللذة وان كثيرا من الأيام مازالت أمامنا وأن حياه كاملة ستكتشف أسرارها لنا وتفهم طبيعه البشر وأنهم بحاجة إلى بعضهم بعضا حتى لو كانوا متخاصمين فى الظاهر وكم هو جميل أن تكون محبوبا من قبلهم .
الحقيقة أن بعد الرواية بالتأكيد سوف أنظر للأطفال نظرة أخرى بعد الأن فيستطيعون أن يمثلوا دور الأغبياء وهم فى الوقت ذاته أذكياء جدا 😂❤️
July 25, 2020
كل رواية تبرهن على قدرة زفايغ الكبيرة على تصوير الأحاسيس البشرية وتجسيدها في كلمات.
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