This collection of short stories by a major German writer of the twentieth century includes Fear, Amok, The Burning Secret, The Royal Game, and Letter From an Unknown Woman

Chess Story, also known as The Royal Game, is the Austrian master Stefan Zweig’s final achievement, completed in Brazilian exile and sent off to his American publisher only days before his suicide in 1942. It is the only story in which Zweig looks at Nazism, and he does so with characteristic emphasis on the psychological. Travelers by ship from New York to Buenos Aires find that on board with them is the world champion of chess, an arrogant and unfriendly man. They come together to try their skills against him and are soundly defeated. Then a mysterious passenger steps forward to advise them and their fortunes change. How he came to possess his extraordinary grasp of the game of chess and at what cost lie at the heart of Zweig’s story. This new translation of Chess Story brings out the work’s unusual mixture of high suspense and poignant reflection.

Stefan Zweig gained early fame as a poet, translator, and biographer. When he added fiction to his repertoire, his work was critically acclaimed. However, Zweig has fallen into an undeserved obscurity, and unlike the works of his contemporaries and admirers--fellow Austrian and German writers such as Thomas Man, Herman Hesse, and Sigmund Freud--Zweig's writings have become almost completely unavailable to the English-speaking audience. The Royal Game and Other Stories is a collection of five of his brilliant creative achievements, revives Zweig's art, making it once again available to a wide range of readers. Spanning his entire career, the stories included-""The Royal Game,"" ""Amok,"" ""Letter from an Unknown Woman,"" ""The Burning Secret,"" and ""Fear""-each reveal an individual's passionate response to life. Toying with the theme of the mind left to itself, Zweig gives the reader everything from the story of a child's distrust of his mother to one of a man driven to insanity by his imaginary chess games. Zweig's enormous interest in psychology and psychological problems combine with early century settings to provide compelling stories that prove Zweig to be a master of psychological narrative. Through the years, the stories of Stefan Zweig have been hailed as intense and memorable psychological thrillers-adventures of the mind-with wide, universal appeal. The five masterpieces in this book reveal why Zweig has earned such praise, and should help his legacy continue on to a new generation of readers.

In the climactic finale of the USA Today–bestselling author’s royal romance series, a fairytale wedding isn’t the end of the story—it’s the beginning. It seemed like every girl’s dream: fall in love with a prince and be whisked off for your very own glamorous happy-ever-after. But there’s more to this royal fairy tale for Allegra Jackson and Prince Alessandro Santina. Allegra’s headline-grabbing family hardly prepared her for a life of public duty, and sinfully delicious Prince Alessandro has always seemed virtually allergic to the idea of settling down in Santa Maria. Out of all the flamboyant, beautiful women his name’s been linked with, the heir to the throne picked ordinary Allegra with the family from hell. Now everyone is watching to see if the tabloid’s couple of the year is really playing for keeps.

Unlock the more straightforward side of The Royal Game with this concise and insightful summary and analysis! This engaging summary presents an analysis of The Royal Game by Stefan Zweig which tackles the themes of insanity and passion, as well as the reality of the Second World War, metaphorically through a chess tournament. The story has been adapted for film and stage, as both an opera and a play. Zweig was, during his time, the most translated author in the world and another of his works was featured in Le Monde’s 100 Books of the Century. Find out everything you need to know about The Royal Game in a fraction of the time! This in-depth and informative reading guide brings you: • A complete plot summary • Character studies • Key themes and symbols • Questions for further reflection Why choose BrightSummaries.com? Available in print and digital format, our publications are designed to accompany you in your reading journey. The clear and concise style makes for easy understanding, providing the perfect opportunity to improve your literary knowledge in no time. See the very best of literature in a whole new light with BrightSummaries.com!

* Our summary is short, simple and pragmatic. It allows you to have the essential ideas of a big book in less than 30 minutes. By reading this summary, you will learn what interests you in identifying and cultivating your gifts. You will also learn: that your talents reveal part of your individuality; that strengthening your faculties gives you the opportunity to accomplish yourself; that by perfecting his chess skills, the main character has sharpened his intelligence and learned to better control his emotions; that by devoting yourself to your passion, you can overcome moral trials. Published posthumously in 1943, Stefan Zweig's short story The Chess Player relates the meeting and confrontation of two chess players who are at odds with each other. One is a peasant who has become a world champion thanks to his skill at chess, the only talent he possesses. The other is an Austrian aristocrat, whom the Gestapo officers have subjected to total isolation in a hotel room. To resist this psychological torture, he played mental chess games. Despite their different backgrounds, each of them benefited from exploiting their talent. What benefits can you gain from your passion? *Buy now the summary of this book for the modest price of a cup of coffee!

This classic yet controversial Japanese novel is available for the first time in English--a high-octane thriller about senseless youth violence that is a potent allegory of what it means to be young and survive in today's dog-eat-dog world.

It's the 1930s. Christine, a young Austrian woman whose family has been impoverished by the war, toils away in a provincial post office. Out of the blue, a telegram arrives from an American aunt she's never known, inviting her to spend two weeks in a Grand Hotel in a fashionable Swiss resort. She accepts and is swept up into a world of almost inconceivable wealth and unleashed desire, where she allows herself to be utterly transformed. Then, just as abruptly, her aunt cuts her loose and she has to return to the post office, where - yes - nothing will ever be the same.

A beautiful new paperback edition of this collection containing five of Stefan Zweig's most powerful novellas. A casual introduction, a challenge to a simple game of chess, a lovers' reunion, a meaningless infidelity: from such small seeds Zweig brings forth five startlingly tense tales-meditations on the fragility of love, the limits of obsession, the combustibility of secrets and betrayal. A casual introduction, a challenge to a simple game of chess, a lovers' reunion, a meaningless infidelity: from such small seeds Zweig brings forth five startlingly tense tales--meditations on the fragility of love, the limits of obsession, the combustibility of secrets and betrayal. To read anything by Zweig is to risk addiction; in this collection the power of his writing--which, with its unabashed intensity and narrative drive, made him one of the bestselling and most acclaimed authors in the world--is clear and irresistible. Each of these stories is a bolt of experience, unforgettable and unique. This edition includes five powerful novellas: Burning Secret A Chess Story Fear Confusion Journey into the Past

A DOCTOR IN the Dutch East Indies torn between his medical duty to help and his own mixed emotions; a middle-aged maidservant whose devotion to her master leads her to commit a terrible act; a hotel waiter whose love for an unapproachable aristocratic beauty culminates in an almost lyrical death and a prisoner-of-war longing to be home again in Russia. In these four stories, Stefan Zweig shows his gift for the acute analysis of emotional dilemmas. His four tragic and moving cameos of the human condition are played out against cosmopolitan and colonial backgrounds in the first half of the twentieth century.