The Collected Works of Stefan Zweig - Letter from an Unknown Woman

Author: (Austrian) Stefan Zweig
Publisher:
Publication Date: 2000-01-01
Features: In this very moment, I, this girl who was not yet a woman, suddenly grew into a woman, and this woman would forever belong to you. Sometimes the world before my eyes is pitch black, perhaps I might not even be able to finish this letter—but I must do my utmost to rally and talk to you once, just this once. You, my dear, whom I have never met before! I have only you, yet you have never known me, and I have always loved you. My entire life has always belonged to you, yet you have always known nothing of my life. I have dedicated my entire life to you, yet I have never received a single letter from you. I wait, and wait, waiting like a desperate woman! This book collects stories that discard many external details for realism, focusing instead on the inner world of the characters, their personalities, and hidden inner passions. Readers notice that the author has removed everything he deemed unnecessary, whether it be the madman from the Malay or the strange woman—all of them nameless and faceless. Only details that reflect the characters' inner passions and scenes that enhance the novel's atmosphere are vividly depicted: the tropical jungle under scorching sunlight that drives one mad, a corner of the deck in the dead of night that feels eerie, the parched and cracked earth, the dimly lit alley, the eyes of a dog begging like a masochist, the lips of a teenage girl yearning for rain. These descriptions in the stories are more vivid and striking than reality. What remains in the reader's mind is not complex plots or magnificent scenes, but living characters, intense passions, and the tremors of their souls, their heart-wrenching cries from the depths of their being.