Stefan Zweig, a tormented writer4 reading minutes

Horrified by the follies of the 20th century and a prisoner of his melancholic nature, Stefan Zweig was subject to intense inner struggles, which haunted his life and sublimated his work.

A witness to his times, Zweig sailed against the tide during the First World War, before being forced into exile in the 1930s until his death in Brazil in 1942; he never gave in to the diktat of mainstream thinking at a time when his pacifism was tantamount to treachery; he loved Switzerland, from Geneva to Zurich, a haven for free spirits in wartime; he was passionate about «what is universally human in man», while refusing to fall into abstract universalism. Yes, Stefan Zweig, a brilliant and passionate writer, is a model for all those who think they have something to say. This is the second of a three-part series.