Born in Vienna in 1881, Stefan Zweig chose to live in Salzburg because it was both an ideal place to start his travels, and because his secluded house afforded him the peace he needed to work. The "Stefan Zweig Villa" saw many prominent guests over the years: Thomas Mann, Hugo von Hofmannsthal, Arthur Schnitzler, James Joyce, George Wells, Carl Zuckmayr, Franz Werfel and Hermann Bahr were but a handful of Zweig’s intellectual friends.
During his time in Salzburg, the pacifist author mostly wrote biographies, which were then translated into many languages (e.g. "Marie Antoinette", 1932) and biographical essays (e.g. "Three Masters", 1920) which made him world famous. In 1934 Stefan Zweig moved to London due to the political changes only subsequently returning for short visits. In 1939 he moved from London to Bath, and ultimately in 1941 to Petropolis near Rio de Janeiro. In 1942 fears for the future of his beloved drove Stefan and his wife to commit suicide.
The Zweig memorial next to the Kapuziner monastery was erected in 1983 an celebrates a great author and a passionate European.
Biography:
Stefan Zweig was born in Vienna on 28th November 1881. He published his first book of poems “Silver Strings” while he was still a student in 1901. His first storybook came in 1904 "The Love of Erika Ewald", and in 1907 his first drama, "Tersites". His "Four Stories from the Land of Children“ and "First Experience" in 1911 he was first introduced to a larger readership. Being considered unfit for military duty during the first world war he was posted to the war archives, until he was able to go to Zurich as an anti-war correspondent writing for the "New Free Press".
From 1919 to 1934 he lived in Salzburg, where he wrote most of his famous biographies, stories and essays - "Marie Antoinette", "Master Builders", "Amok". In 1934 he retreated to London. History as a Mirror of Time elucidates wide ranging essays: "Triumph and Tragedy of Erasmus of Rotterdam" and "Castellio vs Calvin or A Consciensce vs Violence " were written there in 1935 und1936 and on academic journeys to Zurich and Paris. Increasingly unsettled he first went to New York for a few months, and in August 1941 he moved to Brazil. He completed his autobiography, "The World of Yesterday", and the "Schachnovelle", Balzacs biograpy remained a fragment in 1942 as he and his wife, Lotte, took their own lives "of our own free will and sound of mind".
|
