Rüdiger Görner 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.

• ContentsPreliminaries, or How to Approach Stefan Zweig:A Writer from the Past for Our Time 1Portrait of a Writer as a Young Man, or Early (Poetic)Orientations in Vienna and Elsewhere 17The Virtue of Restlessness 39Early Days for Fiction 63Keeping Up with ‘Life’ 81Jeremiah in the First World War 99Tracing Demons, or How to Approach Greatness 125Towards European Transnationalism 159The Torch of Eros, or The Confusion of a Reluctant Modernist 177Political Ridge Walks 193Life Amidst Crises: Stefan Zweig at and around Fifty 205The Uprooting of an Austrian, or Fascist Trauma and Early Exile 219How to Become an Alien and Experiencing England 233Autographs, Collections, and Other Approaches toWorld Literature 253Zweig, the Transatlantic Explorer 265Pity about Pity 285Clarissa, Montaigne, Balzac: A Fragmentary Trio 297Austria in Brazil: Arriving at the Final Address 313Chess with Time, or Yesterday’s Checkmate 331Notes on Zweig’s Legacy 341Words of Thanks 357Notes 359Bibliography 381

‘Rüdiger Görner’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. ’

Rüdiger Görner 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.

• ContentsPreliminaries, or How to Approach Stefan Zweig:A Writer from the Past for Our Time 1Portrait of a Writer as a Young Man, or Early (Poetic)Orientations in Vienna and Elsewhere 17The Virtue of Restlessness 39Early Days for Fiction 63Keeping Up with ‘Life’ 81Jeremiah in the First World War 99Tracing Demons, or How to Approach Greatness 125Towards European Transnationalism 159The Torch of Eros, or The Confusion of a Reluctant Modernist 177Political Ridge Walks 193Life Amidst Crises: Stefan Zweig at and around Fifty 205The Uprooting of an Austrian, or Fascist Trauma and Early Exile 219How to Become an Alien and Experiencing England 233Autographs, Collections, and Other Approaches toWorld Literature 253Zweig, the Transatlantic Explorer 265Pity about Pity 285Clarissa, Montaigne, Balzac: A Fragmentary Trio 297Austria in Brazil: Arriving at the Final Address 313Chess with Time, or Yesterday’s Checkmate 331Notes on Zweig’s Legacy 341Words of Thanks 357Notes 359Bibliography 381

‘Rüdiger Görner’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. ’

Rüdiger Görner 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.

• ContentsPreliminaries, or How to Approach Stefan Zweig:A Writer from the Past for Our Time 1Portrait of a Writer as a Young Man, or Early (Poetic)Orientations in Vienna and Elsewhere 17The Virtue of Restlessness 39Early Days for Fiction 63Keeping Up with ‘Life’ 81Jeremiah in the First World War 99Tracing Demons, or How to Approach Greatness 125Towards European Transnationalism 159The Torch of Eros, or The Confusion of a Reluctant Modernist 177Political Ridge Walks 193Life Amidst Crises: Stefan Zweig at and around Fifty 205The Uprooting of an Austrian, or Fascist Trauma and Early Exile 219How to Become an Alien and Experiencing England 233Autographs, Collections, and Other Approaches toWorld Literature 253Zweig, the Transatlantic Explorer 265Pity about Pity 285Clarissa, Montaigne, Balzac: A Fragmentary Trio 297Austria in Brazil: Arriving at the Final Address 313Chess with Time, or Yesterday’s Checkmate 331Notes on Zweig’s Legacy 341Words of Thanks 357Notes 359Bibliography 381

‘Rüdiger Görner’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. ’