Unexpected acquaintance with a craft
Unexpected acquaintance with a craft is a novella by Stefan Zweig from 1931.
action
After two years of being away from his beloved Paris , the narrator enjoys a morning on the Boulevard de Strasbourg in April 1931. In front of a shop window, curious passers-by are delighted with three lively little monkeys that the shopkeeper lets exercise behind glass. In the midst of such a crowd of spectators, a skinny, starved, lost Stromer feels quite comfortable. The hands of the elderly little man disappear into the much too long sleeves of a canary-yellow summer coat. The narrator wants to guess the profession of the unknown. It is not a beggar, worker or tourist guide. This person with the crooked hat and the sickly cough is evidently practicing an "official craft" in creeping quiet walking. Is it a detective? The tattered shoes and the dirty shirt collar speak against it. The poor devil who does his dangerous trade in the crowd must be a pickpocket . One mistake, even just a shaky finger, could cost up to four years in prison. The narrator admires the thief's self-control, which even surpasses that of a surgeon. Because the anesthetized patient was immobilized during the operation. Such crafts are to be assigned to the artist profession. While the amateur, for example the narrator, impatiently accesses it, the artist practices patiently waiting out of experience. Having become curious, the narrator now wants to get to know "the real heart of the craft" and follows the thief over the Chaussée d'Antin to Rue Drouot. In the crush during an auction at the Hôtel Drouot , the narrator ends the lesson in theft. The thief reaches for the narrator's wallet. The vigilant narrator survives the attack without any damage and lets the unlucky bird run.
Quote
- "... what you start with tiredness in art is always badly done."
interpretation
The thief's "work" is closely watched. Stefan Zweig's language during the presentation of the topic, which at first glance is not particularly productive, is full of images. For example, it is written: "Librarians who have become parchment themselves ..."
Used edition
- Stefan Zweig: Unexpected acquaintance with a trade. In: Novellas . Vol. 1, pp. 141-185. Aufbau-Verlag, Berlin 1986 (3rd edition), without ISBN, licensor: S. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main, (Copyright 1936, Herbert Reichner Verlag Vienna)