Montaigne (Pushkin Collection)

Written during the Second World War Zweigs typically passionate and readable biography of Michel de Montaigne is also a heartfelt argument for the importance of intellectual freedom tolerance and humanism. Zweig draws strong parallels between Montaignes age when Europe was torn in two by conflict between Catholicism and Protestantism and his own in which the twin fanaticisms of Fascism and Communism were on the verge of destroying the pan-continental liberal culture he was born into and loved dearly. Just as Montaigne sought to remain aloof from the factionalism of his day so Zweig tried to the last to defend his freedom of thought and argue for peace and compromise.  One of the final works Zweig wrote before his suicide this is both a brilliantly impassioned portrait of a great mind and a moving plea for tolerance in a world ruled by cruelty. Review Thanks to Stones assiduous translation Zweigs fascinating meditation on the writer in whom he saw himself mirrored appears now for the first time in English. Zweig weaves biographical elements into his study-Montaignes study of Latin at age four his retirement from his public duties as a French nobleman at age 38-but the book is more properly an introduction to an endlessly inquisitive thinker who never stopped searching for the truth... This captivating study portrays a writer whose life and work can be summed up by his constant posing of the question How should I live?- Publishers WeeklyZweigs accumulated historical and cultural studies remain a body of achievement almost too impressive to take in - Clive James[Pushkin Presss republication of Stefan Zweigs work] has been entirely successful. Zweigmania seems to break out with the publication of each book with readers discovering his work by word-of-mouth and by accident - Guardian[Zweigs] life and work tell of the perilous flimsiness of our world of security-a message that many insistently deny but somehow need to hear - John Gray New Statesman Review Zweigs accumulated historical and cultural studies remain a body of achievement almost too impressive to take in. -- Clive James [During his lifetime] arguably themost widely read and translated serious author in the world. -- John Fowles About the Author Stefan Zweig was born in 1881 in Vienna into a wealthy Austrian-Jewish family. He studied in Berlin and Vienna and was first known as a poet and translator then as a biographer. Between the wars Zweig was an international bestseller with a string of hugely popular novellas includingLetter from an Unknown Woman Amok andFear. In 1934 with the rise of Nazism he left Austria and lived in London Bath and New York-a period during which he produced his most celebrated works: his only novelBeware of Pity and his memoirThe World of Yesterday. He eventually settled in Brazil where in 1942 he and his wife were found dead in an apparent double suicide. Much of his work is available from Pushkin Press. Translated from the German by Will Stone.