On whether he warned us: The legacy of Stefan Zweig
Stefan Zweig
Stefan Zweig was an Austrian writer from the 1920s and 1930s. Exiled by fascism, he committed suicide in 1942. Now liberals hold him up as a prophet of tolerance and internationalism. Why? And who was he really? A long hard look.
http://mikerobbinsnyc.blogspot.com/20...
Stefan Zweig was an Austrian writer from the 1920s and 1930s. Exiled by fascism, he committed suicide in 1942. Now liberals hold him up as a prophet of tolerance and internationalism. Why? And who was he really? A long hard look.
http://mikerobbinsnyc.blogspot.com/20...
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Amanda
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Aug 18, 2017 11:14PM
Another excellent piece. The slaughterhouse comparison, picked out by M, is chilling - but even as a satirical writer I use the bovine analogy regularly in blogs and letters to the press. It seems they (M's liberals) could have come to similar conclusions without 'rediscovering' Z. Z's intellectual elevation is, perhaps, the political equivalent of middle aged men suddenly deciding they can only appreciate music on vinyl records? The unnecessary effort they've gone to is part of their own reward. But whether Z is worth the effort or not M's article certainly is.
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Amanda wrote: "Another excellent piece. The slaughterhouse comparison, picked out by M, is chilling - but even as a satirical writer I use the bovine analogy regularly in blogs and letters to the press. It seems ..."Thank you Amanda. Yes, I think that's a bit the way I felt. If one really feels bad things are happening in the world, one should get out on the streets and say so, as Heather Heyer and Rachel Corrie did. Instead we send coded messages by admiring someone who certainly has a lot to offer as a writer, but had his own flaws, died a long time ago, and cannot prevent us making our own mistakes. He does have stuff to tell us, but most of it is staring us in the face anyway.
