---
product_id: 19182853
title: "The Impossible Exile: Stefan Zweig at the End of the World Paperback – Illustrated, August 25, 2015"
brand: "george prochnik"
price: "€ 32.62"
currency: EUR
in_stock: true
reviews_count: 9
url: https://www.desertcart.it/products/19182853-the-impossible-exile-stefan-zweig-at-the-end-of-world
store_origin: IT
region: Italy
---

# The Impossible Exile: Stefan Zweig at the End of the World Paperback – Illustrated, August 25, 2015

**Brand:** george prochnik
**Price:** € 32.62
**Availability:** ✅ In Stock

## Quick Answers

- **What is this?** The Impossible Exile: Stefan Zweig at the End of the World Paperback – Illustrated, August 25, 2015 by george prochnik
- **How much does it cost?** € 32.62 with free shipping
- **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship
- **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.it](https://www.desertcart.it/products/19182853-the-impossible-exile-stefan-zweig-at-the-end-of-world)

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- george prochnik enthusiasts

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## Description

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## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5.0 out of 5 stars







  
  
    What makes an "exile"?
  

*by G***L on Reviewed in the United States on June 21, 2014*

When does leaving one country for another become an "exile" as opposed to just plain "emigration"? It can't just be a matter of a forced leaving, because how many Jews who left Germany and other European countries in the 1930's felt they were going into exile? I'd assume most realised they were going to new lives in countries of safety. But for some - like famed author Stefan Zweig - leaving the land of their birth and of their family history, life outside Austria became an exile. Ultimately, in 1942, after living in England and the United States, he and his much-younger second wife committed suicide in their Brazilian village home.Author George Prochnik's new book, "The Impossible Exile: Stefan Zweig at the End of the World", is not strictly a biography. It covers in depth the years from the 1930's to Zweig's death as he left all he loved and held dear - his life in Vienna - to live in England (London and Bath), then to the United States, and finally, to Brazil. (If you're not familiar with Stefan Zweig - and I wasn't - I'd advise reading the Wiki entry on him to acquaint yourself with the basics his life and works.)Prochnik does an excellent job in detailing the emotional anguish Zweig felt as he left Austria for the last time. Although Vienna had been his home for most of his life, he had lived with his first wife and her daughters in a large house outside of Salzburg. But to leave Austria - even knowing the Nazis would make official the already rampant anti-Semitism embedded in Austrian society - to leave his German language, to leave what he knew and accepted, was, in the end, too much for Zweig.Prochnik follows the Zweigs - Stefan and his first wife - to England, and then to New York. Even though his work was widely published and appreciated, Zweig found it difficult to adjust to life in the United States. As a literary lion, he was feted everywhere, but never seemed to feel settled.  He went to Ossining, a small town north of New York City but finally fled to Petropolis, a mountain village north of Rio. It was there he ended his life, seemingly numbed by the terrible war news of late 1941 and early 1942. Would he have committed suicide - at the age of 60 - if he had any inkling that the war would be won by the Allies and that - possibly, he could have returned to his beloved Austria?George Prochnik adds a bit of his own personal history to the book. His family, also Austrian Jewish immigrants during the 1930's, were similar to the Zweigs. I received the impression that Prochnik's family made lives for themselves in the United States. Clearly Stefan Zweig did not. And maybe that's the difference between "emigration" and "exile". I didn't mind his putting his family in the book, but some readers don't like an author's intrusion into a book. Also, and I am not taking any stars away from my rating, but the publisher of the book did not label any of the pictures included in the text. Sometimes it's easy to know the identity of the figure is, but other times it's not. For instance, there's a picture of a young woman who was clearly Zweig's second wife, but a few pages on there's a picture of three women. I have no idea who the women were. Please - Mr Publisher - label the pictures in the next edition!!

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4.0 out of 5 stars







  
  
    If I were to recommend only one of these two
  

*by D***6 on Reviewed in the United States on October 19, 2014*

I was fascinated by Stefan Zweig's autobiography "The World of Yesterday." Without having read that book first, however, I would have found the current Prochnik book much more difficult to appreciate, partly because it is simply not chronologically organized. Prochnik tells a far more critical tale, bordering on the unsympathetic at times. Thus, the two books together reveal more than either single viewpoint could, on its own. If I were to recommend only one of these two, it would have to be Zweig's own writing, which reveals far more about the entire historical era than just the central figure of the narrative. Nevertheless, given Zweig's own strangely self-deprecating elitism, it is valuable to have a third-person account of his actual place in European culture. Prochnik also adds very significant descriptions of Zweig's life after leaving Europe, first for New York and then in Brazil. Definitely recommended if 1890-1940 in Europe (particularly Austria) is of special interest to you.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5.0 out of 5 stars







  
  
    Captivating Look At A Complex Man In Complex Circumstances
  

*by R***A on Reviewed in the United States on July 27, 2015*

Following Stefan Zweig through the years in which the Nazis were gaining power forcing him to leave his beloved Vienna and seek asylum abroad allows the author to examine not only Zweig's personal circumstances but also his place in a network of Exiles in both Europe and the Americas during this tumultuous time. Zweig's inner struggles with living in Exile are related through reference to his own excellent autobiography The World Of Yesterday as well as correspondence and interviews. I've rarely read anything about these years from the perspective of those who escaped the Holocaust with such a depth of feeling and understanding of the combination of restlessness, grief for what was lost and guilt for having left others behind. The author is the descendent of Austrian Jews as well and his common heritage with his subject Zweig gives this book a particular poignancy when discussing the seemingly lost world of pre-Anchluss Vienna.Zweig was a renowned author, a celebrity who quite suddenly finds the rug pulled out from under him in such a devastating way that his story is the perfect example of what those exiled from their homelands during the Nazi era experienced both externally and internally. As an avid reader of Zweig , I found this book incredibly interesting and valuable and recommend it to anyone with an interest not only in Zweig but in this story of those fortunate to escape the death camps but who struggled to find themselves after being cast adrift. Fabulous book.

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*Product available on Desertcart Italy*
*Store origin: IT*
*Last updated: 2026-01-24*