This memoir of Stefan Zweig is one man’s yearning for a lost yesterday. Zweig lived through two world wars, witnessed how the society gradually declined in its humane qualities, how a man’s tyranny destroyed the unity of Europe, how racial hatred was slowly sown until one race was mercilessly persecuted. All these pained his sensitive and artistic mind to the point of despondency.
Stefan Zweig was a widely read and loved author in Eurpoe, He was a literary giant when Hitler came to power. Yet, being a Jew, he was viewed through the glasses of racial hatred. All his achivements, accomplishements and intellect, his vast contribution to German literature were overlooked because of his race. He left his home in Salzburg and his beloved Austria and lived in exile. His work was banned from German soil and his books were burned. His works existed only in translation, being banned from publication in the German language in which they were written.
It was hard for a sensitive man like him to see such atrocities done to his lifelong work. He felt it to be an insult to the whole body of European literature. He, who hoped for an intellectual unification, had to witness one man building a wall of division. That wasn’t all. Zweig was horrified by the fall of humanity and the humiliation to which his race was unfairly subjected to. His shock and grief was too great to be alleviated by any hope of ever experiencing peace and tranquility. In slow degrees Zweig plunged in to despair, and we know all too well the tragic consequences of his hopelessness.
The World of Yesterday however, is more than a personal account. It is also an unbiased record of a lost time. The memoir covers a period of late 19th and early 20th centuries, from post World War I to the World War II. Zweig brings us a peaceful, tranquil, intellectually rich, and humane Europe where people respected each other despite their differences in race and faith. It’s an interesting narrative of a bygone era in European society, art, theatre and literature. Through his words, readers meet many famous poets, writers, painters, sculptors, theatre actors, directors. With his recital, he creates a fascinating world, informing the reader of a history different from ours.
Zweig compared his past and present, reflecting on the conduct of the European society. Despite his pain at witnessing the gradual debasing of humanity and ethics, Zweig gave due credit to the technical and innovative progress the world was making towards the betterment of human lives. Interestingly, for a man who shunned any sort of violence, Zweig drew comparisons between the two world wars stating that in the First World War, “peoples, emperors, kings, who had matured in the traditions of humanity still cherished a subconscious shame about the war” and “the world conscience was still a courted power; the artistically productive, the moral elements of a nation, still represented a force in the war which was respected for its influence”. By contrast, the Second World War used “inhuman terror”.
Zweig’s lifelong mission was to advocate for a “intellectually unified Europe”. His work, especially in the capacity of a translator, was a representation of his devotion to this ideology. But his efforts were dashed by one man’s tyranny. Zweig knew that unity of Europe was broken through Hitler’s autocracy, and that even if the war ended with defeat to Hitler, there was no future hope for an “intellectually united Europe”. This utter hopelessness was the turning point of his decision to end his life. There was no more left for him to do in this life.
The World of Yesterday is beautifully written account of a lost world. Although mingled with an undercurrent of pain and dispair, the memoir doesn’t fail to enchant the reader with a forgotten yesterday. Many have interpreted this work as one long suicidal note. But I’d like to view this heartfelt narrative as a living experince of one sensitive and intellectual man who was unfortunate to witness two world wars. Even in his despair he kept a positive attitude. “Only he who has experienced dawn and dusk, war and peace, ascent and decline, only he has truly lived.”
Rating: 4/5
