Writing European Lives. Stefan Zweig as a Biographer of Verhaeren, Rolland and Erasmus

The Jewish-Austrian writer Stefan Zweig (1881–1942) was a passionate biographer who wrote about the lives of many influential people in European literature and history. In some of these biographies the genre is consciously employed as a vehicle to express an idea of Europe and foster a sense of belo...

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Main Author: Marleen Rensen
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: University of Groningen Press 2015-06-01
Series:European Journal of Life Writing
Online Access:https://ejlw.eu/article/view/31442
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author Marleen Rensen
author_facet Marleen Rensen
author_sort Marleen Rensen
collection DOAJ
description The Jewish-Austrian writer Stefan Zweig (1881–1942) was a passionate biographer who wrote about the lives of many influential people in European literature and history. In some of these biographies the genre is consciously employed as a vehicle to express an idea of Europe and foster a sense of belonging to a common European culture. His life stories of Emile Verhaeren (1910), Romain Rolland (1921) and Erasmus (1934) illustrate particularly well how Zweig portrayed artists as emblematic Europeans. As a biographer, he mediated across cultures in order to highlight the transnational elements of their lives that link disparate cultures in Europe. As the practice of writing European lives affected Zweig’s sense of belonging to Europe, the portraits of Verhaeren, Rolland and Erasmus anticipated some of the central themes of his self-narration in Die Welt von Gestern. Erinnerungen eines Europäers (1942).
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spelling doaj.art-fa87a049b14940ec84bcdc47dfba51302022-12-21T19:06:51ZengUniversity of Groningen PressEuropean Journal of Life Writing2211-243X2015-06-01412910.5463/ejlw.4.16231442Writing European Lives. Stefan Zweig as a Biographer of Verhaeren, Rolland and ErasmusMarleen Rensen0University of AmsterdamThe Jewish-Austrian writer Stefan Zweig (1881–1942) was a passionate biographer who wrote about the lives of many influential people in European literature and history. In some of these biographies the genre is consciously employed as a vehicle to express an idea of Europe and foster a sense of belonging to a common European culture. His life stories of Emile Verhaeren (1910), Romain Rolland (1921) and Erasmus (1934) illustrate particularly well how Zweig portrayed artists as emblematic Europeans. As a biographer, he mediated across cultures in order to highlight the transnational elements of their lives that link disparate cultures in Europe. As the practice of writing European lives affected Zweig’s sense of belonging to Europe, the portraits of Verhaeren, Rolland and Erasmus anticipated some of the central themes of his self-narration in Die Welt von Gestern. Erinnerungen eines Europäers (1942).https://ejlw.eu/article/view/31442
spellingShingle Marleen Rensen
Writing European Lives. Stefan Zweig as a Biographer of Verhaeren, Rolland and Erasmus
European Journal of Life Writing
title Writing European Lives. Stefan Zweig as a Biographer of Verhaeren, Rolland and Erasmus
title_full Writing European Lives. Stefan Zweig as a Biographer of Verhaeren, Rolland and Erasmus
title_fullStr Writing European Lives. Stefan Zweig as a Biographer of Verhaeren, Rolland and Erasmus
title_full_unstemmed Writing European Lives. Stefan Zweig as a Biographer of Verhaeren, Rolland and Erasmus
title_short Writing European Lives. Stefan Zweig as a Biographer of Verhaeren, Rolland and Erasmus
title_sort writing european lives stefan zweig as a biographer of verhaeren rolland and erasmus
url https://ejlw.eu/article/view/31442
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