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tyanna25's review against another edition
5.0
Estoy completamente impresionada por este libro. El autor construye un relato monumental en base a las fuentes históricas y a la propia destreza de su palabra, logrando así un retrato muy humano de una mujer con muchas aristas. La capacidad de Zweig de envolver al lector, ya sea familiarizado o no con la historia de María Antonieta, es admirable.
nawelmdk's review against another edition
4.0
La frivolité d'un enfant, l'amour d'une femme et le sacrifice d'une mère. On est agréablement surpris à la fin quand on se rend compte de l'évolution morale tardive de ce personnage.
gonzalustrado's review against another edition
5.0
Una excelente biografía, de un personaje del que sabía mucho menos de lo que pensaba. Stefan Zweig hace gala de todo su talento literario y su humanismo para retratar a una mujer corriente arrastrada por las circunstancias. A lo largo del libro, el autor nos lleva de la mano por todo el recorrido de crecimiento personal de esta mujer, en el fondo buena e inteligente: desde la niña ociosa y perezosa, símbolo de la aristocracia decadente de la época, hasta la mujer digna y responsable que camina con la cabeza alta durante su extenso martirio a manos de la locura revolucionaria. Es este tipo de literatura el que despierta pasiones por la historia; una vez más, Stefan Zweig no defrauda, e incluso supera mis expectativas iniciales.
veerle's review against another edition
5.0
Mooi portret, met Freudiaanse interpretaties van de karakters die de hoofdrol spelen. Helemaal niet zo droog als nu. Heerlijk!
marziesreads's review against another edition
2.0
I received a copy of this book from Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.
I first read Zweig's Marie Antoinette back in the 70's, when fascinated by European history, royalty and famous queens. As a teen, I enjoyed it and felt the pathos of Marie Antoinette's downward spiral. With my older, skeptic's eyes however, I now question the sourcing on a number of points in Zweig's book, which seem, in retrospect, based on historical gossip, rather than fact-driven. Taken as a historical novel, Zweig's work is not a patch on that of Weir or Fraser, whose research for novels parallels that of their straight history and biography.
I first read Zweig's Marie Antoinette back in the 70's, when fascinated by European history, royalty and famous queens. As a teen, I enjoyed it and felt the pathos of Marie Antoinette's downward spiral. With my older, skeptic's eyes however, I now question the sourcing on a number of points in Zweig's book, which seem, in retrospect, based on historical gossip, rather than fact-driven. Taken as a historical novel, Zweig's work is not a patch on that of Weir or Fraser, whose research for novels parallels that of their straight history and biography.
teresatumminello's review against another edition
3.0
I've now read three different types of books by Zweig: a novella ([b:Chess Story|59151|Chess Story|Stefan Zweig|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1386924796s/59151.jpg|57593]), a memoir ([b:The World of Yesterday|629429|The World of Yesterday|Stefan Zweig|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1347696322s/629429.jpg|615762]) and this biography. Though I'm more likely to read another of his novellas instead of another of his biographies, against expectation, I found this the most entertaining of the three books, but also the most problematic.
It's written in a very engaging style (though with too many exclamation points for my taste) and I zipped through it as I neared the end. Unlike with his memoir, in which there is an unusual distance between the writer and the reader -- again contradicting expectation -- there is no distance here. Zweig is upfront in his opinions and self-assured in his psychological dissection of Marie Antoinette and her contemporaries. Phrases like girlish trivialities, the premonition of a true sexual awakening and the tender emotion read as blanket statements. At the first mention of Marie Antoinette's letters to Count von Fersen, Zweig concludes with this extraordinary (for him in relation to his subject, that is) sentence: These letters modify our whole outlook upon the character of a woman hitherto regarded as light-minded. and I laughed out loud.
Before the Revolution, Zweig portrays the Queen as unseeing and frivolous, never malicious, and the king as unseeing and ineffective, both focusing on their private lives and practically nothing on the issues of the day. Though Zweig seems to respect Marie Antoinette more as time goes on, if she is what he considers an average woman (as his subtitle and some of his comments state) I feel demeaned.
Zweig excels at synthesizing vast amounts of information and details. His storytelling skills shine, so much so that certain passages, such as the thoughts he puts in Marie Antoinette's head, especially near the end of her life, read as historical fiction. He writes of regrets in the secret hearts of most of the deputies who had voted to execute the king. He talks of the sentries hiding the sympathy they felt for the prisoners despite what the royalist memoirs tell us, but says nothing of what leads him to his own conclusion of the common folk's solicitude. Wondering several times where his information came from, I became frustrated. In his afterword he explains what sources he has not used, and why.
Occasionally he assumes knowledge from his readership that no longer commonly exists. Translation is not always provided, not much of an issue except in the cases of lyrics of scurrilous songs and the lengthier passages from letters. That is not a criticism but an observation on how writing and reading has changed from Zweig's time.
Alain Robbe-Grillet is famous for saying that psychology was the worst thing to happen to the novel (I recently read that paraphrase in [b:An Unnecessary Woman|18114449|An Unnecessary Woman|Rabih Alameddine|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1374695894s/18114449.jpg|21362669]), but I'm positive Zweig believed it to be the best thing that happened to any kind of writing.
It's written in a very engaging style (though with too many exclamation points for my taste) and I zipped through it as I neared the end. Unlike with his memoir, in which there is an unusual distance between the writer and the reader -- again contradicting expectation -- there is no distance here. Zweig is upfront in his opinions and self-assured in his psychological dissection of Marie Antoinette and her contemporaries. Phrases like girlish trivialities, the premonition of a true sexual awakening and the tender emotion read as blanket statements. At the first mention of Marie Antoinette's letters to Count von Fersen, Zweig concludes with this extraordinary (for him in relation to his subject, that is) sentence: These letters modify our whole outlook upon the character of a woman hitherto regarded as light-minded. and I laughed out loud.
Before the Revolution, Zweig portrays the Queen as unseeing and frivolous, never malicious, and the king as unseeing and ineffective, both focusing on their private lives and practically nothing on the issues of the day. Though Zweig seems to respect Marie Antoinette more as time goes on, if she is what he considers an average woman (as his subtitle and some of his comments state) I feel demeaned.
Zweig excels at synthesizing vast amounts of information and details. His storytelling skills shine, so much so that certain passages, such as the thoughts he puts in Marie Antoinette's head, especially near the end of her life, read as historical fiction. He writes of regrets in the secret hearts of most of the deputies who had voted to execute the king. He talks of the sentries hiding the sympathy they felt for the prisoners despite what the royalist memoirs tell us, but says nothing of what leads him to his own conclusion of the common folk's solicitude. Wondering several times where his information came from, I became frustrated. In his afterword he explains what sources he has not used, and why.
Occasionally he assumes knowledge from his readership that no longer commonly exists. Translation is not always provided, not much of an issue except in the cases of lyrics of scurrilous songs and the lengthier passages from letters. That is not a criticism but an observation on how writing and reading has changed from Zweig's time.
Alain Robbe-Grillet is famous for saying that psychology was the worst thing to happen to the novel (I recently read that paraphrase in [b:An Unnecessary Woman|18114449|An Unnecessary Woman|Rabih Alameddine|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1374695894s/18114449.jpg|21362669]), but I'm positive Zweig believed it to be the best thing that happened to any kind of writing.