Into the mixture of this comfortable boredom add one young man filled with "ardent and obvious desire" and a new and exciting passion is sure to ignite. A world unlike their own and peopled with romantic figures who lead lives of extravagance. Her life it not unlike other famous heroines- Emma Bovary maybe, or Eline Vere-who glimpse a world of romance in the books they read and the plays they see at the theatre. Her life is, apparently, too calm and contented. She leads a completely comfortable middle-class, bourgeois existence. She has two lovely children and a beautiful home. Irene is happily married to a successful lawyer, one of the best known and regarded in the city. "Satiety can be as much of an incitement as hunger, and it was the very safety and security of Irene's existence that made her feel curious and ready for an adventure." What is it that makes a woman who appears to have everything take a chance like Irene Wagner takes by having a fling with a man she doesn't even love? The thrill of the chase? The idea of an adventure? This is a morality tale of sorts, and a gripping one at that. The fear of being caught out by her husband causes such agony that she despairs losing everything in her life that is comfortable and happy. The woman begins gradually demanding ever larger amounts of money. One day she is seen leaving her lover's apartment by his former mistress. The catch is she's married and has been enjoying an affair with a pianist. Stefan Zweig's 1920 novella Fear ( Angst in German, translated by Anthea Bell) is the story of one woman's torment when she becomes the victim of a blackmailer.
Alternative History/Dystopian Fiction (7).
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