It is amazing how a steady, slow drip . . . drip . . . drip . . . from a single faucet can first annoy, then terrorize. As relevant as when it was written, Stefan Zweig’s Schachnovelle has proven to be a steady bestseller into the 21st century. This gem of a psychological portrait, bests Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho on many levels. Totalitarian regimes can only subjugate through terror; on a psychological level, terror needs no implements to be effective.
We are pleased to present Stefan Zweig’s Schachnovelle on Thursday, May 17, 2012, and cordially invite you to our food and beverage reception at 6:30 p.m. in the Parish Hall of Christ the King Lutheran Church, 2353 Rice Boulevard, Houston, TX 77005. The movie starts at 7:00 p.m. Parking is available at the Rice University parking lot off Greenbriar across the street from the church. Meeting fees are $15 for nonmembers, $10 for members, and $5 for students.
Registration will start at 6:15 p.m. Please RSVP now to angelika@houstonleipzig.org now, so that we can plan properly for the reception. We are looking forward to seeing you on Thursday evening.
Werner von Basil, an educated member of the Austrian high society, meets his downfall when he aids the Catholic church in smuggling certain of their treasures out of the country. The Nazis who “liberated” Vienna wish to “repatriate” the treasures into the Reich. After they incarcerate von Basil, they do not lay a hand on him; they only deprive him of all human interaction in order to obtain the critical information. He has no reading material, there is no radio, and even his guards do not speak to him. Every so often he is brought before his adversary to see whether von Basil will talk. Imagine his elation, when on one of these occasions, he manages to pilfer a book and hide it under his coat. Sadly, it is a book full of chess moves with hardly a written word. Reluctant at first, he engages his mind with the game and becomes so consumed with it that his mind is affected.
You do not need to know anything about the game of chess in order to understand von Basil’s obsession and his retreat into the darkness of his mind when faced with his circumstances.
The movie opens weeks later on a steamship full of expatriates fleeing the Reich. On board is the latest chess grand master, who lets himself be enticed into a game with a group of chess aficionados. Also on board is von Basil, who has escaped Austria/Germany . . .
For more information, check out our website here .
See you on Thursday,
Angelika