Marie Antoinette
The Portrait of an Average Woman
An ordinary woman handed an impossible position, written by a man watching his own Europe collapse.
Stefan Zweig’s subject is a woman of ordinary gifts placed in a position that would have required extraordinary ones. He follows Marie Antoinette from the Austrian court to Versailles to the Conciergerie, and is more interested in how she grew into the crisis than in either the royalist or revolutionary caricature. Zweig wrote it in 1932, an Austrian Jew watching his own civilisation approach the edge, and that vantage is audible throughout.
Recommended by 1 Person
Elliot Ackerman
Zweig was one of the greatest writers of the early 20th century. An Austrian-born Jew, he wrote from the perspective of his own time, one that was hurtling toward the catastrophe of world war.
As an Amazon Associate, bookstoread.org earns from qualifying purchases. Links to Amazon on this page may earn us a commission at no extra cost to you. Spotted an error on this page? Tell us and we will fix it.