Klemens Renoldner: Takeaways from Stefan Zweig and his famous autobiography

Stefan Zweig did not only deal with the literary genre of "autobiography" towards the end of his life. This engagement has left many traces that have not been taken into account by biographical research. How, it must be asked, have biographers commented on Zweig's World of Yesterday? And why, apart from obvious errors in Zweig's autobiography, are there still so many unanswered questions about this book? And what exactly is meant when it is repeatedly said nowadays that Zweig's memoirs are still highly relevant for our world today? These are some of the questions that will be addressed in this lecture. 

Klemens Renoldner, born in 1953, studied German literature and music in Salzburg and Vienna, PhD 1980. After graduation, twenty years of engagements as dramaturge at theaters in Austria, Germany and Switzerland. As a writer, he published several volumes of stories, essays, plays and a novel. His contemporary documentary "Tale of Two Prisoners" has just been published in Vienna.  

He is the founding director of Stefan Zweig Centre at the University of Salzburg, which he directed from 2008-2018. Numerous publications on Stefan Zweig, co-editor of the „Stefan Zweig Handbuch“ and of the new critical edition of Zweig's short-stories and novels. 

Please note: This is an in-person only event.

Host or Publisher The Auckland Goethe Society