Beware of Pity (novel)

Beware of Pity (Ungeduld des Herzens, literally The Heart's Impatience) is a 1939 novel by the Austrian writer Stefan Zweig. It was Zweig's longest work of fiction. It was adapted into a 1946 film of the same title, directed by Maurice Elvey.

Plot summary
The young lieutenant Anton Hofmiller is invited to the castle of the wealthy Hungarian Lajos Kekesfalva. He meets Kekesfalva's paralyzed daughter Edith and develops subtle affection and deep compassion for her. Edith falls in love with him. When she develops a hope for a speedy recovery, he eventually promises to marry her when she is recovered, with the hope that this will convince her to take the treatment. However, for fear of ridicule and contempt, he denies the engagement in public. When Edith learns of this, she takes her own life. Overwhelmed by guilt, he is deployed to the First World War.

In popular culture
Wes Anderson very loosely based his film The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) on Beware of Pity and The Post Office Girl.

It was adapted as a stage play, directed by Simon McBurney, at the Barbican Centre in London in 2017.

The Russian film Liubov' za liubov' (Love for Love, 2013) was also based on "Beware of Pity", but transferred the story to a Russian setting and gave it an ambiguous ending. Knowing that World War I has been declared, the lieutenant asks for two days' leave to marry the fiancee whom he has abandoned. In the last scene, he is seen riding to his crippled love as she is about to commit suicide by jumping off a balcony. She stops as she sees him returning. The film, directed by Sergei Ashkenazy, is available in Russian on YouTube.

The Danish film Kysset (The Kiss, 2023) is also loosely based on "Beware of Pity", but is set in Denmark.