Journey Into The Past - Softcover

Stefan Zweig

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1906548099 ISBN 13: 9781906548094

Publisher: Pushkin Press, 2009

Synopsis

After nine years of separation from his native country because of the First World War, Louis finally sets foot in Austria and meets the woman he had been in love with and who had promised to wait for him. Previously divided by class and wealth, both are now married and much changed by their recent experiences, and they must find out whether their love could survive the hardships, betrayals and the lapse of time. A poignant examination of the angst of nostalgia and the fragility of love, Zweig's long-lost final novella - recently rediscovered in manuscript form - simultaneously portrays the loss of innocence of a country about to succumb to the evils of fascism.

About this title

About the Author

Stefan Zweig was born in 1881 in Vienna, into a wealthy Austrian-Jewish family. He studied in Berlin and Vienna and was first known as a poet and translator, then as a biographer. Between the wars, Zweig was an international bestseller with a string of hugely popular novellas including Letter from an Unknown Woman, Amok and Fear. In 1934, with the rise of Nazism, he left Austria, and lived in London, Bath and New York-a period during which he produced his most celebrated works: his only novel, Beware of Pity, and his memoir, The World of Yesterday. He eventually settled in Brazil, where in 1942 he and his wife were found dead in an apparent double suicide. Much of his work is available from Pushkin Press.

Review

"A brilliant Austrian writer whose work brings to mind that of his compatriot Joseph Roth...a treat of prewar European literature" —Sylvia Brownrigg, The New York Times

“The latest novella available to English-speaking readers, Journey Into the Past—found among Zweig’s papers after his death and now published by New York Review Books Classics in a masterly translation by Anthea Bell and with an introduction by André Aciman...” —Words Without Borders 

"Journey into the Past is vintage Stefan Zweig—lucid, tender, powerful and compelling.” —Chris Schuler, The Independent

“The art is in the telling...a powerful love story...Excellent Foreword by writer Paul Bailey” —David Herman, The Jewish Chronicle

"One hardly knows where to begin in praising Zweig’s work. One gets the impression that he actively preferred to write about women, and about the great moral crises that send shivers down the spines of polite society" —Nicholas Lezard, The Guardian

"My advice is that you should go out at once and buy his books" —Anthony Daniels, The Sunday Telegraph

“a brilliant writer." —The New York Times

"Admired by readers as diverse as Freud, Einstein, Toscanini, Thomas Mann and Herman Goering." —The New York Times

"A remarkable tour de force...this is a masterclass in the language of beautiful storytelling." —Paul Blezard, The Lady

"Zweig belongs with three very different masters who each perfected the challenging art of the short story and the novella: Maupassant, Turgenev and Chekhov" —Paul Bailey

Edition details

• Publisher: Pushkin Press
• Publication date: 2009
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1906548099
• ISBN 13: 9781906548094
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 144