Die Welt von Gestern. Erinnerungen eines Europäers

Stefan Zweig, an Austrian writer who fled the Nazis, wrote his memoir in exile in Brazil. He looks back on the Vienna of his youth, with its culture and the security of the Habsburg monarchy, which he calls the golden age of security. He recalls his school days, the literary world, his friendships with Rilke, Freud, Rolland and others, and his travels around Europe. He then describes the First World War and the rise of fascism, which destroyed the civilised Europe he had known. He completed it shortly before he took his own life in 1942.

Anyone who wants an intimate view of European culture before 1914 will value the elegy.

Clear-cut; a moderate read.

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