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This title in other formats:

The World of Yesterday: An Autobiography

by Stefan Zweig

The World of Yesterday: An Autobiography Cover

ISBN13: 9780803252240
ISBN10: 0803252242
Condition: Standard
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Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

Stefan Zweig (1881-1942) was a poet, novelist, and dramatist, but it was his biographies that expressed his full genius, recreating for his international audience the Elizabethan age, the French Revolution, the great days of voyages and discoveries. In this autobiography he holds the mirror up to his own age, telling the story of a generation that "was loaded down with a burden of fate as was hardly any other in the course of history." Zweig attracted to himself the best minds and loftiest souls of his era: Freud, Yeats, Borgese, Pirandello, Gorky, Ravel, Joyce, Toscanini, Jane Addams, Anatole France, and Romain Rolland are but a few of the friends he writes about.

Review:

"The autobiography of the internationally famous biographer and dramatist is a chronicle of three ages: the golden days of Vienna that ended with World War I; that war and its aftermath; and the Hitler years. The three ages do come to life in Zweig's book." Publishers Weekly

Review:

"The very success with which this book evokes both the beauty of the past and the fatality of its passing is what gives it tragic effectiveness. It is not so much a memoir of a life as it is the memento of an age, and the author seems, in his own phrase, to be the narrator at an illustrated lecture." The New Republic

Description:

Includes bibliographical references (p. 443-446) and index.
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Average customer rating based on 1 comment:
lisa_emily, October 31, 2007 (view all comments by lisa_emily)
Zweig's name is no longer recognized as a major writer now, although he was the most translated author during his heyday. He was friends with some of the most well-known names of culture and intelligentsia: Rilke, Freud, Richard Strauss, Maksim Gorky and so on. He penned a wide variety of works from biographical studies to novellas and operas. World of Yesterday, however, is his memoir, published after his suicide of 1942.
I was initially attracted to this book because of my current interest in turn-of-the-century Vienna.

However, after reading WoY, new doors of inquiry have opened in my mind. I saw Vienna in its pivotal historical moment, inhabiting a crossroads where decisions were made (not only by politicians, but also by ordinary people who chose to turn away their heads) that affected Europe's course. Zweig lived during an incredibly tumultuous time; not only was culture brimming with prospects, but ideas were spilling forth and co-mingling in literature, music, visual arts and philosophy. Zweig travelled across Europe- writing, thinking and meeting other great artists. He writes of a moment he was privileged to witness the creative fire in Rodin. He speaks fondly of his encounters with Rilke- a gentle, sensitive man. And he gives a picture of Europe before the two great wars. He expresses his disappointment of Europe's change after WWI- and the horrors which befell Vienna right before WWII.

This is an amazing read- and after reading it I became more fascinated by this man who lived through all experiences, in fact, I went a bought a few more books on him!
I also saw a connection between what happened in Vienna and what could possibly happen here in the US- it is a warning. Although this memoir greatly informs, there is a strange elusive quality to Zweig. He does not really let you in, for example, as you are reading- all of a sudden, there is a wife! Who is this wife? What is her name? How did they meet? He never tells you- nor does he tell you that this marriage ends and as he is about to leave England for Brazil, he gets married to another woman. Nor does he reveal what internal processes he undergoes, nor does he reveal some insight of why he has become the person he is. No matter- I guess one can read other biographies on Zweig to get these answers (there is one penned by his first wife, Frederika).
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Product Details

ISBN:
9780803252240
Subtitle:
An Autobiography
Other:
Zweig, Stefan
Author:
Zweig, Stefan
Publisher:
University of Nebraska Press
Location:
Lincoln Neb. ;
Subject:
General
Subject:
Literary
Subject:
Biography
Subject:
European - German
Subject:
Authors, Austrian
Subject:
Zweig, stefan, 1881-1942
Subject:
Authors, Austrian -- 20th century -- Biography.
Series Volume:
254
Publication Date:
January 1964
Binding:
Paperback
Language:
English
Pages:
455
Dimensions:
7.97x5.31x1.17 in. 1.17 lbs.
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