Returning to Paris after a two-year absence, the narrator decides to just do nothing other than soak up the atmosphere of the boulevards and watch the crowds passing by there. Which enables him to identify a pickpocket and to study the fellow’s expert technique. When he follows the man on his peregrinations to the central auction house at the Hotel Druot the man passes into action and the narrator himself gets involved.
An episode impregnated with the atmosphere of the Paris of the time, (…)
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"Unexpected Acquaintance with a Craft" by Stefan Zweig (1934)
11 septembre 2022, par Stefan Zweig -
"The Story of the Good Kasperl and the Pretty Annerl" by Clemens Brentano (1817)
28 août 2022, par Clemens BrentanoA remarkable old woman of eighty-eight who has walked for a very long time to come to the Duke’s residence to plead for mercy and forgiveness for her grandson Kasperl and her goddaughter Annerl, both of whom have come to a sad end, recounts their story in an irresistibly authentic way that cannot fail to charm the most blasé reader.
Clemens Brentano (1778-1842), co-editor with Achim von Arnim of the celebrated cycle of folk songs and fables Des Knabens Wunderhorn (The Boy’s Magic Horn) (…) -
"The Marquise of O..." by Heinrich von Kleist (1808)
23 août 2022, par Heinrich von KleistIn this stark investigation of the feminine condition in a rigid society ruled by pitiless moral strictures, the young widow Marquise of O... finds herself in an unexpected condition with no idea of how or why this situation came to be, and courageously puts an ad in the local paper proposing marriage to the person responsible for this state of affairs. We then flash back, in rapid succession, to a violent military assault on the fortified town of which her father was the governor, to an (…)
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"Springtime in the Prater (Praterfrühling)" by Stefan Zweig (1900)
16 août 2022, par Stefan ZweigA young woman in an elegant building in the most select part of Vienna is quite beside herself with annoyance because the new gown that she has ordered for Derby Day has failed to arrive on time, obliging her to miss the fancy event. Finally she decides to put on her oldest dress and just go out for a walk on that lovely spring day. When she’s admired by a young student who finally works up the courage to ask if he might accompany her she accepts out of a spirit of adventure, and they have a (…)
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"Forgotten Dreams", Stefan Zweig’s remarkable first published story (1900)
25 juillet 2022, par Stefan ZweigAn elegant lady relaxing on the terrace of her magnificent mansion on the Riviera is called upon by a man she had known in her younger days. About to leave for America, he has come to ask her for an explanation of why she had decided to marry into money rather than take her chances with him back then.
Stefan Zweig’s first published story, a remarkable achievement by the 19-year-old author.
Translated specially for this site.
(2,100 words)
An e-book, with the original text in an (…) -
"The Window" and other Gallic stories by Guy de Maupassant
21 juillet 2022, par Guy de MaupassantSeven more of the master’s best stories, most with a rather racy, distinctively Gallic touch and all with a distinctively direct, straightforward and rather elegant Maupassantian touch.
They have all been translated specially for this site. TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. THE WINDOW The narrator recounts his long, intensive courtship of the well-known, wealthy, attractive, intelligent, really quite ideal Mme de Jadelle, and how a fateful false step unfortunately upset his careful plans regarding (…) -
"The Love of Erika Ewald", an early masterpiece by Stefan Zweig (1904)
14 juillet 2022, par Stefan ZweigErika Ewald is a young, lonely and innocent young woman who falls increasingly under the charm of a very gifted violinist whom she accompanies on the piano, and finally things come to a brink during a Sunday outing to the outskirts of Vienna where the owner of an establishment where they stop for refreshments politely addresses her as the violinist’s bride, that they both realise she almost is.
An intense and very convincing exploration of the profound emotional, psychological and sensual (…) -
"The Flight That Failed" by A. E. van Vogt and E. M. Hull (1942)
6 juillet 2022, par A. E. van VogtAn aircraft pilot on a critical war-time mission across the Atlantic is suddenly warned by a mysterious passenger that the flight is in mortal danger from enemy warcraft that have been informed of the flight’s secret contents and of its flight plan. The passenger turns out to possess extraordinary powers that are turned to good use to save the ship and the whole Allied war effort from catastrophe.
The Flight That Failed was credited to E. Mayne Hull (A. E. van Vogt’s wife) in the December (…) -
"Investigations of a Dog" by Franz Kafka (1922)
27 juin 2022, par Franz KafkaA solitary dog recalls the investigations he had undertaken in his youth to understand the whys and the wherefores of such questions as food, hunger, language and communication with other members of his community. In the course of his investigations he had encountered strange and quasi-mystical phenomena and had never quite achieved his goals of understanding, but even in his old age he has never stopped meditating on the findings of his investigations.
Transposed into a different, (…) -
"The Debt Paid Late (1941)" – one of Stefan Zweig’s best stories now available on-line in English
17 juin 2022, par Stefan ZweigA middle-aged woman writes to an old friend to recount how during a brief holiday in the Tyrolean mountains she’d encountered an actor that they both had utterly worshipped in their adolescence and who’d since fallen on hard times. She reveals to her old friend how the actor had played a key role in an absolutely crucial moment in her life, and how she finally paid back the debt she owed him.
One of Stefan Zweig’s best stories, this late work was completed in his penultimate year, 1941. (…)