Stefan Zweig - An appreciation
“And only he who has experienced dawn and dusk, war and peace, assent and decline, only he has truly lived”. (S. Zweig, ‘The World of Yesterday: An Autobiography', Cassell and Company Ltd., London, 1943 pp21-22). Amongst the treasure trove of Austrian literature firmly nestles Stefan Zweig, a gem of the Austrian literary tradition who has however remained on the periphery of mainstream literature in most English-speaking countries. In France, by comparison, he is heralded for his writing and the depth and scope of meaning found in his works is awarded its rightful place in history and appreciation. Zweig's art reflects his turbulent life, characterised by poignant transition and relocation. A biographer, poet, essayist and short-story writer, the Jewish Austrian intricately weaved his cosmopolitan ideals into his works with an intense fervour in the face of opponents to his beloved Europe of yesterday. Born 28 th November 1881 as the son of a wealthy Jewish textile merchant, Moritz Zweig, and Ida Zweig, daughter of an Italian banker family, in Wien, Austria, the young Zweig went on to study philosophy and earn a doctorate from Vienna University with a dissertation on the philosophy of Hippolyte Taine in 1904. Writing in a time of tumultuous social and political change, his literature is embossed with his perceptions and ideas on how the world was, ought to be and unfortunately is – disparate, isolated and lacking the universalism he so craved for Europe. The use of a richly ornate prose, without unnecessary verbosity, in his novellas, consistently delivers the reoccurring themes of passionate obsession, the nature of desire, the purpose of life and art, and the mindless corruption of Europe. Zweig's essays were first published in 1902 in the Neue Freie Presse, though he did not subscribe to the brand of Jewish Nationalism advocated by editor, Theodor Herzl. His circle of friends extended to an intellectual mix consisting of those such as Arturo Toscanini and Auguste Rodin. He travelled extensively including a five-month trip to India, Ceylon, Indo-China and Burma between 1908 and 1909 and another trip to the USA, Canada and Puerto Rico in 1911. The advent of the First World War greatly afflicted Zweig's sentiment and deeply affected his writings, which became a form of ventilation for his frustrations with a decaying world. In 1934 Zweig left his home in Salzburg and lived in exile in England after Nazi philosophies fettered his creative capacities and their advocates burnt his books. The shadow of this torment followed him long after his departure from his homeland. This prolific author saw his treasured Austria through the veneer of rose-tinted glasses. In his autobiography ‘The World of Yesterday' (published posthumously in 1943) he dedicates much attention to the description of the life that once was in a wistful and reflective rendition of the circumstances of his life. “It was sweet to live here, in this atmosphere of spiritual conciliation, and subconsciously every citizen became supernational, cosmopolitan, a citizen of the world.” (21-22) After his exile he became very much the restless traveller who found that there was indeed no place like home. Zweig's novellas have been masterfully translated into English by the Pushkin Press and provide an accessible gateway for new readers to appreciate the Zweig legacy. The novella is a short tale in prose, derived from the Italian meaning ‘a little new thing'. Buchmendel , published in 1929, tells the tale of a Galician bookseller who has memorised the bibliographical information of an infinite catalogue of books and yet fails to appreciate their meaning or literary value. Under suspicion that he is a spy Buchmendel is imprisoned and on eventual release he is left a dispirited man. Zweig catalogues the collapse of cosmopolitan civilisation through the breakdown of this man. It has also been viewed as a form of self-criticism as the writer was all too aware of his own predisposition to view art in an unrealistic way. |
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The Invisible Collection is another work that reiterates the fall of Europe and the inflexible pursuit of art without an understanding of the world beyond. Twenty-Four Hours in the Life of a Woman , set before the First World War on the French Riviera, captures the nature of obsessive intensity as a French merchant's wife elopes with another young man. Ignited by this situation an Englishwoman tells her tale of obsession in her past affair with a Polish gambler. Within only twenty-four hours the couple undergo an extreme array of emotions and Zweig shows his skilful mastery of analysis as he leads the reader to understand |
the psychological expense of such events. These characters, held under the captivity of their fervent emotion, are eventually overwhelmed but the reader is made aware that this is a natural element of the human condition. Zweig's writing implores the reader to notice the way in which the human mind can so easily fall. He elegantly invites the reader to find the substance rather than employing an obviously moralistic tale.
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Schachnovelle or The Royal Game was the last of Zweig's works written before he committed suicide alongside his second wife, Charlotte E. Altmann in Petropolis, Brazil. That fateful day on 23 rd February 1942 Zweig ended his life for fear that the ‘poisonous' wrath of Adolf Hitler and the relentless grasp of Nazism would consume the entire world. The novella, published posthumously in 1943, illustrates the nature of the human psyche, of fatal obsessions and explores the binary oppositions that divide the world he lived in. It also reflects the pattern of thought that plagued his life in the days before his suicide. He uses the game of chess as a potent symbol of the fall |
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of the ‘mind' of Europe as a direct result of those who promote a singular vision. The tale is set upon a boat sailing from New York to Buenos Aires on which a peasant world chess champion, Mirko Czentovic is a passenger. This coarse, almost illiterate man, whose ability in the game is like “a single vein of gold in a ton of dead rock”, is set up in opposition to Dr. B, an Austrian lawyer, “the true dilettante” of the game, who plays two games of chess with his arrogant adversary. Dr. B, who has suffered the torture of Hitler's regime, is a man afflicted by “chess poisoning” - a disease like any other addiction that propelled him into a state of insanity. The “to and fro” repetition of the contest forces the recovering Dr. B to bow out of the game prematurely, though he was victorious in the first game. The dichotomy of the physical versus the emotional, depicted through the two men, results in a mania that envelops Dr. B. Mirroring Zweig's own impatience at his end, Dr. B also finds himself retreating to a place of peace to guard against the poison of the game. “I salute all my friends! May it be granted them to yet see the dawn after the long night! I, all too impatient, go on before.” Kasthuri Sivanesan Stefan Zweig, Petropolis, 22.02.1942 (from The World of Yesterday: An Autobiography Cassell and Company Ltd., London, 1943 pp328-329) Titles available from Pushkin Press
Pushkin Press |