Stefan's Zweig's posthumously-published
Journey into the Past (Widerstand der
Wirklichkeit) is a beautiful meditation on the effect of
time on passion—one of the most intense and compelling
works from a master of the novella form. Published by
Pushkin Press with a cover designed by David Pearson and
Clare Skeats as part of a new range of Stefan Zweig
paperbacks. Kept away for nine years by the
First World War Ludwig has finally returned home,
reunited at last with the woman he had so passionately
loved, and who had promised to wait for him. Previously
divided by wealth and class, both are now married and
much changed by their experiences. Confronted with an
uncertain future, and still haunted by the past, they
discover whether their love has survived hardships,
betrayals, and the lapse of time. Zweig's long-lost
final novella— recently discovered in manuscript form—is
a poignant examination of the angst of nostalgia and the
fragility of love.. 'Journey into the Past is vintage
Stefan Zweig lucid, tender, powerful and
compelling.' — Chris Schuler,
Independent '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 Translated from the
German by Anthea Bell, Stefan Zweig's Journey into
the Past is published by Pushkin
Press. Stefan Zweig (1[zasłonięte]881-19) was
born 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. Zweig
travelled widely, living in Salzburg between the wars,
and 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
moved to London, where he wrote his only novel
Beware of Pity. He later moved on to Bath,
taking British citizenship after the outbreak of the
Second World War. With the fall of France in 1940 Zweig
left Britain for New York, before settling 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.
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