The force
Der Zwang is a novella by Stefan Zweig , which - written in the summer of 1918 under the working title "Der Refractair" (the deserter) - was published in 1920 by Insel Verlag. The pacifist text, which is dedicated to " Pierre J. Jouve in brotherly friendship", looks into the heart of an artist who refuses to do military service.
action
The young aristocratic painter Ferdinand R. from M. has rented a small apartment in a village above Lake Zurich and set up a studio. The deep peace turns out to be deceptive. The military district command in M. is not resting. The painter receives the “position order” by post in his refuge. The wife Paula persuades Ferdinand that he doesn't have to obey the order at all, because he is a free man in a free country. Cannon fodder for the further war against France is not available from Switzerland. Ferdinand takes a different view. In his cadaver obedience , he makes his way to the neighboring homeland. At the state border, however, the painter had a harrowing encounter with seriously wounded French soldiers. In the middle of the last fateful step, Ferdinand thinks about it and returns to the arms of his wife Paula, who is waiting in the Swiss village.
background
In 1918 Austria allowed the author to travel to Switzerland. From March 9th, Stefan Zweig lived for a year in the Hotel Belvoir in Rüschlikon above Lake Zurich.
reception
Rovagnati presents Paula as a woman who Ferdinand erects in the belief: the artist is free.
literature
Used edition
- Stefan Zweig: Novellas . Vol. 1, pp. 21-65. Aufbau-Verlag, Berlin 1986 (3rd edition), without ISBN, licensor: S. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main, copyright 1960, 288 pages
Other issues
- Stefan Zweig: The compulsion. A novella. Strom-Verlag, Vienna 1929. 126 pages with woodcuts by Frans Masereel and OR Schatz
Secondary literature
- Donald Prater (Ed.), Volker Michels (Ed.): Stefan Zweig. Life and work in the picture. Gustav Kiepenheuer Verlag, Leipzig 1984, without ISBN, licensor: Insel Verlag, Frankfurt am Main, copyright 1981, 335 pages
- Arnold Bauer: Stefan Zweig . Morgenbuch Verlag Volker Spiess, Berlin 1996 (vol. 21 of the series “Heads of the 20th Century”), ISBN 3-371-00401-5
- Gabriella Rovagnati: “Detours on the way to myself”. On the life and work of Stefan Zweig. Bouvier Verlag, Bonn 1998 (Vol. 400 of the series "Treatises on Art, Music and Literature"), ISBN 3-416-02780-9