In the Future of Yesterday offers a refreshing approach to the life and work of Austrian writer Stefan Zweig and delves into his considerable contribution to world literature, rooted in the Austro-Jewish tradition. His privileged social background saw him embrace European culture and cosmopolitanism. A world traveller from the outset he liked to uproot himself but whether he stayed in London, New York or, eventually, in Brazil, his literary baggage continued to contain the flair of fin de siècle Vienna.

This biography re-examines Zweig’s influential time in England and offers new insights into his final years in the United States and Brazil; it discusses some of his prolific literary output in relation to his life; and takes his political views on Europe, Zionism, and the world order more in greater depth than previous appraisals of Zweig’s life. 

But the considers the many contradictions in his views and attitudes, which included an initial, and surprising, leniency towards Fascist. Most importantly though, In the Future of Yesterday presents Zweig as a towering figure of a form of writing that was bursting with ‘life’ and was written in the knowledge that there can only be a future if we remain conscious of the past. In that sense at least, Zweig is a writer for our time. 

Reviews for his previous biogrpahy, Kokoschka: An Untimely Modernist

‘[A] rich literary study of a major cultural figure’ – Art History

‘Rüdiger Görner is a thorough expert in all things Kokoschka, and his work is entertaining as it is knowledgeable.’ – New Art Examiner

Rüdiger Görner was Professor of German with Comparative Literature at Queen Mary, University of London. The Founding Director of the Centre for Anglo-German Cultural Relations, his books include biographies of Rainer Maria Rilke, Georg Trakl and Oskar Kokoschka. He has been the recipient the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany.