In this blog post, we’ll examine how passion and homosexuality intertwine between Roland and his teacher in Zweig’s short story “Confusion of Feelings,” creating emotional turmoil.
Work Analysis
“Confusion of Feelings (Verwirrung der Gefühle),” published in 1926 by the Austrian author Stefan Zweig (1881–1942), is one of the most widely recognized works in Austria. This short story is narrated in the first person from two perspectives: that of a professor of English literature who has received a commemorative collection of essays for his sixtieth birthday, and that of the professor’s naive student from his younger days. The subtitle, “The Private Memoirs of Privy Councilor R. v. D.,” reveals that the story aims to convey to the reader not the protagonist’s public life, but his private, intimate life.
The two central themes explored in this work are “passion (Leidenschaft)” and “homosexuality (Homosexualität).” Passion was a theme that preoccupied Zweig throughout his life; in his other works as well, he repeatedly used expressions such as “passion,” “ecstasy,” and “intoxication” to explore the intense emotional dynamics between people and art. In his autobiography, written in his later years, Zweig recalls how, amid the narrow-mindedness of school education at the time, many young people poured their passion into philosophy, literature, art, and collecting—subjects beyond the scope of textbooks—and describes himself as a person for whom creative passion was the center of his life. In ‘The Confusion of Feelings’, the passionate dispositions displayed by Roland and his teacher are repeatedly evident throughout the work.
The issue of homosexuality reflects the influence of psychoanalytic thought that Zweig encountered through his long correspondence and friendship with Sigmund Freud (1856–1939). Zweig perceived the era in which he lived as a “world of uncertainty” and sought to explain that uncertainty through the destructive power of the unconscious, as described by Freud. Freud believed that the unconscious and its destructive tendencies operate deeply within culture and civilization, and he specifically pointed out that unconscious homosexuality could lie at the heart of paranoia. Furthermore, he did not view homosexual tendencies as mere moral taboos or incurable diseases; instead, he saw them as problems stemming from family relationships or relationships with parents, and he even mentioned the possibility of treatment.
Based on Freud’s perspective, when Zweig addressed the issue of homosexuality in ‘Confusion of Feelings’, the work faced significant criticism from his contemporaries despite achieving both commercial and critical success. The interplay of social taboos and psychological interpretations at the time sparked controversy, and Zweig, drawing on his personal experiences and psychological insights, delicately portrayed human inner conflicts.
Roland: Passion
Roland, who later became a professor of English literature, harbored resentment toward his father—a university president—during his childhood and had no interest in studying the humanities. However, unable to defy his father’s wishes, he eventually enrolled in college, where, swept up in the atmosphere of Berlin, he neglected his studies and immersed himself in romantic relationships. Then, through a chance conversation with his father, he was able to shake off his negative image of his father and went on to study at a university in a small town.
On the day he enrolled at his new university, Roland attended a lecture by a professor and was intensely captivated.
The professor’s lecture explained a literary world imbued with human emotions such as “ecstasy (Ekstase),” “longing,” and “passionate excess,” and his tone and demeanor were brimming with sweeping passion. The professor emphasized the importance of the concepts of “passion” and “exultation” to his students, asserting that all spirit, thought, and the vitality of great figures stem directly from passion.
Moved by the professor’s passionate lecture, Roland became so engrossed that he felt as if he were under a spell, and he eagerly awaited the next lecture to the point where he could barely sleep. He interpreted this feeling as the passion of youth or respect for his mentor and threw himself into his studies. As he became deeply immersed in his academic work, even the professor’s physical contact was not immediately interpreted by Roland as having a sexual connotation.
Toward the end of the novel, Roland recognizes his mentor’s presence as a decisive turning point in his life. He confesses that, although he had a father and mother before meeting his mentor and gained a wife and children afterward, he felt no gratitude toward anyone and had become incapable of loving anyone else. This statement underscores the absolute position the mentor occupies in Roland’s identity and emotional world.
Roland’s Emotional Turmoil
The “emotional turmoil” referred to in the title of the work signifies the emotional upheaval experienced by the protagonist, Roland, but it is not the sole or absolute theme of the work. Nevertheless, Roland experiences turbulent emotions on multiple occasions, both before and after learning his mentor’s secret. Although he is deeply moved by his mentor and wants to help him, Roland constantly experiences emotional turmoil due to the mentor’s sudden and unpredictable behavior.
At times, the mentor displays deep intimacy, seemingly dispelling any awkwardness, only to confuse Roland the next moment with gestures that seem to sever the relationship—one that Roland had felt was very close—in an instant. This erratic behavior gradually takes a toll on Roland’s emotions, and though he tries to calm himself, he feels it is to no avail. As the cycle of growing closer and drifting apart repeats day after day, Roland is swept up in a severe emotional maelstrom, oscillating between excitement and numbness.
On the night the book he had been working on with his mentor was completed, the mentor visits Roland’s home and bewilders him with a strange demeanor and tone of voice. He suddenly approaches with a sinister, lecherous grin, his expression stiff as if wearing a strange mask; at times he gently places a hand on Roland’s shoulder, only to immediately utter words that force him to keep his distance. At the same time, the mentor repeatedly emphasized the distance between teacher and student, insisting that people must maintain their distance. This contradictory behavior and language left Roland with even deeper inner turmoil.
And he looked at me insidiously, as if he were a wounded man, his face filled with such hatred that he seemed ready to slap me. He was unconsciously clutching my hand. I staggered backward. Was he crazy? Was he drunk? He stood there with his fist clenched, as if he were about to lunge at me and strike me in the face.
One day, when the professor left on a trip without even telling him, Roland—confused and feeling betrayed—ended up having an affair with the professor’s wife, who felt unloved by him. At this moment, too, Roland once again experienced emotional turmoil.
Roland longed to be intoxicated by her angry confession—that he was guilty toward her and toward everyone, and that he had ignored her. This was similar to my own rejected feelings. That is how it happened. The two of us believed that what we had done—driven by a shared, confused hatred toward him—was actually done out of love. And in the end, after learning the professor’s secret, Roland experiences emotional turmoil once more when the professor gives him a farewell kiss.
As the title of the work is ‘Emotional Turmoil’, the issue of homosexuality is revealed only through hints until the middle of the story and is expressed in a subdued manner. The descriptions of the professor’s wife as “boyish” and having a “boy’s face” allude to homosexuality, and the professor himself exhibits an ambivalent appearance—featuring somewhat “feminine” traits like a “round chin” alongside “masculine” features such as his forehead and “fingers that were slightly slender, soft, and delicate for a man’s hands.”
Driven by his respect and passion for his mentor, Roland intuitively senses the mentor’s homosexual tendencies as follows. It was clear that he frequently sensed, through my gaze and my nervous hand movements, that my appearance was moving him; he seemed to recognize, albeit uncertainly, a plea for trust in the shape of my mouth, or a secret passion within my attitude toward him—a desire to internalize his suffering. He would often abruptly interrupt our conversation and gaze at me as if moved; such glances were surprisingly warm yet ambiguous. Afterward, he would frequently take my hand, holding it for a long time despite his nervousness.
Roland is described as “a tall, slender, and strikingly handsome student,” while the professor is portrayed as “a man of exceptionally high intellect for whom physical beauty was as essential as breathing.” If, from a Platonic perspective, a worthwhile life is viewed as “a life of contemplating beauty,” then Roland’s appearance represents Eros as visually observed by the professor, while his physical charm simultaneously arouses libidinal impulses in his mentor.
Yet no one responded to this tormented and anxious heart with the grace of a pure friend or a noble person. The professor had to divide his emotions between the upper and lower worlds: in the upper world was his young colleague at the university with whom he shared a spiritual connection, and in the lower world was the companion he had come to know in the darkness. Nevertheless, as morning arrived, he yearned even more intensely for the connection with the companion who had helped him come to his senses.
In Plato’s ‘Symposium’, Socrates emphasizes the importance of spiritual Eros over physical Eros. The “boy who accepts courtship” based on spiritual Eros helps one progress in wisdom and other virtues, and the boy, in turn, must harbor a desire to become wise through instruction. From this perspective, the relationship between the professor, who nurtures his beloved student, and Roland, who grows under his guidance, can be interpreted as a positive example of Platonic Eros.
Plato also states that Eros is associated with moderation, and that moderation is the control of pleasure and desire. His argument is that since pleasure is weaker than Eros, it comes under the control of Eros; therefore, Eros exercises exceptional moderation in governing pleasure.
Roland explains the professor’s self-restraint as a rational attitude demonstrated by the professor himself. The professor maintains a distance from the sexual impulses and temptations he feels and strives to remain rational. On the night he completed his work, the professor visited Roland and exclaimed, “That… is not appropriate between a student and a teacher… Do you understand? People must maintain a distance… distance… distance,” emphasizing the need for distance.
Furthermore, the professor strives not to cross moral boundaries. At the end of the work, the professor confesses his most intimate feelings and gives Roland a final farewell kiss. He “pressed him as if in longing,” and the kiss was “passionate and desperate, like a death rattle,” revealing his sexual desire and anguish. The author portrays the professor’s homosexual inclinations and the resulting suffering through the works of art seen in Roland and the professor’s workspace—contrasts such as the image of Ganymede being enjoyed and the tragic beauty of Saint Sebastian.
The professor’s wife also appears without being named, but her role in the work is clear. As a victim of her husband’s homosexual tendencies, she voices the social view that sees homosexuality as a pathological condition, stating, “He is not a man worthy of such things.” At the same time, she is the one who invites Roland—who spends all his time working in his dark study—to the lake on a sunny day, bringing him back to everyday life and reality.
Roland takes the tram to the lake with the professor’s wife, where they eat, chat, and laugh, regaining the joy of life, if only for a moment. Amid the childlike excitement of the gathering, he escapes his uncertain thoughts, races against a young woman, feels his muscles again, and experiences a sense of returning to his former carefree youth.
Several scenes in the work are linked to the author’s biographical experiences. The world of homosexuals that the professor encounters on the outskirts of the big city is based on Zweig’s own experiences while briefly studying at the University of Berlin in 1902. In his memoirs, Zweig confesses that he sat at the same table with heavily intoxicated drinkers, morphine addicts, and homosexuals, and that a special love or curiosity for the dangerous people he met there stayed with him for the rest of his life.
These experiences in Berlin evolve into the professor’s confessions in the novel about his escapades in the big city and the people and events he encountered.
‘Confusion of Feelings’ was adapted into a film in 1981 as a German-French co-production, with a runtime of approximately 1 hour and 30 minutes. The director was Etienne Périer (1931–2020), a native of Belgium.
