Sean Bala reviewed The World of Yesterday by Stefan Zweig
Review of 'World of Yesterday' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
"The World of Yesterday: Memoirs of a European" by Stefan Zweig is a book that is riven with elegy. Zwieg was the world's most popular author in the 1930s but, because he was Jewish, he was driven from Austria and ended his own life in exile in Brazil in 1942 after completing this book. The Second World War had not ended, though the tide was turning. In his memoir, Zweig reflects on his own life but mourns deeply for the lost of the world he loved and in which had invested so much of his soul. The book is raw and written entirely from memory (he had lost all of his papers in exile). The world could never be the same after all of the violence and destruction that Europe had experienced. This is not to say that the book is not entertaining. Zweig brings his signature wit and observations …
"The World of Yesterday: Memoirs of a European" by Stefan Zweig is a book that is riven with elegy. Zwieg was the world's most popular author in the 1930s but, because he was Jewish, he was driven from Austria and ended his own life in exile in Brazil in 1942 after completing this book. The Second World War had not ended, though the tide was turning. In his memoir, Zweig reflects on his own life but mourns deeply for the lost of the world he loved and in which had invested so much of his soul. The book is raw and written entirely from memory (he had lost all of his papers in exile). The world could never be the same after all of the violence and destruction that Europe had experienced. This is not to say that the book is not entertaining. Zweig brings his signature wit and observations to the people and life he encountered. He was part of a flourishing pan-European literary community that had grander visions than politicians and demagogues. I really enjoyed reading this book. This particular edition gives good footnotes that explain more obscure references.
