Stefan Zweig (1881–1942), novelist, biographer, poet, and translator, was born in Vienna into a wealthy Austrian Jewish family. During the 1930s, he was one of the best-selling writers in Europe, and was among the most translated German-language writers before the Second World War. With the rise of Nazism, he moved from Salzburg to London (taking British citizenship), to New York, and finally to Brazil, where he committed suicide with his wife. New York Review Books has published Zweig’s novels The Post-Office Girl and Beware of Pity as well as the novella Chess Story.
Books
Confusion
“Confusion is one of [Zweig’s] finest and most exemplary works…a perfect reminder of, or introduction to, Zweig’s economy and subtlety as a writer.” —Robert Macfarlane, The Times Literary Supplement
Journey Into the Past
Ludwig, an Austrian, is in Mexico when WWI breaks out. Unable to return home, he sets aside an unhappy love affair with the wife of his employer and builds a new life abroad. Years later he returns to Europe to find his beloved a widow. “Journey Into the Past is vintage Stefan Zweig—lucid, tender, powerful and compelling.” —The Independent
The Post-Office Girl
Zweig’s posthumously discovered novel, about the rise and fall of a provincial Austrian girl invited to the Swiss Alps by her wealthy American aunt, is available in English for the first time.
Beware of Pity
The most widely read author writing in German prior to the rise of the Nazis, Zweig captures the torment of betrayal in a powerful study of affliction.
Chess Story
A new English translation of the international psychological thriller Schachnovelle.