Stefan Zweig

Stefan Zweig
Born	(1881-11-28)November 28, 1881 Vienna, Austria-Hungary
Died	February 22, 1942(1942-02-22) (aged 60) Petrópolis, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Occupation(s)	Novelist, playwright, journalist and biographer
Spouse(s)	Friderike Maria von Winternitz (born Burger) (1920–1938; divorced) Lotte Altmann (1939–1942; his death)
Parent(s)	Moritz Zweig (1845–1926) Ida Brettauer (1854–1938)
Relatives	Alfred Zweig (1879–1977) (brother)
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Stefan Zweig (German: [tsvaɪk]; November 28, 1881 – February 22, 1942) was an Austrian writer of Jewish descent. He was born in Vienna. He volunteered to be a soldier in the First World War, and got the post as a military commentator. This made him an enemy of war. The Nazis gained power in Germany in 1933, and their influence could be felt in Austria as well. 1934, Stefan Zweig emigrated, first to London, then to South America. That way he lost much of his audience. He committed suicide (together with his second wife) by barbiturate overdose in Petropolis, Rio de Janeiro in 1942.

He has written many books and poems. One of his best-known works is called 'Schachnovelle (The Royal Game, in English. In it, he describes a Chess player, that is forced to play against himself (while imprisoned). He explores the theme of madness. This book inspired the movie Geri's Game, made by Pixar in 1997.

Further reading

• Elizabeth Allday, Stefan Zweig: A Critical Biography, J. Philip O'Hara, Inc., Chicago, 1972
• Darién J. Davis; Oliver Marshall, eds. (2010). Stefan and Lotte Zweig's South American Letters: New York, Argentina and Brazil, 1940-42. New York: Continuum. ISBN 978-1441107121.
• Alberto Dines, Morte no Paraíso, a Tragédia de Stefan Zweig, Editora Nova Fronteira 1981, (rev. ed.) Editora Rocco 2004
• Alberto Dines, Tod im Paradies. Die Tragödie des Stefan Zweig, Edition Büchergilde, 2006
• Randolph J. Klawiter, Stefan Zweig. An International Bibliography, Ariadne Press, Riverside, 1991
• Donald A. Prater, European of Yesterday: A Biography of Stefan Zweig, Holes and Meier Publ., (rev. ed.) 2003
• George Prochnik, The Impossible Exile: Stefan Zweig at the End of the World, Random House, 2014, ISBN 978-1590516126
• Marion Sonnenfeld (editor), The World of Yesterday's Humanist Today. Proceedings of the Stafan Zweig Symposium, texts by Alberto Dines, Randolph J. Klawiter, Leo Spitzer and Harry Zohn, State University of New York Press, 1983
• Friderike Zweig, Stefan Zweig, Thomas Y. Crowell Co., 1946 (An account of his life by his first wife)
• Martin Mauthner, German Writers in French Exile, 1933-1940, Vallentine Mitchell, London 2007, ISBN 978-0-85303-540-4

Other websites

• Zweig Music Collection at the British Library Archived 2011-10-11 at the Wayback Machine
• Stefan Zweig Collection at the Daniel A. Reed Library, State University of New York at Fredonia, Fredonia, NY Archived 2014-04-02 at the Wayback Machine
• Stefan Zweig Centre Salzburg Archived 2014-07-14 at the Wayback Machine
• Beware of Pity, review by Joan Acocella in The New York Review of Books, July 13, 2006
• Stefan Zweig at Project Gutenberg
• Zweig's foreword to The World of Yesterday