As I see it, An Incident on Lake Geneva is a short story about the increasing incomprehensibility of the modern world, particularly during wartime, and how alien it has become to man’s nature.
One day, during World War II, a fisherman on Lake Geneva picks up a nearly naked man floating about in the water on a homemade raft. The man can’t speak any language that the fisherman knows, so when he gets to shore (causing a sensation because of the man’s unusual appearance) he takes the man to the local authorities and they find a hotel owner who can speak Russian, the only language the fugitive speaks. It turns out the man is a Siberian peasant from the very beautiful, very isolated region of Lake Baikal. He was conscripted into the Red Army, fought in the war, was taken prisoner, then escaped. All he wants is to get home to his wife and children, so he has been slowly making his way back as best he can. Because the war is still going on, the Swiss hotel owner and the authorities offer him lodging at a local inn, saying he can’t go back yet because the war is still on. The man can’t seem to understand why he can’t do something so natural as to go home, and his anxiety over his family’s well-being and despair of ever seeing them again get the better of him.
It's a very short story, so the characters and plot are not as complex as in the other Zweig stories I've read, but it's a moving description of a situation that illustrates a larger truth.
One day, during World War II, a fisherman on Lake Geneva picks up a nearly naked man floating about in the water on a homemade raft. The man can’t speak any language that the fisherman knows, so when he gets to shore (causing a sensation because of the man’s unusual appearance) he takes the man to the local authorities and they find a hotel owner who can speak Russian, the only language the fugitive speaks. It turns out the man is a Siberian peasant from the very beautiful, very isolated region of Lake Baikal. He was conscripted into the Red Army, fought in the war, was taken prisoner, then escaped. All he wants is to get home to his wife and children, so he has been slowly making his way back as best he can. Because the war is still going on, the Swiss hotel owner and the authorities offer him lodging at a local inn, saying he can’t go back yet because the war is still on. The man can’t seem to understand why he can’t do something so natural as to go home, and his anxiety over his family’s well-being and despair of ever seeing them again get the better of him.
It's a very short story, so the characters and plot are not as complex as in the other Zweig stories I've read, but it's a moving description of a situation that illustrates a larger truth.
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