Marie Antoinette
By Stefan Zweig
Translated by Eden and Cedar Paul
"Certainly no one can arise unmoved from the reading of this powerful work."—The New Republic
"Stefan Zweig’s remarkable study of Marie Antoinette; A full-bodied biography which bids fair to be the definitive life of that tragic queen."—The New York Times
"The most influential biography of Marie Antoinette."—The Guardian
Stefan Zweig based his biography of Marie Antoinette, who became the Queen of France at the age of fifteen, on the correspondence between her and her mother, and her great love the Count Axel von Fersen. Zweig analyzes the chemistry of a woman's soul from her intimate pleasures to her public suffering as a Queen under the weight of misfortune and history. Zweig describes Marie Antoinette in the King's bedroom, in the enchanted and extravagant world of the Trianon, and with her children. And in his account of 'The Revolution', he describes her resolve during the failed escape to Varennes, her imprisonment in the Conciergerie and her final tragic destiny under the guillotine. Zweig's account has been the definitive biography of Marie Antoinette since its publication, inspiring Antonia Fraser and the recent film adaptation.
Paperback
592 pages
Pushkin Press, 2017
Originally published in 1932
5.1 x 1.5 x 7.8 inches
ISBN 9781906548308
Literature, Biography, History