Zatonsky D.: Stefan Zweig, or Atypically Typical Austrian. Stefan Zweig. Explorer of the human soul Games of mind and love

S. Zweig is known as a master of biographies and short stories. He created and developed his own models of the small genre, different from generally accepted norms. The works of Zweig Stefan are real literature with elegant language, impeccable plot and images of heroes, which impresses with its dynamics and demonstration of movement human soul.

Writer's family

S. Zweig was born in Vienna on November 28, 1881 into a family of Jewish bankers. Stefan's grandfather, the father of Ida Brettauer's mother, was a Vatican banker, his father, Maurice Zweig, a millionaire, was engaged in the sale of textiles. The family was educated, the mother strictly raised her sons Alfred and Stefan. The spiritual basis of the family - theater performances, books, music. Despite numerous prohibitions, the boy valued personal freedom from childhood and achieved what he wanted.

The beginning of a creative journey

He began writing early, his first articles appeared in magazines in Vienna and Berlin in 1900. After high school, he entered the university at the Faculty of Philology, where he studied German and Romance Studies. As a freshman, he published the collection “Silver Strings.” Composers M. Reder and R. Strauss wrote music to his poems. At the same time, the young author’s first short stories were published.

In 1904 he graduated from the university, receiving a Doctor of Philosophy degree. In the same year, he published a collection of short stories “The Love of Erica Ewald” and translations of poems by E. Verhaeren, a Belgian poet. Over the next two years, Zweig travels a lot - India, Europe, Indochina, America. During the war he writes anti-war works.

Tries to experience life in all its diversity. He collects sheet music, manuscripts, and objects of great people, as if he wants to know their train of thought. At the same time, he does not shy away from the “outcasts,” the homeless, drug addicts, alcoholics, and strives to get to know their lives. He reads a lot, meets famous people - O. Rodin, R. M. Rilke, E. Verhaeren. They occupy a special place in Zweig’s life, influencing his work.

Personal life

In 1908, Stefan saw F. Winternitz, they exchanged glances, but for a long time remember this meeting. Frederica was going through a difficult period; she was close to breaking up with her husband. A few years later they met by chance and, without even talking, recognized each other. After the second chance meeting, Frederica wrote him a letter full of dignity, where the young woman expresses her delight at Zweig’s translations of “Flowers of Life.”

Before they linked their lives, they met for a long time, Frederica understood Stefan, treated him warmly and carefully. He is calm and happy with her. Separating, they exchanged letters. Zweig Stefan is sincere in his feelings, he tells his wife about his experiences and emerging depression. The couple are happy. After living a long and happy 18 years, they divorced in 1938. Stefan marries a year later to his secretary Charlotte, who is devoted to him to death both literally and figuratively.

State of mind

Doctors periodically send Zweig to rest from “overwork.” But he can’t fully relax, he is famous, he is recognized. It is difficult to judge what the doctors meant by “overwork,” physical or mental fatigue, but the doctors’ intervention was necessary. Zweig traveled a lot, Frederica had two children from her first marriage, and she could not always accompany her husband.

The life of a writer is filled with meetings and travel. The 50th anniversary is approaching. Zweig Stefan feels discomfort, even fear. He writes to his friend V. Flyasher that he is not afraid of anything, not even death, but illness and old age frighten him. He recalls the mental crisis of L. Tolstoy: “The wife has become alien, the children are indifferent.” It is not known whether Zweig had real reasons for alarm, but in his mind they were.

Emigration

Things are heating up in Europe. Unknown people searched Zweig's house. The writer went to London, his wife remained in Salzburg. Perhaps because of the children, perhaps she was left to solve some problems. But judging by the letters, the relationship between them seemed warm. The writer became a British citizen, wrote tirelessly, but was sad: Hitler was gaining strength, everything was collapsing, genocide was looming. In May, the writer’s books were publicly burned at the stake in Vienna.

Against the backdrop of the political situation, a personal drama also developed. The writer was frightened by his age, he was full of worries about the future. In addition, emigration also had an impact. Despite seemingly favorable circumstances, it requires a lot of mental effort from a person. Stefan Zweig was enthusiastically greeted and treated kindly in England, America, and Brazil, and his books were sold out. But I didn’t want to write. In the midst of all these difficulties, a tragedy occurred in the divorce from Frederica.

The last letters reveal a deep mental crisis: “The news from Europe is terrible,” “I won’t see my home again,” “I’ll be a temporary guest everywhere,” “all that remains is to leave with dignity, quietly.” On February 22, 1942, he passed away after taking a large dose of sleeping pills. Charlotte passed away with him.

Ahead of time

Zweig often created fascinating biographies at the intersection of art and document. He did not formulate them into something entirely artistic, nor into documentary, nor into true romances. Zweig's determining factor in composing them was not only his own literary taste, but also general idea, arising from his view of history. The writer's heroes were people who were ahead of their time, who stood above the crowd and opposed it. From 1920 to 1928, the three-volume book “Builders of the World” was published.

The first volume, “Three Masters,” about Dickens, Balzac and Dostoevsky, was published in 1920. Such different writers in one book? The best explanation there will be a quote from Stefan Zweig: the book shows them “as types of world depictors who created in their novels a second reality along with the existing one.”
The author dedicated the second book, “The Fight against Madness,” to Kleist, Nietzsche, and Hölderlin (1925). Three geniuses, three destinies. Each of them was driven by some supernatural force into a cyclone of passion. Under the influence of their demon, they experienced duality, when chaos pulls forward, and the soul pulls back, towards humanity. They end their journey in madness or suicide.
In 1928 it saw the light last volume“Three Singers of Their Lives,” which tells the story of Tolstoy, Stendhal and Casanova. It is no coincidence that the author combined these disparate names in one book. Each of them, no matter what they wrote, filled the works with their own “I”. Therefore, the names of the greatest master of French prose, Stendhal, the seeker and creator of the moral ideal, Tolstoy, and the brilliant adventurer Casanova, stand side by side in this book.

Human destinies

Zweig's dramas "The Comedian", "City by the Sea", "The Legend of a Life" did not bring stage success. But his historical novels and stories gained worldwide fame; they were translated into many languages and republished several times. Stefan Zweig's stories tactfully and yet frankly describe the most intimate human experiences. Zweig's short stories are fascinating in plot, full of tension and intensity.

The writer tirelessly convinces the reader that the human heart is defenseless, how incomprehensible human destinies are and what crimes or accomplishments passion pushes. These include unique, stylized medieval legends, psychological short stories “Street in moonlight", "Letter from a Stranger", "Fear", "First Experience". In “Twenty-four hours in the life of a woman,” the author describes the passion for profit, which can kill every living thing in a person.

During these same years, collections of short stories “Stars of Humanity” (1927), “Confusion of Feelings” (1927), and “Amok” (1922) were published. In 1934, Zweig was forced to emigrate. He lived in the UK, USA, the writer's choice fell on Brazil. Here the writer publishes a collection of essays and speeches, Meeting People (1937), a poignant novel about unrequited love“Impatience of the Heart” (1939) and “Magellan” (1938), memoirs “Yesterday’s World” (1944).

History book

Separately, it is necessary to say about Zweig’s works, in which the heroes were historical figures. In this case, it was alien to the writer to speculate on any facts. He masterfully worked with documents; in any evidence, letter, or memory, he looked for, first of all, a psychological background.

The book “The Triumph and Tragedy of Erasmus of Rotterdam” includes essays and novels dedicated to scientists, travelers, thinkers Z. Freud, E. Rotterdam, A. Vespucci, Magellan.
“Mary Stuart” by Stefan Zweig is the best biography of the tragically beautiful and eventful life of the Scottish queen. To this day it is full of unsolved mysteries.
In "Marie Antoinette" the author talked about tragic fate queen, executed by decision of the Revolutionary Tribunal. This is one of the most truthful and thoughtful novels. Marie Antoinette was pampered by the attention and admiration of the courtiers; her life was a series of pleasures. She had no idea that beyond opera house there is a world mired in hatred and poverty, which threw her under the knife of the guillotine.

As readers write in their reviews of Stefan Zweig, all of his works are incomparable. Each has its own shade, taste, life. Even read and re-read biographies are like an epiphany, like a revelation. You read as if about a completely different person. There is something fantastic in the writing style of this writer - you feel the power of the word over you and drown in its all-consuming power. You understand that his work is fiction, but you clearly see the hero, his feelings and thoughts.

Stefan Zweig is an Austrian writer who became famous mainly as the author of short stories and fictional biographies; literary critic. He was born in Vienna on November 28, 1881 in the family of a Jewish manufacturer, the owner of a textile factory. Zweig did not talk about his childhood and adolescence, speaking about the typicality of this period of life for representatives of his environment.

Having received his education at the gymnasium, Stefan became a student at the University of Vienna in 1900, where he Faculty of Philology studies German and Romance studies in depth. While still a student, his debut poetry collection “Silver Strings” was published. The aspiring writer sent his book to Rilke, under the influence of whose creative style it was written, and the consequence of this act was their friendship, interrupted only by the death of the second. During these same years, literary critical activity also began: Berlin and Vienna magazines published articles by the young Zweig. After graduating from university and receiving his doctorate in 1904, Zweig published a collection of short stories, “The Love of Erica Ewald,” as well as poetic translations.

1905-1906 open a period of active travel in Zweig’s life. Starting from Paris and London, he subsequently traveled to Spain, Italy, then his travels went beyond the continent, he visited Northern and South America, India, Indochina. During the First World War, Zweig was an employee of the archives of the Ministry of Defense, had access to documents and, not without the influence of his good friend R. Rolland, turned into a pacifist, wrote articles, plays, and short stories of an anti-war orientation. He called Rolland himself “the conscience of Europe.” During these same years, he created a number of essays, the main characters of which were M. Proust, T. Mann, M. Gorky and others. Throughout 1917-1918. Zweig lived in Switzerland, and in post-war years Salzburg became his place of residence.

In the 20-30s. Zweig continues to write actively. During 1920-1928. biographies are coming out famous people, united under the title “Builders of the World” (Balzac, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Nietzsche, Stendhal, etc.). At the same time, S. Zweig worked on short stories, and works of this particular genre turned him into a popular writer not only in his country and on the continent, but throughout the world. His short stories were built according to his own model, which distinguished Zweig's creative style from other works of this genre. Biographical works also enjoyed considerable success. This was especially true of “The Triumph and Tragedy of Erasmus of Rotterdam” written in 1934 and “Mary Stuart” published in 1935. The writer tried his hand at the novel genre only twice, because he understood that his calling was short stories, and attempts to write a large-scale canvas turned into failure. Only “Impatience of the Heart” and the unfinished “Frenzy of Transfiguration” came out of his pen, which was published four decades after the author’s death.

The last period of Zweig’s life was associated with a constant change of residence. Being a Jew, he could not remain living in Austria after the Nazis came to power. In 1935, the writer moved to London, but did not feel completely safe in the capital of Great Britain, so he left the continent and in 1940 found himself in Latin America. In 1941, he temporarily moved to the United States, but then returned to Brazil, where he settled in a not very big city Petropolis.

Literary activity continues, Zweig publishes literary criticism, essay, collection of speeches, memoirs, works of art, however state of mind very far from calm. In his imagination, he painted a picture of the victory of Hitler’s troops and the death of Europe, and this led the writer to despair, he plunged into severe depression. Being in another part of the world, he did not have the opportunity to communicate with friends, he experienced acute feeling loneliness, although he lived in Petropolis with his wife. On February 23, 1942, Zweig and his wife took a huge dose of sleeping pills and voluntarily died.

1881

1905 1906 1912 1917 -1918

1901

1922 1927 1941

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Stefan Zweig was born on November 28 1881 years in Vienna in the family of a wealthy Jewish merchant who owned a textile factory. In his memoirs “The World of Yesterday,” Zweig talks sparingly about his childhood and adolescence. When it comes to parental home, gymnasium, and then university, the writer deliberately does not give vent to his feelings, emphasizing that at the beginning of his life everything was exactly the same as for other European intellectuals of the turn of the century.

After graduating from the University of Vienna, Zweig went to London, Paris ( 1905 ), travels around Italy and Spain ( 1906 ), visits India, Indochina, USA, Cuba, Panama ( 1912 ). Recent years World War I, Zweig lived in Switzerland ( 1917 -1918 ), and after the war he settled near Salzburg.

While traveling, Zweig satisfied his curiosity with rare zeal and persistence. The feeling of his own talent prompts him to write poetry, and his parents’ solid fortune allows him to publish his first book without difficulty. This is how “Silver Strings” (Silberne Seiten, 1901 ), published at the author's own expense. Zweig risked sending the first collection of poems to his idol - the great Austrian poet Rainer Maria Rilke. He sent his book in response. Thus began a friendship that lasted until Rilke’s death.

Zweig was friends with such outstanding cultural figures as E. Verhaeren, R. Rolland, F. Maserel, O. Rodin, T. Mann, Z. Freud, D. Joyce, G. Hesse, G. Wells, P. Valery.

Zweig fell in love with Russian literature during his high school years, and then carefully read Russian classics during his studies at the Universities of Vienna and Berlin. When in the late 20s. Zweig's collected works began to be published in our country; he, by his own admission, was happy. The preface to this twelve-volume edition of Zweig’s works was written by A. M. Gorky. “Stephan Zweig,” Gorky emphasized, “is a rare and happy combination of the talent of a deep thinker with the talent of a first-class artist.” Gorky especially highly appreciated Zweig’s skill as a novelist, his amazing ability to openly and at the same time most tactfully talk about a person’s most intimate experiences.

Zweig's short stories - "Amok" (Amok, 1922 ), "Confusion of feelings" (Verwirrung der Gefuhle, 1927 ), "Chess novel" (Schachnovelle, 1941 ) - made the author's name popular all over the world. The short stories amaze you with their drama, captivate you with unusual plots and make you reflect on the vicissitudes human destinies. Zweig never tires of convincing how defenseless the human heart is, what feats, and sometimes crimes, passion pushes a person to.

Zweig created and developed in detail his own model of the novella, different from the works of generally recognized masters short genre. The events of most of his stories take place during travels, sometimes exciting, sometimes tiring, and sometimes truly dangerous. Everything that happens to the heroes lies in wait for them along the way, during short stops or short breaks from the road. Dramas play out in a matter of hours, but these are always the main moments of life, when personality is tested and the ability to self-sacrifice is tested. The core of each Zweig story is a monologue that the hero utters in a state of passion.

Zweig's short stories are a kind of summary of novels. But when he tried to develop a separate event into a spatial narrative, his novels turned into drawn-out, wordy short stories. Therefore, novels from modern life Zweig generally did not succeed. He understood this and rarely turned to the novel genre. This is "Impatience of the Heart" (Ungeduld des Herzens, 1938 ) and “The Frenzy of Transfiguration” (Rauch der Verwandlung), published in German for the first time forty years after the death of the author, in 1982 (in Russian translation “Christina Hoflener”, 1985 ).

Zweig often wrote at the intersection of document and art, creating fascinating biographies of Magellan, Mary Stuart, Erasmus of Rotterdam, Joseph Fouché, Balzac ( 1940 ).

IN historical novels it is customary to speculate historical fact the power of creative imagination. Where documents were lacking, the artist’s imagination began to work. Zweig, on the contrary, always masterfully worked with documents, discovering a psychological background in any letter or memoir of an eyewitness.

The mysterious personality and fate of Mary Stuart, Queen of France, England and Scotland, will always excite the imagination of descendants. The author designated the genre of the book “Maria Stuart” (Maria Stuart, 1935 ) as a novelized biography. Scottish and English queen have never seen each other. That's what Elizabeth wished. But between them, for a quarter of a century, there was intense correspondence, outwardly correct, but full of hidden jabs and caustic insults. The letters form the basis of the book. Zweig also used the testimony of friends and enemies of both queens to render an impartial verdict on both.

Having completed the life story of the beheaded queen, Zweig indulges in final thoughts: “Morals and politics have their own different paths. Events are assessed differently depending on whether we judge them from the point of view of humanity or from the point of view of political advantages.” For the writer in the early 30s. the conflict between morality and politics is no longer speculative, but quite tangible in nature, affecting him personally.

The hero of the book “Triumph und Tragik des Erasmus von Rotterdam” (Triumph und Tragik des Erasmus von Rotterdam, 1935 ) is especially close to Zweig. He was impressed that Erasmus considered himself a citizen of the world. Erasmus refused the most prestigious positions in the church and secular fields. Alien to vain passions and vanity, he used all his efforts to achieve independence. With his books, he conquered the era, because he was able to say a clarifying word on all the painful problems of his time.

Erasmus condemned fanatics and scholastics, bribe-takers and ignoramuses. But he especially hated those who incited discord between people. However, as a result of monstrous religious discord, Germany, and after it the whole of Europe, were stained with blood.

According to Zweig's concept, the tragedy of Erasmus is that he failed to prevent these massacres. Zweig believed for a long time that the first world war- a tragic misunderstanding that it will remain the last war in the world. He believed that, together with Romain Rolland and Henri Barbusse, together with German anti-fascist writers, he would be able to prevent a new world massacre. But in those days when he was working on a book about Erasmus, the Nazis raided his house. This was the first alarm.

In the 20-30s. Many Western writers are becoming increasingly interested in the USSR. They saw in our country the only real force that could resist fascism. Zweig came to the USSR in 1928 for the celebrations on the occasion of the centenary of the birth of Leo Tolstoy. Zweig was very skeptical about the vigorous bureaucratic activity of the leadership of the Soviet republics. In general, his attitude towards the Land of the Soviets could then be characterized as benevolently critical curiosity. But over the years, goodwill waned and skepticism grew. Zweig could not understand and accept the deification of the leader, and the falsity of the staged political trials did not mislead him. He categorically did not accept the idea of the dictatorship of the proletariat, which legitimized any acts of violence and terror.

Zweig's position at the end of the 30s. it was between the hammer and sickle, on the one hand, and the swastika, on the other. That is why his final memoir book is so elegiac: the world of yesterday disappeared, and in the present world he felt like a stranger everywhere. His last years were years of wandering. He flees Salzburg, choosing London as his temporary residence ( 1935 ). But even in England he did not feel protected. He went to Latin America ( 1940 ), then moved to the USA ( 1941 ), but soon decided to settle in the small Brazilian city of Petropolis, located high in the mountains.

February 22 1942 Mr. Zweig passed away with his wife, having taken a large dose of sleeping pills. Erich Maria Remarque wrote about this tragic episode in the novel “Shadows in Paradise”: “If that evening in Brazil, when Stefan Zweig and his wife committed suicide, they could have poured out their souls to someone, at least over the phone, their misfortunes , perhaps, would not have happened. But Zweig found himself in a foreign land among strangers.”

But this is not simply the result of despair. Zweig left this world, categorically not accepting it.

Having received his education at the gymnasium, Stefan in 1900 became a student at the University of Vienna, where he studied German studies and novels in depth at the Faculty of Philology. While still a student, his debut poetry collection “Silver Strings” was published. The aspiring writer sent his book to Rilke, under the influence of whose creative style it was written, and the consequence of this act was their friendship, interrupted only by the death of the second. During these same years, literary critical activity also began: Berlin and Vienna magazines published articles by the young Zweig. After graduating from university and receiving his doctorate in 1904, Zweig published a collection of short stories, “The Love of Erica Ewald,” as well as poetic translations.

1905-1906 open a period of active travel in Zweig’s life. Starting from Paris and London, he subsequently traveled to Spain, Italy, then his travels went beyond the continent, he visited North and South America, India, and Indochina. During the First World War, Zweig was an employee of the archives of the Ministry of Defense, had access to documents and, not without the influence of his good friend R. Rolland, turned into a pacifist, wrote articles, plays, and short stories of an anti-war orientation. He called Rolland himself “the conscience of Europe.” During these same years, he created a number of essays, the main characters of which were M. Proust, T. Mann, M. Gorky and others. Throughout 1917-1918. Zweig lived in Switzerland, and in the post-war years Salzburg became his place of residence.

In the 20-30s. Zweig continues to write actively. During 1920-1928. biographies of famous people are published, united under the title “Builders of the World” (Balzac, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Nietzsche, Stendhal, etc.). At the same time, S. Zweig worked on short stories, and works of this particular genre turned him into a popular writer not only in his country and on the continent, but throughout the world. His short stories were built according to his own model, which distinguished Zweig's creative style from other works of this genre. Biographical works also enjoyed considerable success. This was especially true of “The Triumph and Tragedy of Erasmus of Rotterdam” written in 1934 and “Mary Stuart” published in 1935. The writer tried his hand at the novel genre only twice, because he understood that his calling was short stories, and attempts to write a large-scale canvas turned into failure. Only “Impatience of the Heart” and the unfinished “Frenzy of Transfiguration” came out of his pen, which was published four decades after the author’s death.

Literary activity continues, Zweig publishes literary criticism, essays, a collection of speeches, memoirs, works of art, but his state of mind is very far from calm. In his imagination, he painted a picture of the victory of Hitler’s troops and the death of Europe, and this led the writer to despair, he plunged into severe depression. Being in another part of the world, he did not have the opportunity to communicate with friends, and experienced an acute feeling of loneliness, although he lived in Petropolis with his wife. On February 22, 1942, Zweig and his wife took a huge dose of sleeping pills and voluntarily died.

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Biographical information

Creation

In 1910, Zweig wrote three volumes of the work “Werhaern” (a biography and translations of his dramas and poetry). Zweig considered Verhaeren's translations, as well as those of C. Baudelaire, P. Verlaine, and A. Rimbaud, to be his contribution to the spiritual community of European peoples that was dear to him.

In 1907, Zweig wrote a tragedy in verse, Thersites, which takes place near the walls of Troy; The idea of the play is a call for compassion for the humiliated and lonely. The premiere took place simultaneously in Dresden and Kassel.

In 1909, Zweig began writing a book about O. de Balzac, which he worked on for about 30 years. The book was never finished (published in 1946, after Zweig's death).

In 1917, Zweig published the anti-war drama Jeremiah based on the book of the prophet Jeremiah. The pathos of the play is renunciation of violence. Jeremiah predicts the fall of Jerusalem and calls for submission to Nebuchadnezzar, for “there is nothing more important than peace.”

Castigating vices, Jeremiah sees a way out in moral improvement. Precisely following the events set out in the Bible, Zweig makes one digression that reflects his position: in the book, the blinded king of Judah, Tzidkiah, is taken captive in chains; in Zweig’s drama, he is solemnly carried into Babylon on a stretcher. “Jeremiah,” the first anti-war play on the European stage, was staged in 1918 in Zurich, and in 1919 in Vienna.

The legend “The Third Dove” (1934) expresses in symbolic form the pacifist denial of war and the idea of the impossibility of achieving peace: the third dove sent by Noah in search of dry land does not return, it forever circles above the earth in vain attempts to find a place where peace reigns.

Jewish theme

The Jewish motif is present in Zweig’s anti-war short story “Mendel the Bookseller” (1929). A quiet Jew from Galicia, Jacob Mendel, is obsessed with books. Its services are used by book lovers, including university professors.

Mendel is not interested in money; he does not know what is happening behind the walls of the Viennese cafe where his desk is located. During the war, he is arrested and accused of espionage after discovering that he sent a postcard to a bookstore owner in Paris.

Mendel is kept in a camp for two years and returns a broken man. “Mendel the Bookseller” is Zweig’s only story in which the Jewish hero is a contemporary of the writer.

The theme of Jewry occupies Zweig's philosophical aspect; he addresses her in the legend “Rachel Grumbles against God” (1930) and the story “The Buried Lamp” dedicated to Sh. Ashu (1937; Russian translation - Jer., 1989).

The third - “Three poets of their lives” (1927) - G. Casanova, Stendhal, L. Tolstoy. Zweig believes that their works are an expression of their own personality.

For many years, Zweig painted historical miniatures “Humanity's Finest Hours” (1927, expanded edition - 1943).

The book “Meetings with People, Books, Cities” (1937) contains essays about writers, meetings with A. Toscanini, B. Walter, an analysis of the works of I. V. Goethe, B. Shaw, T. Mann and many others.

Posthumous edition

Zweig considered Europe his spiritual homeland; his autobiographical book “Yesterday's World” (1941; published 1944) is filled with longing for Vienna, the center cultural life Europe.

Notification: The preliminary basis for this article was the article