Stefan Zweig, Ph.D., Poet, Short Story Master, Biographer, Pacifist, Jew, Rich Second Generation. Of course, these simple labels are not enough to tell a full and human Zweig.
"The Grand Budapest Hotel," directed by Wes Anderson in 2014, expresses Zweig's nostalgia with a symmetrical film filled with girly pink. At the end of the film, the dark curtain rises and reads:
Inspired by the Writing of
STFFAN ZWEIG
Born: Vienna, 1881
Died: Petropolis, 1942
The protagonist of the film, Mr. Gustavo, the director of the Grand Budapest Hotel, is the epitome of Zweig. There is a charming charm in him, a gentleman, a shrewdness, a mysterious allure to old women, and the deepest love for restaurants. It looks out of place with Zweig, but I think it can be vaguely felt from the appearance of Ralph Fiennes (played by Gustavo, who is also played by Voldemort) and the era he represents. The director is paying tribute to Zweig.
At the end of the film, Mr. Mustafa, who inherited the Grand Budapest Hotel, said:
I think his world had vanished long before he ever entered it. But he certainly sustained the illusion with a marvelous grave.
(I think his world was destroyed before he entered it. But he maintained that illusion with great grace.)
And I think this is exactly the director's evaluation of Zweig himself through the mouth of the film. Zweig's world has become the world of yesterday, but he has maintained the elegance of the world of yesterday.
In Zweig's eyes, yesterday's world was full of yearning for Europe. Born in Vienna in 1881, he belonged to the Austro-Hungarian Empire of the mighty Habsburg dynasty. The wealth of his family saved him from starvation and cold. In Vienna, he did not have to be as poor as Hitler, but received the best education, came into contact with the circle of celebrities, and gradually grew up under the influence of art. Although the people of Vienna sometimes only know art, they forget about politics and the poor people. However, Zweig did not become arrogant and arrogant when he was in it, but looked at the previous generation, the great artists and thinkers of his generation, and the great European and era.
For them, Zweig has no shortage of compliments, Balzac, Dickens, Dostoevsky, Hölderlin, Kleist, Nietzsche, Casanova, Stendhal, Tolstoy , he wrote them one by one, full of intensely personal biographies. And his contemporaries, Romain Rolland, Freud, and Gorky are all his close friends. His house in Salzburg, Austria was a place frequented by literati and writers of that era, and frequent gatherings and conversations became the most important part of Zweig's life.
As far as literature is concerned, Zweig's works are extremely delicate. He is best at describing the inner world of characters, especially women. In "Letter from a Strange Woman", the inner changes of a strange woman, from seeking independence to becoming the mistress of a rich man, are meticulously portrayed. The same is true of "24 Hours in a Woman's Life". After the bereavement of her husband, Mrs. C had a heart of the Virgin. In order to save a young man who was swallowed up by gambling, she did not hesitate to dedicate her money, body, passion and even emotion. But it was a betrayal. Don't worry about the plot, let's take a look at Zweig's description:
At this time I saw two hands, two hands I had never seen before, a right hand and a left hand, like two wild beasts with horizontal brows intertwined and fighting there, stretching out their claws and attacking each other fiercely. Scratching, so the knuckles made the kind of clicking sound when smashing walnuts. These two hands were unbelievably beautiful, strangely long and exquisitely thin, their muscles taut like sebum, their nails were white, and their tips were rounded like the leaves of a pearl.
I've been staring at these hands all night and am amazed at how extraordinary, almost unique, hands are. What struck me first, however, was the fervor of these hands, the fervent fervor that it showed, the sight of the fingers of the two hands intertwined, convulsively twisting and supporting each other. I knew right away that this was a man of excess energy who was focusing his passion on the tips of his fingers lest he be blown in half by it.
It is because of the extensive social circle and the experience of traveling the world that Zweig has become a staunch pacifist. The two world wars also made him the most famous pacifist in the world. In the First World War, the Austro-Hungarian Empire was the main warring country. The strange thing is that perhaps after too many peaceful years, young people have become a perverted yearning for war. People are willing to rush to the battlefield and fight for their country. Only after they experienced hardship and the strangulation of the war machine did people's attitude towards war change from yearning to fear. The Austro-Hungarian Empire collapsed in this fear. Although Zweig was strongly opposed to war from the very beginning and "never wrote a word in praise of war" , he inevitably saw the demise of his own country. But what really made him desperate was seeing the rise of Hitler and the outbreak of World War II, especially the massacre of Jews. The Europe he loved became the world of yesterday.
After being expelled from Austria in 1942, Zweig went to Brazil. Although he called Brazil the country of the future, the loss and anger in his heart eventually led him to commit suicide, leaving a suicide note. The suicide note ended:
"So, I thought it might be better to end my life in a timely and dignified way. For me, mental work is the purest joy, and personal freedom is the noblest treasure in this world. I salute all my friends! May they see the rising sun after this long night! And I, the impatient person, will go before them!"
At the end of the film, director Wes Anderson gave Gustavo a more confrontational ending. He died defending his doorman, or his final dignity. I think this is also the director's tribute to Zweig. Here, I would also like to express my high respect to Mr. Zweig.
Sincerely, salute.
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