Aleksei Kosenkov Kosenkov itibaren Texas
A short novella by one of the world’s most famous writers of the 1930’s. It is sad to me that Zweig is mainly remembered for committing suicide with his wife in Brazil, after he left Austria during Hitler, then went to the London, the US and Brazil. Published after his death, it is said to be a psychological thriller and it does remind me of Kafka. It is engagingly written and uses the conceit of an observer of the events on a steam ship. A boorish peasant, probably an idion savant is the World’s Chess champion, and by happenstance Dr. B. happens by a game, takes over and beats the player once. It turns out he was a person of some power in the banking world in Austria, and was tortured through isolation by the SS over a year through isolation. He stole a chess book, from a coat pocket while waiting for interrogation and becomes insane learning to play against himself in his imagination over many months, a self induced schizophrenia. I certainly got the case against dictorial control of human psyche, but there might have been bigger symbolism than I picked up.