Woodcut by Elke Rehder, 1 of 6 inspired by Zweig's Schachnovelle (or Chess Story)
We feel it's safe to say that this is the Austrian writer's first appearance in Wonkette—and perhaps the snarkiest Zweig-related piece written to date. How did it happen?
The Financial Times publishes a brief review of The Post-Office Girl March 2nd:
"...a fascinating depiction of the effects of history on individual lives."
On the 3rd, Op-Ed columnist Richard Cohen writes a piece in The Washington Post, picking up on the above mentioned line from the FT, but more or less missing the point that the earlier reviewer was speaking about the characters in the novel, rather than of their creator. Well never mind :
"Zweig fled Austria in 1934 and made his way to England and then to
America and finally, for some reason, to Brazil. He was as safe there
as he had been in America, but his world — once so comfy and secure —
was gone. He became a castaway, a Viennese writer deposited roughly on
a Brazilian beach. History had come roaring out of Germany and
flattened everything."
Finally, under the heading "Nostalgia Porn" Wonkette summarizes the Cohen column thusly:
"Also: Richard Cohen read a review of a book that sounded interesting.
The book was written by a European Jew named Stefan Zweig who fled the
Nazis and ended up 'for some reason' in Brazil and killed himself in
despair, like a man. What’s the book about? Who knows! But the review
was great."
And here we have a diagram of the media ecology of 2009. Thanks to Damion Searls for bringing this to our attention.
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