2017 March 20: Stefan Zweig: European, Humanist, Collector

This study day was hosted by the British Library, London. Experts on Zweig discussed the cosmopolitan writer's hopes for European unity and how his manuscript collection - his 'magical circle of sublime figures' - came to express these ideals. As Zweig becomes ever more popular following recent English translations and re-publications of mainly essays and short stories, this study day discussed the latest research approaches to Zweig, as well as focused on aspects of Zweig's understudied activity of collecting. To mark the 75th anniversary of the death of Stefan Zweig (23.02.2017), the British Library presented a display in the Treasures Gallery, "The Magic of Manuscripts: Stefan Zweig's Literary and Musical Treasures" (21.02 - 11.06.2017) [The description and outline of this study day is based on an email communication of Pardaad Chamsaz, AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Student, European Studies, The British Library / University of Bristol: pardaad.chamsaz@bl.uk]

The programme:

[1].

Welcome: Kristian Jensen [Head of Collections and Curation, British Library]

In the Heart of Europe (Chair: Robert Vilain, University of Bristol)

[2].

Klemens Renoldner [Director, Stefan Zweig Centre, Salzburg]: "When Europe was destroyed: the 75th anniversary of Stefan Zweig's death in exile"

[3].

Marleen Rensen [University of Amsterdam]: "Stefan Zweig: Narrating Lives, Narrating Europe"

[4].

Will Stone [Poet, writer, translator]: "Europe before the Abyss"

In Exile (Chair: Steffan Davies, University of Bristol)

[5].

Margit Dirscherl [Queen Mary University of London]: "Everyone an Island: Stefan Zweig's early years in exile"

[6].

Matthew Werley [Richard-Strauss-Institut, Garmisch-Partenkirchen]: "The price of silence: Zweig (en)countering, collecting and collaborating with Richard Strauss"

[7].

Roundtable: "Stefan Zweig: The Great European"

The Collector (Chair: Pardaad Chamsaz, British Library / Bristol)

[8].

Rüdiger Görner [Queen Mary University of London]: "Stefan Zweig, the Collector: Securing European cultural heritage and documenting creative processes"

[9].

Stephan Matthias [Oldenburg University Library]: "From Vienna to London: Reading traces in Zweig's Library"

[10].

Will Stone, reading passages from Messages from a Lost World: Europe on the Brink

The study day was followed by Music and Poetry from the Zweig Collection, an evening of live music and readings, showcasing some of the 'sublime figures' - composers and writers, who comprise the prestigious Zweig Collection