Journey Into the Past

By Stefan Zweig, Anthea Bell and André Aciman

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 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?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Release date: Jul 25, 2012
• ISBN: 9781590174128

Stefan Zweig

Stefan Zweig (1881-1942) war ein österreichischer Schriftsteller, dessen Werke für ihre psychologische Raffinesse, emotionale Tiefe und stilistische Brillanz bekannt sind. Er wurde 1881 in Wien in eine jüdische Familie geboren. Seine Kindheit verbrachte er in einem intellektuellen Umfeld, das seine spätere Karriere als Schriftsteller prägte. Zweig zeigte früh eine Begabung für Literatur und begann zu schreiben. Nach seinem Studium der Philosophie, Germanistik und Romanistik an der Universität Wien begann er seine Karriere als Schriftsteller und Journalist. Er reiste durch Europa und pflegte Kontakte zu prominenten zeitgenössischen Schriftstellern und Intellektuellen wie Rainer Maria Rilke, Sigmund Freud, Thomas Mann und James Joyce. Zweigs literarisches Schaffen umfasst Romane, Novellen, Essays, Dramen und Biografien. Zu seinen bekanntesten Werken gehören "Die Welt von Gestern", eine autobiografische Darstellung seiner eigenen Lebensgeschichte und der Zeit vor dem Ersten Weltkrieg, sowie die "Schachnovelle", die die psychologischen Abgründe des menschlichen Geistes beschreibt. Mit dem Aufstieg des Nationalsozialismus in Deutschland wurde Zweig aufgrund seiner Herkunft und seiner liberalen Ansichten zunehmend zur Zielscheibe der Nazis. Er verließ Österreich im Jahr 1934 und lebte in verschiedenen europäischen Ländern, bevor er schließlich ins Exil nach Brasilien emigrierte. Trotz seines Erfolgs und seiner weltweiten Anerkennung litt Zweig unter dem Verlust seiner Heimat und der Zerstörung der europäischen Kultur. 1942 nahm er sich gemeinsam mit seiner Frau Lotte das Leben in Petrópolis, Brasilien. Zweigs literarisches Erbe lebt weiter und sein Werk wird auch heute noch von Lesern auf der ganzen Welt geschätzt und bewundert.

Reviews for Journey Into the Past

[booksfordinner · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Read this quick on on the plane coming back from a London vacation. Who is better at inner-angst dissection than Zweig? Just a master at this kind of thing.

[viviennestrauss · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Intriguing! Don't read the introduction until after you've read the novella though - contains many spoilers!

[kidzdoc_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Ludwig is a self-made man, who was born in poverty, put himself through university at night while working during the day, and rose to become the trusted right-hand man of a wealthy German industrialist in the years before the Great War. The industrialist is in failing health, and asks Ludwig to move into his vast estate. He initially refuses, but finally agrees. Upon his arrival, he meets the industrialist's beautiful young wife, who makes him feel immediately at home, and he soon falls madly in love with her.Two years later he is sent to Central America by the company, and the trip is to last two years. He is initially reluctant to leave, due to his previously unexpressed feelings for his unnamed love. Once she finds out he is leaving, she admits that she fell in love with him from the moment she first met him, and they agree to consummate their smoldering love on his return. The meeting is delayed due to the onset of the Great War, but eventually he is able to return to Germany, and the two agree to meet. He feels the same passion for her that he had on his departure, but wonders if she will still agree to her promise.Journey into the Past is a complex, passionate tale of love and how it can grow or wither with time and hardship. The story had me on edge for its short length, and it is one of the best novellas I've ever read.

[berthirsch · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I recently read Zweig's The Chess Story that led me to this novella Journey Into The Past. I am now a big fan of Zweig.He tells his tales in simple language that paints a potent picture. Here a young man finds his way in life, romance and business. He finds a mentor who recognizes his special talents. Invited to join his household the young man and the mentor's wife strike a special connection; before long a sexual energy appears and is impossible to deny. Yet years and World War I seperate them and until 9 years later they reunite.This book depicts the pain and yearning of unfulfilled love and passion. The energy leaps off the page.Zweig was a true master. In short novels he leaves the reader with lasting memories and reflections. A gift.

[msarki_3 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I was expecting a bit of a wilder experience with this title based on my first exposure to Zweig with his novella Confusion. It was still a good reading experience, but one I am sure will rank much lower than than most as I continue on with my new study of Stefan Zweig. The other problem I had with this book was its being written much earlier on in Zweig's writing career and a segment had already been published in an earlier form, but Zweig was never satisfied with it. He continued to work on the novella for years and never did publish it in total. Of course, Zweig died by his own hand, taking the life of his young wife with him. But the hunger by fans of Zweig for any additional work they might read pressured our capitalists to finally present this book to the reading public. My position is, and always has been, that these unfinished works should stay in the libraries in manuscript form and not be produced as a finished product for the simple reason that Zweig did not wish this to be. If he had, he would have given it to his publisher before he offed himself and his lover. But that is me, and what do I know? But the book is tainted no matter what the smarter ones say.

[rainpebble_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Last night I read "Journey Into the Past" by Stefan Zweig, a lovely novella about 2 people meeting in peacetime. One is available, the other is not. Then they are separated by business but write & make plans to see each other again one day. Then comes "The Great War" & the gentleman is stuck where he is so it is a very long nine years before they see each other again.The story is not just about love & loving, but about hope & hopelessness, about drive and ambition, about simple human kindness.If you've not read Stefan Zweig, please do something really nice for yourself and read a piece of his work. It doesn't have to be this particular one. They are all lovely.

[countrylife_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Ludwig, who is a secretary to the owner of the company, is finally persuaded to attend the owner at home as his health declines. During his years there, he gradually falls in love with the owner’s wife. Sent to Mexico on the firm’s behalf and to make his own riches, they expect to be separated for two years. WWI intervenes, and it is nine years before his return. They finally meet again, and walking in the park as the day wanes, watching their shadows stretching ahead of themselves, he remembers a quote from Verlaine from a book she had read aloud in the past, “In the old park, in ice and snow caught fastTwo spectres walk, still searching for the past. Short and poignant.

[hemlokgang · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The manuscript of this novella was found in Zweig's belongings after his suicide. Apparently it is partially autobiographical. As is common with other books of Zweig's, the plot is deceptively simple. It consists of the story of a young man and woman who fall in love, but due to her marriage and his work they cannot be together, and the are separated on separate continents during WWI. The inevitable reunion is thrilling, then tentative, and then sadly unlikely. I think the primary is about all that was lost during the war, on a much deeper level than a first love. It was about the loss of individual and national identity, the loss of lifestyle and about society's very fabric coming apart. Zweig's prose is simple, yet emotionally evocative. Certainly his writing improved in his later novels, but the seeds are all here!