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It features one of Zweig's best short stories, 24 Hours In The Life Of A Woman: a tale-within-a-tale about a posh lady's tumultuous encounter with a young gambling addict in Monte Carlo. There's also a small section from Beware Of Pity. The World of Yesterday is one of the greatest memoirs of the twentieth century, as perfect in its evocation of the world Zweig loved, as it is in its portrayal of how that world was destroyed.' -- David Hare Uvek je lepo vratiti se Cvajgu, naročito kada se radi o izboru jednog od tvojih omiljenih reditelja. All I know is that I had a constant wish to die, but not the strength to hasten the end I longed for so ardently. Nakon četiri poglavlja iz memoara,dato nam je svega tridesetak stranica njegovog romana Beware of Pity/Ungeduld des Herzens, dovoljno da poželim da ga opet pročitam.
Stefan Zweig was a massive name in literature in the first half of the twentieth century although his fame seems to have missed Britain. He wrote novellas and novels, plays and biographies; and his work was adapted for stage and film both in Europe and in Hollywood. He was a star, but by the start of the 21st century his work was virtually unknown. That is until the wonderful Pushkin Press started republishing his works. Now an extensive collection of his writing is available in English. I first came across Zweig when a copy of Beware of Pity came into the shop, as a massive fan of central European literature and of anything relating to the Hapsburg empire especially I knew that I would enjoy this novel about the concept of honour in the Austrian officer class in the run up to the First World War. I was right, the novel is wonderful I urge anyone who has any interest in the period to read it. Since then I've been able to read a fair few of Zweig's other works, some of his biographies and a few of his novellas, each one has been a perfect self contained piece of writing. Beware of Pity is the most exciting book I have ever read…a feverish, fascinating novel’— Antony Beevor Stefan Zweig was one of the world's most famous writers during the 1920s and 1930s, especially in the U.S., South America, and Europe. He produced novels, plays, biographies, and journalist pieces. Among his most famous works are Beware of Pity, Letter from an Unknown Woman, and Mary, Queen of Scotland and the Isles. He and his second wife committed suicide in 1942. This book has been published to coincide with the release of the Grand Budapest Hotel unlike other film related books this maintains the simple styling of the other Zweig books published by Pushkin Press. I bought this because I loved The Grand Budapest Hotel and I'd just been to Vienna and fallen in love with the place.
Summary
The last but definitely not the list is 'Twenty-Four Hours In the Life of a Woman'. This one was definitely my favorite - it is a short story regarding a chance encounter that a women experienced years ago that haunts her to present day. I think there's only one word that's apt to describe what I thought of this short story: intoxicating. The writing and the dialogue was so mesmerizing that as I was reading, it felt like I was trapped into the story itself. Zweig studied in Austria, France, and Germany before settling in Salzburg 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. Finding only growing loneliness and disillusionment in their new surroundings, he and his second wife committed suicide. It turns out that the fictional Society of the Crossed Keys, a guild of top concierges whose deep connections in Wes Anderson‘s The Grand Budapest Hotelhelp save the life of Ralph Fiennes‘ suave Gustave H., was inspired by the Society of the Golden Keys, first started as a French-only affair in 1929 before going global in 1952. Stefan Zweig was born in 1881 in Vienna. He studied in Berlin and Vienna and between the wars was an international bestselling author. With the rise of Nazism, he left Austria, and lived in London, Bath, New York and Brazil, where in 1942 he and his wife were found dead in an apparent double death by suicide.
One of the joys of recent years is the translation into English of Stefan Zweig’s stories.’–Edmund de Waal, author of The Hare with the Amber Eyes
Customer reviews
A fascinating intro to Stefan Zweig's life and work. All the stars for Zweig's writing (especially the engrossing sample chapters from The World of Yesterday). This is actually a collection of excerpts of Stefan Zweig's works, plus an introduction about him and his writing in the form of a conversation. I enjoyed the conversation, but it made much more sense after reading the excerpts. The first excerpt is from World of Yesterday, which was a kind of autobiography and hugely interesting for the author's perspective on causes and lead-ups to WWI, which was from the point of view of the artistic community of Europe. The second was a very short excerpt from Beware of Pity which made me hugely curious to read the rest. The last was from 24 Hours in the Life of a Woman and was curious for the different perspectives and morals you can read into the old woman's story: from her own voice, from the voice of the narrator, from Zweig's voice as author, and from our own 21st century perspective as we read it. Selected extracts from Zweig’s memoir, The World of Yesterday, an unrivalled evocation of bygone Europe.
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