I find that there is something almost cinematic about Stefan Zweig’s writings. He has a talent for creating scenes in the reader’s imagination that draws them in and makes them feel what the characters are feeling. Both stories in this collection deal with despair, loneliness, and the isolation of human beings from each other.
Twilight is about a high ranking lady who has fallen out of favor with the king. She is obliged to leave Versailles to stay at her estate in a sleepy rural town. Accustomed to being the center of attention because of her great influence at court, she never realized that she was just as dependent on the flattery and attention of other people as they were on her for the favors she could grant. After living a life that revolved around creating an outward image for the public to admire, she is not capable of cultivating an interior life, and the scant social life in the little town leaves her no scope for her talents. She begins to contemplate suicide, after throwing a lavish party at her estate to give her society friends the impression that her banishment did not affect her too much. A deceptive appearance, however, does not change the underlying reality. Zweig’s portrayal of this woman’s despair while walking alone by candlelight through the rooms of a dark empty chateau, with only the occasional appearance of a servant to do something for her, is very vivid.
Moonbeam Alley is about a man whose pride and avarice drove his own wife away. Despite his repentance and willingness to reconcile, she prefers to support herself as a prostitute, for independence, and also to humiliate him. The atmosphere of this story is reminiscent of a film noir movie—all dark alleys, seedy tenements, and moody, dimly lighted little bars that are all but impossible to recognize in the daytime, since they only come alive at night.
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