The World of Yesterday: Memories of a European

Summary

The World of Yesterday (in German, Die Welt von Gestern) is the memoir of Austrian-Jewish author Stefan Zweig, and many consider it to be his most important work. Written as both a recollection of the past and a warning for future generations, The World of Yesterday recalls the golden age of literary Vienna—its seeming permanence, its promise, and its devastating fall.

Zweig describes the brilliance of prewar Europe and follows it through the trauma of World War I and the desolation of World War II.

Surrounded by the leading literary lights of the epoch, Zweig draws on a vivid and intimate account of his life and travels through Vienna, Paris, Berlin, and London, touching on the very heart of European culture. His passionate, evocative prose paints a stunning portrait of an era that danced brilliantly on the edge of extinction.

He completed The World of Yesterday shortly before his suicide in 1942.

About the Author

Stefan Zweig, (born November 28, 1881, Vienna, Austro-Hungarian Empire —found dead February 23, 1942, Petrópolis, near Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), Austrian writer who achieved distinction in several genres—poetry, essays, short stories, and dramas—most notably in his interpretations of imaginary and historical characters.

Zweig was raised in Vienna. His first book, a volume of poetry, was published in 1901. He received a doctorate from the University of Vienna in 1904 and traveled widely in Europe before settling in Salzburg, Austria, in 1913. In 1934, driven into exile by the Nazis, he emigrated to England and then, in 1940, to Brazil by way of New York.

Zweig’s interest in psychology and the teachings of Sigmund Freud led to his most characteristic work, the subtle portrayal of character. Zweig’s essays include studies of Honoré de Balzac, Charles Dickens, and Fyodor Dostoyevsky (Drei Meister, 1920; Three Masters) and of Friedrich Hölderlin, Heinrich von Kleist, and Friedrich Nietzsche (Der Kampf mit dem Dämon, 1925; Master Builders). He achieved popularity with Sternstunden der Menschheit (1928; The Tide of Fortune), five historical portraits in miniature. He wrote full-scale, intuitive rather than objective, biographies of the French statesman Joseph Fouché (1929), Mary Stuart (1935), and others. His stories include those in Verwirrung der Gefühle (1925; Conflicts). He also wrote a psychological novel, Ungeduld des Herzens (1938; Beware of Pity), and translated works of Charles Baudelaire, Paul Verlaine, and Émile Verhaeren.

Publication information

University of Nebraska Press. English. ISBN-10: 0803226616, ISBN-13: 978-0803226616.

Length

472 pages