Zweig Stefan, Fantastic Night:Tales of Longining and Liberation
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1. What role does memory play in A Letter From an Unknown Womanand one of the other short stories by Zweig? To what ends? Possible angles to consider would be the role of the past, the effects of nostalgia, memory and confession, the faultiness of memory itself, etc.
2.What role does love play in A Letter From an Unknown Woman and one of the other short stories by Zweig? To what ends? Possible angles to consider would be the pain of lost love, young/naive love, the power of first love, the nature of devotion, lust vs. love, the links between love and cruelty, etc.
3.What role does class play in A Letter From an Unknown Woman and one of the other short stories by Zweig? To what ends? Possible angles to consider would be the gap between rich and poor, the impact of of economic destitution, the frivolity of wealth, etc.
4.What is the function of story-telling in A Letter From an Unknown Woman and one of the other short stories by Zweig? To what ends? Possible angles to consider would be the use of letters, the links madebetween memory and fiction, stories within stories, the “storyteller” figure, the concern over capturing the real vs. imagining a fiction, etc.
5.What is the role of accident and/or coincidence in A Letter From an Unknown Woman and one of the other short stories by Zweig? To what ends? Possible angles to consider would be chance meetings, mistaken identities, false impressions, missed opportunities, etc.
6.What connections are made between the past and the present in A Letter From an Unknown Woman and one of the other short stories by Zweig? To what ends? Possible angles to consider would be learning about the past only after it is past, failing to understand the past, trying to rectify the problems of the past, the loss of innocence that comes with the acquiring of experience, etc.
7.Discuss the role of revelation, both its presence and its absence, in A Letter From an Unknown Woman and Fantastic Night. The former withholds any real revelation, or at least it teases the reader with its possibility; the latter contains a moment of true revelation, even of epiphany, only to have the impact of this revelation be horribly and ironically overturned.
8.Discuss the role of World War I in two of the stories by Zweig. How does the war impact the plot and the characters of the stories? To what ends?
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The Role of Love
What role does love play in A Letter From an Unknown Woman and one of the other short stories by Zweig? To what ends?
Loving and being loved is critical to human beings. It adds to the richness of life when people feel closer to others. The feeling of being loved creates a sense of being important, understood, and secure. However, love varies and has distinct levels. For instance, the kind of love we feel for a parent differs from that of a child. Similarly, the love experienced in a romantic relationship is distinct from that of a friend. Whatever the case, love is perhaps the highest ideal in human relationships. A partner offers companionship, especially during a difficult moment. Nonetheless, too often, a beautiful romance can turn sour and become a painful nightmare to one of the partners or both of them. At other times, a partner may think the other party loves them, only to realize that this is not the case. In other instances, there is no real love between partners; rather it is pure lust. Zweig Stefan’s novels, Fantastic Night and Letter from an Unknown Woman exemplify the theme of love, demonstrating the positive and negative implications of love as well as differentiating love from lust.
In Fantastic Night, the main character is a wealthy and seemingly worry-free man. He is a 36-year-old mindless man who appears childish. Despite being distinguished as a member of the fashionable society, the man is empty inside. Over the course of a fantastic night, the main character undergoes massive transformation and wakes to life for the first time. In Letter from an Unknown Woman, Lisa is a teenager residing in an apartment with her mother in Vienna. The new tenant, Stefan Brand fascinates her with his energetic performances. As a result, Lisa becomes obsessed with Stefan to the extent that she stays up late to listen to him play. Despite all these actions, Stefan does not notice her. When Lisa’s mother announces marriage to a wealthy man in Linz, Lisa does not want to leave Vienna. While In Linz, Lisa escapes to Stefan’s apartment but finds him with another woman. This causes her to join her mother and new stepfather, but inside she has feelings for Stefan.
It is possible for someone to think they are in love, while in the real sense it is lust. In Fantastic Night, the main character has been living a lustful life. He indicates, “I did not lack for success with women, and here too, with the secret collector’s urge which in a way indicates a lack of real involvement…” Due to his vast wealth and coming from an influential family, the character can afford to get almost any woman. The character further emphasized that “[he] gradually moved from being a mere sensualist to the status of a knowledgeable connoisseur.” While someone may perceive the man to be in love with the women, the truth is that lust drives him. Similarly, Stefan in Letter from an Unk...
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