Journey into the Past

by Stefan Zweig, Anthea Bell (Translator), André Aciman (Introduction)

A deep study of the uneasy heart by one of the masters of the psychological novel, Journey into the Past, published here for the first time in America, is a novella that was found among Zweig’s papers after his death. Investigating the strange ways in which love, in spite of everything - time, war, betrayal - can last, Zweig tells the story of Ludwig, an ambitious young man from a modest background who falls in love with the wife of his rich employer. His love is returned, and the couple vow to live together, but then Ludwig is dispatched on business to Mexico, and while he is there the First World War breaks out. With travel and even communication across the Atlantic now shut down, Ludwig makes a new life in the New World. Years later, however, he returns to Germany to find his beloved a widow and their mutual attraction as strong as ever. But is it possible for love to survive precisely as the impossible?

Genres: Fiction, Classics, Romance, German Literature, Literature, Novella, 20th Century

136 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1976

About the author

Stefan Zweig was one of the world's most famous writers during the 1920s and 1930s, especially in the U.S., South America, and Europe. He produced novels, plays, biographies, and journalist pieces. Among his most famous works are Beware of Pity, Letter from an Unknown Woman, and Mary, Queen of Scotland and the Isles. He and his second wife committed suicide in 1942.
Zweig studied in Austria, France, and Germany before settling in Salzburg in 1913. In 1934, driven into exile by the Nazis, he emigrated to England and then, in 1940, to Brazil by way of New York. Finding only growing loneliness and disillusionment in their new surroundings, he and his second wife committed suicide.
Zweig's interest in psychology and the teachings of Sigmund Freud led to his most characteristic work, the subtle portrayal of character. Zweig's essays include studies of Honoré de Balzac, Charles Dickens, and Fyodor Dostoevsky (Drei Meister, 1920; Three Masters) and of Friedrich Hölderlin, Heinrich von Kleist, and Friedrich Nietzsche (Der Kampf mit dem Dämon, 1925; Master Builders). He achieved popularity with Sternstunden der Menschheit (1928; The Tide of Fortune), five historical portraits in miniature. He wrote full-scale, intuitive rather than objective, biographies of the French statesman Joseph Fouché (1929), Mary Stuart (1935), and others. His stories include those in Verwirrung der Gefühle (1925; Conflicts). He also wrote a psychological novel, Ungeduld des Herzens (1938; Beware of Pity), and translated works of Charles Baudelaire, Paul Verlaine, and Emile Verhaeren.
Most recently, his works provided the inspiration for 2014 film The Grand Budapest Hotel.

Reviews

[Jim Fonseca · Rating 4 out of 5]

The introduction gives the complete plot and the story is told retrospectively from the opening scene, so I’m not giving a spoiler warning.

Set in 1914 right near the outbreak of World War I, a young chemical engineer and his employer’s wife fall in love. Her elderly husband is disabled and the young man (reluctantly) agreed to move into their fancy home to be her husband’s right-hand man. I say reluctantly because he was embarrassed by his poverty – when he moved in he spent all his savings on clothes so the maids wouldn’t see his ratty underwear!



Just as they are about to consummate their relationship he gets sent to Mexico for what is supposed to be two years. She says “not now” but pledges to give herself to him when he returns. The war intervenes and even letters between them get cut off. NINE years later, after he has married and had kids in Mexico, and her husband has died back in Europe, he’s back!

He had to go back to Europe on business so he looked her up. She’ll keep her promise but what does it mean now? They take what seems like an endless train trip back to a town they had visited on business in earlier years. The journey (the opening scene) seems to be their fulfillment: the endless “getting there;” the limbo of the unfulfilled promise. Will there forever be something “unrelieved and unresolved” between them?

The author was an Austrian Jew who fled central Europe in the 1930’s to go first to the UK, then briefly to the US and finally to Brazil. He and his second wife committed suicide together in Brazil in 1942, perhaps because of the latest bad news coming out of World War II. These themes enter the story when the couple arrives at their hotel and encounter Nazi marchers chanting and raising fists. There’s a mood spoiler.

It’s hard to know how finished this novella really was. Zweig had published it as a short story years earlier and this latest version with handwritten edits was discovered among his papers after his death. An interesting twist is that he was considering two titles for it and this one (Journey Into the Past) was crossed out in favor of “Resistance to Reality.”

All of Zweig’s stories are good and this one is no exception although I don’t think it’s as strong as one other of Zweig’s I have read, The Post-Office Girl.

Here are links to reviews of other books I’ve read by Stefan Zweig:

Chess Story

The Burning Secret

The Post-Office Girl

Beware of Pity

photo from telegraph.co.uk

[Jibran · Rating 4 out of 5]

People may grow old, but they remain the same.

Few writers are bestowed with the gift of insight that penetrates the shadowy black holes of human psychology with remarkable economy of words and incredible acuity of expression. With Zweig, it is as though words come flying from the four winds to arrange themselves seamlessly on the blank page as he sits back with a smile to guide them with the movement of his eyes into a series of exquisitely designed proportionate lines enhanced by a succession of stunning images and striking metaphors such that every now and then you cry out, with a smile of your own on your face, to say, “This is it! This is how it feels like! This is how it looks like!” This there then sums up my reading experience of this sleek novella.

Zweig casts a gimlet look in the dark depths of mind in recounting the story of Ludwig and his beloved with as much of a keen eye as he paints the shifting vistas of urbane, cosmopolitan Frankfurt to contrast it with rocky, wild terrain of rural Mexico across the span of a tumultuous decade all through which Ludwig – being the primary focus of our story - is in a painful negotiation with time and place to keep the flame of love burning for the woman left behind in Frankfurt. The Great War in Europe has left him stranded in Mexico, and having lost all contact with her lover, he freezes his emotions in the hope of thawing them when he sees her. When they finally meet, Ludwig muses:

Time is helpless, he thought to himself, helpless in the face of our feelings. Nine years have passed, and not a note in her voice is different, not a nerve in my body hears her in any other way. Nothing is lost, nothing is past and over, her presence is as much of a tender delight now as it was then.

Their journey into the past is fraught with dangers of the present. The time gone by fails to heed the summons of the beating hearts. Their love remains the same, as strong and pure as it was when they first saw each other and drank elixir from each other’s mouths, their hands taking liberties with the finer details of their bodies, his up her bodice and hers down his pants - but unable to reach the summit of fulfillment for the threat of being found out by her big shot husband or by one of the servants that always lurked about like a sword hanging over their heads. Even as old love is rekindled they still can’t bring back the fire that burned in their hearts nine years ago. Something has terribly gone amiss. Ludwig realises but, like a stubborn child who wants to play with the “white ball” in the night sky, refuses to accept that...

The past always comes between us, the time that has gone by.

Blind, unalloyed love defies reason and morality, laughs in the face of odds, mocks all earthly reality as it pleases - yet all the same it is so slavishly bound to the externalities of existence. Time and place, now and then, war and peace together pronounce the final verdict, however strong the love may be.
A startling thing happens towards the end of the story. Right when Ludwig and his lover are searching for the lost time on a trip to Heidelberg, they run into Nazi cadres marching up and down the streets. The previous war that separated them a decade before has come back again to destroy more lives, crush more hearts and kill more aspirations. Beware, lovers, beware! Perhaps this passage expresses the perennial truth of cyclical time which is attempting to come full circle in contemporary Europe where people of similar persuasion are seen marching in the streets under old banners with new names.

Stefan Zweig as a member of minority community whose life was destroyed in the madness of World War II must be turning in his grave.

May 2015
============

PS: Special thanks to Seemita Pooja for recommending this beautiful novella.

[Seemita · Rating 5 out of 5]

LOVE. ABSENCE.

Two words. Short but Strong. Both are trend-setters, albeit of different kind. Both have their own, absolute meanings; their legion of fans swear by it. Those under their hypnotic spell can hardly belong elsewhere. Both can multiply themselves and fill the adjacent heart too, with their scents.

But are they related to each other? In any way? Are they friends? Or adversaries? Or are they family, since such striking resemblance is invariably rooted in familial ties? Is the birth of one never without the other? Are they forever twins, living a life that is half divided between themselves, each making its presence felt in the other’s moment of pride too? Or are they those quarrelsome siblings, who can never share the same room?

It is a difficult question which the brilliant Zweig attempts to answer in the splendid Journey Into The Past. The story is set between 1912 and 1921. 23-years old, industrious Ludwig, from humble origins, finds pure, infallible love in the serene, jovial and compassionate wife of his wealthy but genial employer. His love is reciprocated with the same sincerity and longing.

"But true love truly becomes love only when, no longer an embryo developing painfully in the darkness of the body, it ventures to confess itself with lips and breath. However hard it tries to remain a chrysalis, a time comes when the intricate tissue of the cocoon tears, and out it falls, dropping from the heights to the farthest depths, falling with redoubled force into the startled heart."

However, before their love flower can bloom in full, Ludwig is sent to Mexico for undertaking work assignment for two years. The vision of a passionate reunion at the other side of this painful separation, keeps the two alive in their colourless worlds. But with just a few weeks left for the divine rendezvous, the World War I breaks out. It changes everything, cutting the thread between the two lovers, ever so slowly, mercilessly. The two years never see the end and both the lovers move on in life. After nine years though, they come face to face once again and embark on a journey to rekindle their lost love.

But is it their love anymore? Are they, worthy owners of their love after all? Is it love even?

It is often said that love blossoms in absence. But does the blossoming, sap the bud of its innocence? Does that love ever remain the same once usurped by the curse of absence? Under the shadow of absence, the love sapling feels nourished and protected. But leave the sapling under its refuge for long and it starts wilting away. It needs the intermittent sunshine of a touch, a smile, an embrace, a kiss to grow vivacious and healthy. Without this measured shed, the sapling lives a feeble life; one that can spring to life today and sleep to death tomorrow. And most importantly, the gardener himself doesn’t know whether he wants the sapling to breathe or perish.

After nine thirsty years, when Ludwig and his beloved finally get a deserted road, all to themselves, to soak the intoxicating feeling of being alone for the first time, they get besieged by the conflicting emotions picking violently at their hearts. The clasped hands seem like chained links, the brushing shoulders, like rough shawls. The essence of this contradicting unravelling of events gets captured in this striking paragraph:

"And whenever a lamp by the roadside cast its light on them at an angle, the shadows ahead merged as if embracing, stretching, longing for one another, two bodies in one form, parting again only to embrace once more, while they themselves walked on, tired and apart from each other. As if spellbound, he watched this strange game, that escape and recapture and separation again of the soulless figures, shadowy bodies that were only the reflection of their own.”

Zweig’s silken magic and profound insights place us in striking distance of Love and Absence. But he fittingly does not take a call whether one should keep both in the same box. But he says enough to convey that both need to be kept under strict vigil; after all, they have the capacity to change our world, singlehandedly.

[Cheryl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dans le vieux parc solitaire et glacé
Deux spectres cherchent le passé.

I took this journey into the past through pages of scintillating scenes, symphonic sentences, and crystal-clear character-consciousness. From cover to cover I read, pausing only to eat and care for my sick Labrador. Into the past I went, with love and war and indiscretion and despondency and life and illness and all that happens in between. Whenever a book forces me to give it my complete attention, even at the risk of ignoring my Virginia Woolf read, I know that it deserves all the love stars my reader heart can give.

It’s in the way Zweig writes: soft, simple and supple—his words caress the senses. Nothing is overworked here, not the scenes, not the characters, and certainly not the word placement. I immediately sense that I’m in the hands of a scholar humble with words. My love affair with this novel is similar to the surprise love that unfolds between two unlikely people: the woman of the house and her husband’s servant.

But love truly becomes love only when, no longer an embryo developing painfully in the darkness of the body, it ventures to confess itself with lips and breath. However hard it tries to remain a chrysalis, a time comes when the intricate tissue of the cocoon tears, and out it falls, dropping from the heights to the farthest depths, falling with redoubled force into the startled heart.

What happens when life goes on, and time passes, but the love we’ve had for someone still remains? How far would we go to explore a love affair from the past?

…he must simply stay like this, carried on into the unknown as if in a dream, carried on by a strange torrent, without physical sensation and yet still feeling, desiring yet achieving nothing, moving on into his fate and back into himself.

This novel is about the moments that escape us in life, moments that could become regrets or second chances. It is about the fragility and untimeliness of life and people. At its core, it is about self-awareness and reflection, and the tone is one I wish for in any novel of psychological aptitude. It’s simply beautiful.

In the old park, in ice and snow caught fast
Two spectres walk, still searching for the past.

[Rowena · Rating 4 out of 5]

Andre Aciman wrote a great introduction to this book (with spoilers). In it he lauds Zweig’s fluidity in writing:

“He never quarrelled with his tools; his tools were happy to oblige. He didn’t spend nights searching for the mot juste; the mot juste just simply came…Zweig is firm and fluent. Everything in its time, everything just right, never a false move, not one sleight of hand.”

Having just spent hours editing a report I would very much like to have been gifted with even a fraction of Zweig’s literary brilliance, and his writing is sheer genius.

The novella follows a love affair between Ludwig, a poor private secretary, and the lady of the house. On the day his employer tells him he’ll be sent to work in Mexico for 2 years, he discovers that his employer’s wife reciprocates his love. This is a love affair that will be interrupted both by Ludwig being relocated to Mexico, and also the breakout of WW1:

“But love truly becomes love only when, no longer an embryo developing painfully in the darkness of the body, it ventures to confess itself with lips and breath. However hard it tries to remain a chrysalis, a time comes when the intricate tissue of the cocoon tears, and out it falls, dropping from the heights to the farthest depths, falling with redoubled force into the startled heart.”

While the protagonist’s feelings of love were definitely melodramatic and probably difficult for most of us in this day and age to understand (I can’t imagine anyone I know kissing the letter of a loved one, or sewing protective pockets onto their clothing so that they can carry said letters with them everywhere, but who knows?), I did enjoy this novella. The more poignant and thoughtful passages dealt with the post-war experiences with Ludwig returning to Germany; can things still stay the same when war has interrupted our lives? The concept of memory was also an important one, can we live on our memories and for how long? As Ludwig discovered, “It is not in human nature to live entirely on memories, and just as the plants and every living structure need nourishment from the soil and new light from the sky, if their colours are not to fade and their petals to drop, even such apparently unearthy things as dreams need a certain amount of nourishment from the senses, some tender pictorial aid, or their blood will run thin and their radiance be dimmed.”

A beautifully written book.

[Best Friend with Books · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hasta bünyeye bir ilaçtır Zweig. Uzun süre elime kitap alamıyor, hiç birşey okuyamıyorsam bile bir Stefan Zweig kitabı beni canlandırıp çabucak eski tempoma döndürebiliyor. Yine öyle bir durgunluk dönemime denk gelen iyi ki de okumuşum dediğim bir kısa öykü oldu Geçmişe Yolculuk.

Zweig'in yine muhteşem psikolojik analizleri eşliğinde, imkansız gibi görünen bir aşkın öyküsünü okuyoruz bu kez. Birbirlerine ilk aşık oldukları günün üzerinden tam 9 yıl geçmiş. Araya önemli bir görev, farklı ülkeler, Birinci Dünya Savaşı ve başka insanlar girmişti fakat herşeye rağmen zaman bu iki insanı yeniden bir araya getirecek ve onları geçmişlerine doğru bir yolculuğa sürükleyecekti.

Zweig bize yine az sayfada çok dolu bir hikaye anlatıyor. Bunu yaparken içeriğin zenginliğinden, anlatımın kusursuzluğundan asla taviz vermiyor.

T.

[Paula Mota · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sem reflectir, traduziu os versos:
Naquele velho parque solitário e gelado
Dois espectros procuram o passado
E, logo que os pronunciou, compreendeu-os e encontrou a sua chave. A associação de ideias que tirou do fundo de um poço de águas adormecidas emergiu, nítida e palpável. Aquela recordação, precisamente aquela, aquelas sombras estavam lá, no caminho, as sombras que tinham tocado, despertado, as palavras por ela pronunciadas. E, num frémito, ele percebeu, assustado, o sentido daquela revelação.

É num comboio, aquele que me parece o meio de transporte mais romântico de todos, que ocorre esta “Viagem ao Passado”, num reencontro muito aguardado, dez anos depois de Ludwig se apaixonar pela mulher do patrão. É um amor que nunca foi consumado por força das circunstâncias, pelo oceano que se meteu entre eles e pela súbita deflagração da Primeira Guerra Mundial, que os manteve separados mais tempo do que o planeado. Os avanços e recuos na possível relação deste casal, a ansiedade e nervosismo que eles causam, passam para o leitor com uma intensidade que considero admirável.
Para quem nunca leu Stefan Zweig ou ainda não se rendeu a este grande escritor, que tanto exprime em tão poucas páginas, o meu coração, que é um autêntico barroco coberto de musgo, recomenda sem pejo “A Viagem ao Passado”.

Também os próprios sonhos, mesmo aqueles que parecem etéreos, devem alimentar-se de um pouco de sensualidade, devem ser mantidos pela ternura e por imagens, sem as quais o sangue paralisa e a luz se esbate. Foi o que aconteceu àquele ser apaixonado, sem que disso se apercebesse – quando as semanas, os meses e finalmente um ano e depois outro passaram, sem que chegasse uma palavra um sinal dela. (...) Procurava as cartas, mas a tinta apagara-se, as palavras já não abalavam o seu coração, e um dia ficou assustado ao ver a fotografia dela, porque não se recordava da cor do seus olhos.

[Flo · Rating 3 out of 5]

In the old park, in ice and snow caught fast
Two spectres walk, still searching for the past. (33)

I planned a review with all the things I didn't like and quotes to back them up. However, after contemplating these pages for awhile, I realized I couldn't. It is not Zweig's fault. I can't blame it on his writing, his idea and execution. I liked his lyrical prose and the psychological depth he gave to his characters, always haunted by their past. Past? “Nothing is lost, nothing is past” (20), he says, still accepting the fact that “it is not in human nature to live entirely on memories” (23). I also liked how the characters' pure feelings for each other contrasted with the dark and confusing social context of those times.

In conclusion, what I liked, I really liked. As for the rest, I didn't hate it, I was kind of indifferent to it. It was okay. This is an unfinished work and yet, it is not a fair reason for me. So, this rating is based on what I felt while reading this novella. By all means, read it yourself and form your opinion. Do not be afraid of this translation, Bell has done a superb job, again.
But I would like to keep playing chess for a little while longer, if you don't mind.

When you can't connect with a story about a passionate love and soul mates resisting the power of time, then your heart must be in some sort of lethargic limbo, detachedly mourning the loss of something, the absence of something; cynically avoiding everything. I am just guessing; you might even don't know the cause. It is only temporary, to the lucky ones. The lucky ones. An ephemeral tragedy. But a tragedy, after all.



May 25, 14
* Also on my blog.

[E. G. · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Resurrected Master: The Subtle Fiction of Stefan Zweig, by Paul Bailey

--Journey into the Past

Translator's Afterward, by Anthea Bell

[Gemma · Rating 5 out of 5]

I watched the excellent film adaptation of this last night and it reminded me how much I loved this novella. It’s such a tender and powerful account of enduring love. Ludwig is a young engineer, an orphan, who ingratiates himself with his elderly and ailing employer until he becomes his private secretary and moves into his home. Here he falls in love with his boss’ young wife. Before anything can happen between them his boss sends him to Mexico. Then World War 1 breaks out. A novel to warm the heart.

[Henk · Rating 3 out of 5]

A melancholic novella on a changed love and a changed Germany marching into a Second World War.
People may grow old, but they remain the same.

Still and sobering, despite Stefan Zweig describing passion in Journey into the Past. His sentences are long and meandering and focus on how people and their love change through time, and their country as well.
But love truly becomes love only when, no longer an embryo developing painfully in the darkness of the body, it ventures to confess itself with lips and breath. However hard it tries to remain a chrysalis, a time comes when the intricate tissue of the cocoon tears, and out it falls, dropping from the heights to the farthest depths, falling with redoubled force into the startled heart.

Ludwig and his love interest manage to find each other, but then almost immediately step out of a station in the midst of a Nazi rally. Taking into account how Zweig committed suicide during the Second World War with his lover makes this last work of him extra poignant and touching, despite not being on the same level as for instance Chess Story.

Dutch Quotes:
Maar liefde wordt pas werkelijk liefde als ze niet meer smartelijk, donker en embryonaal, in het lichaam drijft, maar zich met adem en lippen durft te benoemen, zich uit durft te spreken. Hoe hardnekkig zo’n gevoel zich ook verpopt, altijd stoot het op een dag opeens door het verwarde spinsel heen en stort dan, van de hoogste toppen in de diepste diepten, met verdubbelde kracht in het opschrikkende hart.

Dus kon hij zich alleen maar troosten met de hoop, de weldra teleurgestelde hoop van miljoenen andere mensen, dat een dergelijke waanzin niet lang kon duren, dat over een paar weken, een paar maanden die domme streek van onbeheerste diplomaten en generaals afgelopen zou zijn.

In een oud park, verkild en onbetreden
Zoeken twee schaduwen naar het verleden
En nauwelijks had hij die regels bij zichzelf gezegd of hij begreep ze al, zwaar en fonkelend lag de sleutel al in zijn hand, de associatie, die de herinnering opeens zo zintuiglijk tastbaar, zo scherp uit de slapende put omhoog had getrokken: die schaduwen daar op de weg waren het, de schaduwen, ze hadden hun eigen woord wakker geschud, ja, maar dat niet alleen. En huiverend voelde hij opeens de betekenis van dat onverwachte inzicht, het waren woorden van een profetische betekenis: waren zij niet zelf die schaduwen die naar het verleden zochten, die onduidelijke vragen stelden aan een voorbije tijd die geen werkelijkheid meer was, schaduwen, schaduwen die levend wilden worden en het niet meer konden – zij en ook hij niet meer dezelfde – en die elkaar toch vergeefs probeerden te vinden, die elkaar ontvluchtten en vasthielden in onwerkelijke, krachteloze pogingen net als die zwarte spoken voor hun voeten?

[Evripidis Gousiaris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Εξαιρετικός Zweig ακόμα και όταν είναι μόνο 100 σελίδες.

[Χαρά Ζ. · Rating 4 out of 5]

4,5

Πολύς έρωτας.
Γαμώτο.
Πολύς πολύς.

[Duane Parker · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a perfect example of why I love Goodreads so much. If not for the comments and reviews of GR friends, I would never have discovered this book or the author, Stefan Zweig. He died in 1942 and this book was unknown to English readers for decades after that. It is sparse in it's telling but so beautifully written. It's the story of a love that goes to the depth of the soul, so deep that it consumes the heart and mind. But the passion is of the heart and mind only, because it is unfulfilled in the flesh. Once aware of their mutual feelings, they are seperated by an ocean, a war, and a decade of time. A beautiful gem of a book, 4.5 stars.

[Ioana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Viaje al pasado, 1929 Stefan Zweig

Note to self: Si alguna vez sientes la necesidad de sentir, reflexionar o revivir pequeños retazos del pasado, lee Zweig.

La pasión, la personificación de los sentimientos y la maestría en la escritura constituye el aura que inevitablemente envuelve la obra de Zweig...

[Mehmet]

""Evet" dedi adam, derin derin iç geçirerek, "ne uzun sürdü"". (s.41)

Tam 9 sene! Yaşanamayan zamana mı üzülmeli, yaşanan kısacık anlara mı sevinmeli?

Rob Dougan'ın Clubbed to Death parçası eşliğinde okuduğum bir kitap oldu bu.

Zamanın akışını izleyebilmek bir trenin penceresinden... Yıllar, yıllar ve yaşanamayan onca hikaye. Bu kitapta zamanın perdesinin arkasına bir bakış atıyoruz ve yarım kalmışlıkları hissediyoruz Zweig'in güçlü kaleminde. Mazi...

Kısacık bir kitap, dopdolu bir novella.

Mehmet Baran

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

The past always comes between us, the time that has gone by.

Seize the moment or it’s lost. If you love somebody, you’ve got to tell them. Nothing lasts forever.

These are the key messages in Zweig’s compact and emotional novella. It seemed so simple at first – a brief tale of lovers pining for each other for 9 years, kept apart on separate continents by the outbreak of WWI; but it’s also about the love of and loss of country and innocence, and how “regular people’s” lives are changed irreparably. Life goes on, borders change, but people get broken and lost. There’s a particularly vivid scene towards the end when upon our protagonist’s return to a changed Europe, he strolls awkwardly with his beloved among swastika waving fascists during a rally, and he realizes that his love, his life, and his country are gone forever, never to return. Haunting. And perhaps made even more meaningful once you think about how Zweig and his wife committed suicide in 1942 after becoming disillusioned about Europe’s future and the rise of Nazism.


((From his suicide note))

“…after the world of my own language sank and was lost to me and my spiritual homeland, Europe, destroyed itself,”

“I send greetings to all of my friends: May they live to see the dawn after this long night. I, who am most impatient, go before them.”

[El rincón de moob · Rating 4 out of 5]

¡Qué forma tan bella de escribir tiene Stefan Zweig! Y no solo eso, sino que sabe tenerte impaciente por saber más a lo largo de toda la novela. Este relato destaca por la descripción de los sentimientos del personaje principal, de los escasos diálogos y la sencillez de la historia. A quienes hayamos tenido una historia similar, esta historia nos llega muy dentro y nos hace revivir la expectación y el miedo que sentimos al reencontrarnos, pasados los años, con un amor al que no conseguimos olvidar.

[Neli Krasimirova · Rating 2 out of 5]

Zweig'ın bir draftını okuduk zira ölümünden sonra ortaya çıkmış bi metinde tanıyıp bildiğimiz o Zweig pek yoktu. Demek ki üzerinde biraz çalıştıktan sonra o kadar yoğun metinler ortaya çıkarıyormuş.

[Suzy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love books that play with memory and time; Zweig is a master in this book at portraying how our memories can create a reality of their own about the past, present and future.

The time frame of Journey Into the Past is before, during and after WWI. This is Ludwig's story, that of a smart but impoverished young man, being spotted and groomed by a leading German industrialist (The Councillor) and blossoming into a successful early adulthood. It is also the story of his relationship with The Councillor's wife, whom he realizes he loves right before being sent to Mexico for 2 years on behalf of the company. When WWI breaks out, he is forced to stay longer and is absent from Germany for 9 years.

Absence makes the heart grow fonder could be called the theme of this book, but "fonder" is a mild word given our main character Ludwig's idealization of the wife, their love, her love for him and his vision of what will happen when they meet again. And meet again, they do. Their meeting is where our story begins when they are taking the evening express train to Heidelberg. We spend this train ride in Ludwig's head as he reminisces on his life, their relationship and what he has dreamed about so long. We are taken on a ride of memories, emotions and expectations, feeling this book as much as reading it. Ludwig's interior conversation touches on things we can all relate to - the longing humans have for an idealized vision of life and love - even though the book was written almost 100 years ago.

In the introduction, author Andre Aciman describes Zweig's writing as fluent. I would add that his writing is fluid; fluid in the way he tells Ludwig's story and fluid in the way he plays with time in the structure of this beautifully written novella. Zweig packed a lot into 84 pages - nothing more and nothing less than what was needed to profoundly affect the reader.

(Readers note: the aforementioned introduction at 22 pages practically tells us the entire story, not to mention how to view it! I recommend reading the book first and the introduction after. I wish I had been able to experience Journey Into the Past with fresh eyes.)

[Lee Klein · Rating 5 out of 5]

Like Chess Story, another flowing, perfectly phrased, psychologically and historically charged, emotionally moving novella by Zwieg, this time about life before, during, and after WWI as Nazi shadows gather. About thwarted desire, great physical distance followed by insurmountable temporal distance, lives interrupted by war, the pleasures of memory over the anxieties of the present, especially when the present involves goose-stepping rows of uniformed men parading through a quiet college town, Heidelberg, which I've visited and could imagine as clearly as Zweig's prose portrayed the path to the castle and the view of the river valley. Looks like I'll have to read everything available in English by him. Words to describe his prose are watery, liquidy, silken, flowing, light-handed, almost always sliding ahead as a result of expectations in a sentence loaded toward its start. But also the language disappears and conveys real insight and atmosphere and psychological and emotional urgency and moral sense. Great stuff, Stefan -- too bad you snuffed yourself at 60! This edition sandwiches the long story with two excellent little biographical essays. Might read the story again since it's formally exemplary, I'd say. Seems so simple and smooth and subtle without ever being elusive or arch or clever. Honest, respectful, deeply imagined urgency.

[Somormujo · Rating 5 out of 5]

5/5
🚂🚂🚂🚂🚂
Terminado en noviembre de 2024

Fiel a mi cita anual con Stefan Zweig, este año la obra elegida ha sido Viaje al pasado. Está publicada por Acantilado y traducida por Roberto Bravo de la Varga. Esta obra corta apareció en 1929, bajo el título Resistencia de la realidad.

Narra la historia del reencuentro de una pareja alemana, tras nueve años de separación que incluyen la Primera Guerra Mundial, con lo que esto supone de frustración por la ausencia de noticias y la necesidad de seguir viviendo cada uno su vida. Así, mientras ella queda en Alemania, el viaja a Mexico por negocios, prometiéndose reanudar su amor lo antes posible. Sin embargo, cuando finalmente consiguen verse e intentan cumplir aquellas promesas pendientes, ya que aún creen amarse como antaño, se dan cuenta de la gran resistencia que supone el paso del tiempo y las circunstancias.

De nuevo, Stefan Zweig traza una historia magistral sobre los sentimientos humanos y la dota de una gran carga de profundidad y de melancolía, componiendo una obra de gran hondura. Mi calificación no puede ser otra que 5 estrellas con mi recomendación para que no os perdáis esta pequeña joyita.

En el viejo parque solitario y gélido,
Dos sombras buscan su pasado

[Paradoxe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Για άλλη μια φορά θα εκφράσω την ευγνωμοσύνη μου και τη χαρά μου που εξακολουθούν να υπάρχουν καλαίσθητες εκδόσεις, πλήρεις στο αποτέλεσμα τους σαν αυτή τη νουβέλα απ’ τις εκδόσεις Printa – Ροές. Ωστόσο όμως θα διαφωνήσω λίγο ( μόνο λίγο ) στο θέμα του τίτλου. Οι γερμανικές εκδόσεις σοφά έχουν επιλέξει τον τίτλο ‘’Αντίσταση στην πραγματικότητα’’ με τον οποίο πρωτοπαρουσιάστηκε ημιτελής η νουβέλα σε συνέχειες στις εφημερίδες της εποχής. Αργότερα, μετά το θάνατο του συγγραφέα βρέθηκε το ολοκληρωμένο χειρόγραφο με ένα τίτλο γραμμένο και διεγραμμένο: ‘’Ταξίδι στο παρελθόν’’. Και είναι ο τίτλος που έχουν επιλέξει οι γαλλικές και αγγλικές εκδόσεις, καθώς και η συγκεκριμένη ελληνική.

Διαφωνώ λίγο και όχι πολύ γιατί διττά ισχύουν και οι δυο τίτλοι και καθένας για διαφορετικούς λόγους. Ο Λούντβιχ φεύγει για τις ανάγκες της δουλειάς του απ’ τη Γερμανία, 2 χρόνια προτού ξεσπάσει ο πόλεμος. Όμως, ο Χίτλερ έκανε ήδη τα εθνικιστικά καραγιοζιλίκια του. Υπάρχει μια άρνηση του πρωταγωνιστή να δει αυτή την πραγματικότητα, ίσως και βόλεμα αφού φιλοδοξεί να ανέβει κοινωνικά και επαγγελματικά σε μια Γερμανία που φαίνεται να καταρρέει και είναι γεγονός πως δεν τάχθηκαν όλοι οι Γερμανοί υπέρ του ψυχασθενή. Αργότερα ενώ ( μια απ’ τις ωραιότερες απεικονίσεις των εναυσμάτων που χρειάζονται για να αποκαλυφτεί ο λανθάνων έρωτας, που δεν είναι βέβαια τυχαίος ο μηχανισμός που αναλύει, ώντας φίλος του Φρόϋντ ) γίνονται τα αποκαλυπτήρια του έρωτα βεβαίως δεν αντιλαμβάνεται τίποτα.

Ο πόλεμος ξεσπάει κι εκείνος ανησυχεί μόνο για τον έρωτα του που έμεινε ανεκπλήρωτος, ούτε καν αν αυτή η γυναίκα ζει ακόμη. Αυτή η σκέψη έρχεται χρόνια μετά, αφού τελειώσει ο πόλεμος. Τελειώνει ο πόλεμος λοιπόν, επιστρέφει για επαγγελματικούς λόγους στη Γερμανία, έχει μάθει ότι ο σύζυγος της αγαπημένης του πέθανε και ευτυχώς γλίτωσε απ’ το να μάθει πως η εταιρία του καταστράφηκε και παρόλ’ αυτά το πρώτο που βρίσκουμε μαζί του σαν ανοίγει η πόρτα είναι το μπάτλερ. Δε μπορεί να βλέπω μόνο εγώ το προβληματικό στοιχείο εδώ πέρα.

Δεν αντιλέγω πως ζούσε στο Μεξικό στον κόσμο του, αλλά γυρνάς στη χώρα σου, η οποία αιματοκύλισε το σύμπαν και μαζί τους Γερμανούς που αντιτάχθηκαν, η αγαπημένη σου είναι χήρα του εργοδότη σου, που είχε μια εταιρία, η οποία σου ζήτησε στο ξέσπασμα του πολέμου να την κρατήσεις οπωσδήποτε αυτόνομη και ζωντανή με αχυρανθρώπους και γυρνάς σε μια χώρα καταξεσκισμένη ( δε μπορεί να αρνηθεί κανένας πιστεύω ότι και η Γερμανία ήταν συντρίμμια ) και βρίσκεις ένα αρχοντικό τίγκα στις παλιές του πολυτέλειες, ένα μπάτλερ ν’ ανοίγει την πόρτα και δεν ανάβει η παραμικρή ηθική σκέψη σε όλο αυτό; Η παραμικρή ιδέα, εναντίωση σε ό,τι πρέσβευε η τάξη αυτή που διατηρήθηκε; Δεν είναι τα μόνα ενδεικτικά που δείχνουν την άρνηση στην πραγματικότητα, αλλά δε συνδέονται άμεσα με την πλοκή και γι’ αυτό στέκομαι σ’ αυτά. Θα στεκόμουν ούτως ή άλλως βέβαια, γιατί ο Τσβάϊχ δεν ήταν Γερμανός, ήταν Εβραιοαυστριακός, άρα ήξερε τι ήθελε να δείξει με αυτό το σημείο.

Στο θέμα του έρωτα που κόπηκε στη μέση αυτό που αναφέρω παραπάνω σχετικά με την παράλληλη ισχύ και των δυο τίτλων είναι περισσότερο ��νδεικτικό των όσων θα ήθελα να πω. Η ζωή προχωράει. Ας το μεταφέρω στις μέρες μας για να γίνει πιο σαφές. Με τον ένα ή τον άλλο τρόπο, όπως γράφει κι ο συγγραφέας δε μπορεί ένας νέος άνθρωπος που δεν έχει ζήσει τίποτα να ζήσει για πάντα με αναμνήσεις και να τροφοδοτεί τη ζωή του με ανούσιες συζητήσεις χωρίς ανταπόκριση με μια σκιά. Είναι προφανές πως αν προκαλέσεις την αναζωπύρωση μιας ανάμνησης που αφορά μια σχέση που δεν έκανε τον κύκλο της θα ξεσπάσει η θύελλα της κρυστάλλωσης που απαιτεί τη δικαίωση της, ώστε με τη σειρά τους να πάρουν τα πράγματα το δρόμο της απομυθοποίησης. Όπως το ίδιο προκαλείς με το να κάθεσαι και να κοιτάς το προφίλ της πρώην σου ενώ η γυναίκα σου κοιμάται, ή να της στέλνεις μηνυματάκια. Ψάχνεις το κλειδί για ν’ ανοίξεις τους ασκούς του Αιόλου. Και βέβαια όταν υπάρξει ανταπόκριση γιατί όλοι φτάνουμε στο άνυδρο, προφανώς και βρίσκεις το κλειδί.

Εδώ είναι η ουσία τόσο στην αντίσταση στην πραγματικότητα, όσο και στα συναισθηματικά πισωγυρίσματα που δεν επιτρέπουν στον άνθρωπο να ελευθερωθεί απ’ ό,τι έμελλε να τελειώσει, πριν ουσιαστικά αρχίσει. Και αυτό είναι βέβαια και το μεγαλείο κάθε ανεκπλήρωτου έρωτα, που τον βάζει σε ένα βάθρο πάνω απ’ όλους τους άλλους, πως δεν ολοκληρώθηκε. Ναι ξέρω τι θα πείτε κάποιοι, για ‘κεινες τις ερωτικές ιστορίες ευτυχίας κι επιτυχίας που ζουν έναν έρωτα για 30 – 40 χρόνια. Εμ σε αυτό αντιστέκομαι εγώ. Ούτε το έχω δει, ούτε πιστεύω πως υπάρχει. Ισορροπίες μπορείς να βρεις, αλλά πρέπει να είσαι παρών, όχι να εξιδανικεύεις αυτά που έμειναν μισά.

Είναι μια ιστορία αγάπης, με ορισμένα σημεία έξοχα όπως το να διαβάζει τα γράμματα της στον τόνο της φωνής της για να τη ζωντανεύει, όπως ο διάλογος στις πρώτες σελίδες που είναι ολοζώντανος. Σε άλλα σημεία είναι εντελώς δακρύβρεχτη και ωστόσο όχι λιγότερο αληθινή. Η νουβέλα όμως λέει πολλά περισσότερα με όσα δε γράφονται ξεκάθαρα, παρά με όσα γράφονται.

Τι είναι τελικά πραγματικό; Το τώρα; Το κάποτε; Μπορεί άραγε το κάποτε να συνεχίσει απλώς, να μην ξαναρχίσει; Θα ράγιζε η καρδιά πολλών ανθρώπων σε αυτή την απάντηση μπροστά. Μα ακόμη κι αυτή η απάντηση πόσο διαφορετική μπορούν να την κάνουν οι τυχαιότητες του τώρα, σαν ένα χρησιμοποιημένο δωμάτιο που δεν παρέδωσε ακόμη τα πνεύματα της προηγούμενης παρουσίας, σαν μια συγκέντρωση του όχλου που αρνείται να συμβιβαστεί με την πραγματικότητα που του στέρησε το μεγαλείο της σφαγής. Σαν όλα αυτά να μην είχαν υπάρξει κι απλά να είχε πέσει ένα πορτοκάλι από κάποιο δέντρο, ή ένα τόπι να ‘χε παρασυρθεί; Μα ποτέ δε μπορεί το κάποτε που θέλει να διεκδικήσει μια θέση στο τώρα, να του κρυφτεί, να το παίξει ένα άλλο τώρα. Τώρα υπάρχει μόνο ένα.
4+

[Antusa de Ory · Rating 5 out of 5]

Un relato deliciosamente maravilloso.

[Roula · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Dans le vieux parc solitaire et glacé
Deux spectres cherchent le passé" που θα πει: "μεσα στο παρκο το παλιο, το χιονισμενο και μοναχικο, δυο σκιες αναζητούν το παρελθον". Αυτοι οι στιχοι του Βερλαιν λοιπον αποτυπωνουν απολυτα το θεμα του βιβλιου. 2 ψυχες που βρεθηκαν σε ευαλωτη και για τους 2 στιγμη , ερωτευτηκαν παραφορα και μετα -πριν καν σχεδον προλαβει να εκδηλωθει ο ερωτας τους -χωριζονται. Περνανε 9 χρονια για να ξαναβρεθουν και ενω τα συναισθηματα ειναι ακομη εκει και για τους 2, κατι εχει αλλαξει, κατι ειναι διαφορετικο:ΕΚΕΙΝΟΙ..και οι 2 τους ειναι πλεον σκιες του παρελθοντος που προσπαθουν να ξαναερθουν στη ζωη αλλα οσα περασαν(δημιουργια νεας οικογενειας, θανατοι,πολεμος) δεν μπορουν παρα να τους εχουν αλλαξει.το συναισθημα δεν ειναι παντα αρκετο..υπεροχος Τσβαιχ κανει ψυχογραφημα-γεωτρηση ξανα σε 100 σελιδες..σεβασμος!

[Zelal Ay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Elimdeki kitapları okuyamadığım, okuyabildiğimi de sindiremediğim bir dönemler icin hep yani basımda bir Stefan Zweig bulundururum. Bu kitaba da öyle bir zamanda basladım ve beni yine yanıltmadı, yine insan ruhunu siir gibi anlatıyor, yine okurken evet evet ben de aynen böyleyim cümlesini tekrarlatıyor. Aşkın çoğu zaman temiz yüzünü gösterse de Stefan Zweig, bu temiz yüzü de en temiz haliyle gösteriyor.

[Sena Nur Işık · Rating 5 out of 5]

Zweig’ın aşkı anlatma şekline bayılıyorum!! Şimdiki aşklardan, aşklarımdan utanıyorum!!!

[Julian Worker · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is such a sad book with an open ending but I can imagine what was going to happen.

Ludwig is a young German from a humble background who gains employment with a wealthy businessman. He falls in love with his employer's wife and his love is returned and they make a vow to live together, but then Ludwig is sent to Mexico and before he can return WWI starts.

He is apart from the woman he loves but Ludwig has to make a life for himself on the 'wrong' side of the Atlantic and only returns to the land of his birth after 9 years away. The mutual attraction is still there...but can love truly make the journey into the past?

In the old park, in ice and snow caught fast
Two spectres walk, still searching for the past

[Gonzalo Eduardo Rodríguez Castro · Rating 5 out of 5]

Otra obra magistral de S. Z. El manejo de los “ángulos muertos” de su literatura son magia pura para el lector. Esos cambios de espacio, tiempo, realidad y recuerdos, entrelazan ideas e ideas que, finalmente, en algún punto de la obra, convergen y encajan perfectamente, descubriéndose solas, sin esfuerzo alguno, sutil y armoniosamente. Esta, en particular, ha sido una trama especialmente hermosa, llena de increíbles detalles, internos y externos, que nos muestran a sus personajes como a nosotros mismos. Quien no se refleja en algún punto de esta historia, no se ha abierto aún lo suficiente, a la inigualable pluma de este genio literario.

[Claire Admiral · Rating 4 out of 5]

★★★★☆ 4.25 stars

No, per il momento non pensare a niente, non volere niente, non desiderare niente, restare solo così, trascinati verso l'ignoto come in un sogno, portato da un flusso sconosciuto, non toccarsi eppure sentirsi, desiderarsi eppure non raggiungersi, sballottati dal destino e in armonia con il proprio essere.