Summary of Marie Antoinette
“Marie Antoinette” by Stefan Zweig recounts the life of the Austrian princess who became Queen of France, from her youth in Vienna to her life at the court of Versailles, and ultimately to her downfall during the French Revolution. Zweig portrays her neither as a villain nor a heroine, but as an ordinary woman of average ability – more drawn to pleasure than to politics – who found herself caught in extraordinary circumstances beyond her comprehension or control.
Reasons to read Marie Antoinette
Stefan Zweig’s “Marie Antoinette” is a beautifully written biography that reads like a novel and offers inside into one of France’s most intriguing queens. The book takes an empathetic view of the queen, placing her within the historical context of her time and situation. Although based on historical sources (including correspondence with her mother, Empress Maria Theresa of Austria, and her close friend, the Swedish count Axel von Fersen), Zweig’s aim was to write an accessible and psychological portrait of Marie Antoinette’s personality, rather than a historical or political study. Readers seeking a more modern approach might prefer Antonia Fraser’s “Marie Antoinette: The Journey” (2001), which served as the basis of Sofia Coppola’s film “Marie Antoinette”, or Evelyne Lever’s “Marie Antoinette: The Last Queen of France” (2000).
Stefan Zweig was an Austrian author and one of the most prominent literary figures of his time. Today, he is best known for his memoir “The World of Yesterday” and the novella “The Royal Game” (also known as “Chess Story”). In his lifetime, he was widely acclaimed for novellas such as “Letter from an Unknown Woman”, “Amok”, “Fear”, “Confusion of Feelings”, “Twenty-Four Hours in the Life of a Woman”, as well as his novel “Beware of Pity”, and his biographies on Marie Antionette, Mary Stuart, and Magellan.
Setting: Paris & Versailles (France)
Original title: Marie Antoinette. Bildnis eines mittleren Charakters
Year of publication: 1932
Nr of pages: 592
