Stefan Zweig
Amok: what to read next?
Books close in genre, era, author or reading level, to read in bilingual editions.
Stefan ZweigChess StoryOn a liner sailing from New York to Buenos Aires travels Mirko Czentovic, the world chess champion, a boatman's son who knows almost nothing beyond the board. The narrator persuades a few passengers to buy a game from him, which the champion wins easily. A stranger, Dr B.,…By the same authorSame genreSame era
Stefan ZweigTwenty-Four Hours in the Life of a WomanAt a Riviera guest house, the flight of Madame Henriette with a young Frenchman she met the day before divides the guests. The narrator, alone in defending her, is soon taken into the confidence of Mrs C., an Englishwoman of sixty-seven still held by the memory of a single day.…By the same authorSame genreSame era
Stefan ZweigLetter from an Unknown WomanA well-known novelist comes home on his birthday and finds a long letter from a woman whose name he does not know. In it she tells her whole life, from the day when, still a girl, she watched him move into her building in Vienna. For years she loved him without making herself…By the same authorSame genreSame era
Stefan ZweigFearIrene Wagner leads an untroubled bourgeois life in Vienna, married to a well-known defence lawyer and mother of two, and has been visiting a young pianist for some months. Leaving his flat one afternoon, she is stopped by a stranger who claims to be the man's discarded mistress…By the same authorSame genreSame era
Mikhail LermontovA Hero of Our TimeIn the Caucasus of the 1830s, several voices describe the same man: Pechorin, a Russian officer, brilliant and destructive. An old captain recounts the abduction of a Circassian girl, and the traveller who hears him later reads his notebooks. They tell of a season at the spa…Same genre
Prosper MériméeCarmenAn archaeologist travelling in Andalusia meets a wanted bandit, Don José, and then a Romani woman who tells fortunes in Córdoba. Several months later he finds Don José in prison, on the eve of his execution, and hears his confession. Once a corporal with a promotion in sight,…Same genre
Franz KafkaThe MetamorphosisGregor Samsa, a devoted employee, wakes one morning transformed into a giant insect. Unable to work and rejected by his family, he gradually becomes a burden in his own home. As his isolation deepens, family bonds deteriorate, revealing a harsh social reality. This short,…Same genreSame era
Osamu DazaiNo Longer HumanThree notebooks, found with a few photographs, tell the life of Ōba Yōzō from childhood on. Convinced early that he understands nothing of other people, he plays the clown so that no one will guess his fear, and takes no rest from the act. As a student in Tokyo he drifts into…Same genreSame era
Oscar WildeThe Picture of Dorian GrayDorian Gray, a young man of exceptional beauty, sees his portrait age in his place while he keeps a flawless appearance. Influenced by Lord Henry, a cynical and provocative figure, he abandons himself to a life of boundless pleasure. But every act leaves a mark on his portrait,…Same genre
Robert Louis StevensonDr Jekyll and Mr HydeDr Jekyll, a respected scientist, develops an experiment that allows him to separate the two sides of his personality. Under the identity of Mr Hyde, he unleashes his darkest instincts without restraint. But this transformation becomes uncontrollable and threatens to destroy…Same genre
Emily BrontëWuthering HeightsAn English novel from 1847. In the windswept hills of northern England, at the end of the eighteenth century, Mr Earnshaw brings home from Liverpool an abandoned child, who is named Heathcliff, and raises him in his old, isolated farmhouse alongside his own children, Hindley…Same genre
Herman MelvilleBartleby, the ScrivenerA Wall Street lawyer hires a new copyist, Bartleby, silent and at first beyond reproach. Asked one day to do an ordinary task, the clerk answers that he would prefer not to, and repeats it to every later request. Settled in the office, demanding nothing and yielding nothing, he…Same genre