The biographer, storyteller, and human portrayer Stefan Zweig wrote only one novel. In it, he addresses the theme of compassion, whose false form brings the young lieutenant Anton Hofmiller into conflict. Edith von Kekesfalva, a seventeen-year-old paralyzed girl, falls in love with him, although he cannot reciprocate her feelings. However, her affection flatters him. The girl's doctor, who realizes that only "the weak and sentimental compassion, which is really just impatience of the heart," moves the lieutenant, now demands from him the "other, the only one that matters - the creative compassion, which knows what it wants and is determined to endure everything to the very end." Anton Hofmiller believes he meets the formal and external requirements of engagement, but is incapable of truly taking even a single step towards Edith.