In the Future of Yesterday
A Life of Stefan Zweig
Published on 9. October 2025
Book
Paperback/Softback
480 pages
978-1-914979-34-7 (ISBN)
Description
In the Future of Yesterday offers a refreshing approach to the life and work of Austrian writer Stefan Zweig, delving into his considerable contribution to world literature, rooted in the Austro-Jewish tradition.
A world traveller from the outset, Zweig liked to uproot himself - but whether he stayed in London, New York, or eventually Brazil, his literary baggage continued to contain the flair of fin de sie?cle Vienna.
Looking anew at Zweig's influential time in England and offering fresh insights into his final years in the United States and Brazil, Go?rner discusses Zweig's prolific literary output in relation to his life and treats his political views on Europe, Zionism, and the world order with great depth and scrutiny.
Most importantly, In the Future of Yesterday shows Zweig as a towering figure of a form of writing that was bursting with life and was written in the knowledge that there can only be a future if we remain conscious of the past.
A world traveller from the outset, Zweig liked to uproot himself - but whether he stayed in London, New York, or eventually Brazil, his literary baggage continued to contain the flair of fin de sie?cle Vienna.
Looking anew at Zweig's influential time in England and offering fresh insights into his final years in the United States and Brazil, Go?rner discusses Zweig's prolific literary output in relation to his life and treats his political views on Europe, Zionism, and the world order with great depth and scrutiny.
Most importantly, In the Future of Yesterday shows Zweig as a towering figure of a form of writing that was bursting with life and was written in the knowledge that there can only be a future if we remain conscious of the past.
Reviews / Votes
'Ruediger Goerner's In the Future of Yesterday: A Life of Stefan Zweig is an elegant and compassionate look at the contrasts, aspirations and disasters of its subject's age. ' -- The Wall Street Journal 'In the Future of Yesterday provides a delightful appreciation of his life and work.' -- Times Literary SupplementMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Product notice
Paperback (UK-B)
Illustrations
20 b&w Illustrations
Dimensions
Height: 128 mm
Width: 197 mm
Thickness: 39 mm
Weight
436 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-914979-34-7 (9781914979347)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Ruediger Goerner was professor of German with comparative literature at Queen Mary University of London. The founder of the Ingeborg Bachmann Centre for Austrian Literature and the founding director of the Centre for Anglo-German Cultural Relations, his books include biographies of Rainer Maria Rilke, Georg Trakl, and Oskar Kokoschka.
Content
Contents
Preliminaries, or How to Approach Stefan Zweig:
A Writer from the Past for Our Time 1
Portrait of a Writer as a Young Man, or Early (Poetic)
Orientations in Vienna and Elsewhere 17
The Virtue of Restlessness 39
Early Days for Fiction 63
Keeping Up with 'Life' 81
Jeremiah in the First World War 99
Tracing Demons, or How to Approach Greatness 125
Towards European Transnationalism 159
The Torch of Eros, or The Confusion of a Reluctant Modernist 177
Political Ridge Walks 193
Life Amidst Crises: Stefan Zweig at and around Fifty 205
The Uprooting of an Austrian, or Fascist Trauma and Early Exile 219
How to Become an Alien and Experiencing England 233
Autographs, Collections, and Other Approaches to
World Literature 253
Zweig, the Transatlantic Explorer 265
Pity about Pity 285
Clarissa, Montaigne, Balzac: A Fragmentary Trio 297
Austria in Brazil: Arriving at the Final Address 313
Chess with Time, or Yesterday's Checkmate 331
Notes on Zweig's Legacy 341
Words of Thanks 357
Notes 359
Bibliography 381
Preliminaries, or How to Approach Stefan Zweig:
A Writer from the Past for Our Time 1
Portrait of a Writer as a Young Man, or Early (Poetic)
Orientations in Vienna and Elsewhere 17
The Virtue of Restlessness 39
Early Days for Fiction 63
Keeping Up with 'Life' 81
Jeremiah in the First World War 99
Tracing Demons, or How to Approach Greatness 125
Towards European Transnationalism 159
The Torch of Eros, or The Confusion of a Reluctant Modernist 177
Political Ridge Walks 193
Life Amidst Crises: Stefan Zweig at and around Fifty 205
The Uprooting of an Austrian, or Fascist Trauma and Early Exile 219
How to Become an Alien and Experiencing England 233
Autographs, Collections, and Other Approaches to
World Literature 253
Zweig, the Transatlantic Explorer 265
Pity about Pity 285
Clarissa, Montaigne, Balzac: A Fragmentary Trio 297
Austria in Brazil: Arriving at the Final Address 313
Chess with Time, or Yesterday's Checkmate 331
Notes on Zweig's Legacy 341
Words of Thanks 357
Notes 359
Bibliography 381