Stefan Zweig, gardien de l’héritage européen

Stefan Zweig (1881–1942) wrote many biographies throughout his career. Keen to pass on a European cultural heritage, the Austrian writer gives us an insight into his intellectual development and into his very personal vision of History. Based upon the selected portraits of illustrious figures, his work of rewriting pursued a very precise objective: that of staging an international history of Europe through the intellectual and cultural filiations of its great minds, thereby allowing Zweig to become the guardian of the European heritage. This article considers some of those biographies: Romain Rolland. Der Mann und das Werk (1921), Triumph und Tragik des Erasmus von Rotterdam (1934), Castellio gegen Calvin oder Ein Gewissen gegen die Gewalt (1936), as well as Zweig’s autobiography, Die Welt von Gestern. Erinnerungen eines Europäers (1944).