A woman often spends more time and energy in her feelings than the man she loves. Of course, I am not to deny the tireless efforts of her fellow men, but in the usual sense, it is completely acceptable for women to make subversive decisions for love. Although it is difficult to give examples in a small sample in reality, Zweig’s novels must be the best illustration.
The beginning of “24 Hours in a Woman’s Life” is more passionate than other works of Zweig. In contrast, before entering the confession of Mrs. C, the author launched a classic debate with the first person as the guest who had dinner at the same table – whether Mrs. Henriette’s elopement was love at first sight or a natural bitch. Time goes back to 1927 when Zweig wrote this book. Five years ago, Zweig wrote “Letter from a Strange Woman” to describe a classic secret love, but perhaps he was not satisfied with this, because he only wrote the motivation of girls’ crazy love for writers, but did not deeply explore the causes. So five years later, At the beginning of “24 hours in a woman’s life”, the introduction of the debate – what is the magic of love?
In the eyes of most people in that era, just like the diners in the story, they could not believe that love at first sight would make a woman abandon all she knew and elope with her beloved, which could only be caused by lust. But Zweig put forward a hypothesis: if the woman lies beside her husband and pretends to love, why can’t she be brave enough to pursue what she wants? In 1927, not only women’s rights, but also human rights were not yet open. People always deliberately ignored the space for individual freedom, and did not mean to scold or even curse any behavior that violated common sense. Whether a 33-year-old woman has the opportunity to touch the true love and the courage to put everything down for it is laughable to the world, but Zweig believes that this is the basis of human nature.
We do not advocate that marital infidelity can be diluted by the words “true love is invincible”. The author also said that crimes based on passion cannot be acquitted——
Mrs. Henriette must not be a heroine, not even a romantic woman… I have great respect for her, because she bravely complied with her wishes… Her behavior may be stupid, it must be too rash, but it is not mean.
Based on that era, Zweig was undoubtedly shouting for women’s freedom of love. For Mrs. Henriette and Mrs. C, love was precious and indelible, and no one was entitled to satirize and secretly laugh at their tragic ending. They behave more like gamblers, and give everything for small hopes. What’s more, for example, the girl in “A Letter from a Strange Woman”, she hopes to get a return for her secret love, but doesn’t take it as a goal. All her efforts are just to prove that she really loves the writer. For them, it is more important to defend the purity of their love than to stay together forever. So the behavior is inappropriate, but the spirit is innocent.
That’s why we have more and more yearning for love and are fascinated by the stories written by others, because those rare and not understood by the world are the purest and noblest love.
If I say that you are my favorite person, then this may not be true love. Love is, I think you are a knife, I use it to stir my heart.
Kafka of the same era once described love in this way. In Zweig’s works, this emotion is more complicated and interwoven than a single word of “love” in the past of old lady C. A large number of details and psychological descriptions, a deep understanding of the expressiveness of various delicate psychology, and a deep analysis of monologues make the resistance of women in Zweig’s works particularly admirable. And at the end of the memory, the old lady’s gratitude was the final conclusion of the bad encounter
I don’t know whether it is the reflection of passion in the past, or because she is flustered, at this time, a layer of blush suddenly appeared on her face, which dyed her cheeks and white hair into a rosy glow.
As expected, she still did not regret the impulsive decision. This is love, knowing what it started and what it ended. Because I know that my proudest thing is to fall in love with someone who won’t make people regret.
