Journey Into the Past

by Stefan Zweig

Other authorsAnthea Bell (Translator), Andre Aciman (Introduction)

Paperback, 2010

Status

Available

Call number

833.912

Genres

General Fiction

All Topics

Fiction

Collection

Your library

Publication

NYRB Classics (2010), Edition: Original, Paperback, 136 pages

Description

"Investigating the strange ways in which love, in spite of everything -- time, war, betrayal -- can last, Zweig tells the story of Ludwig, an ambitious young man from a modest background who falls in love with the wife of his rich employer. His love is returned, and the couple vow to live together, but then Ludwig is dispatched on business to Mexico, and while he is there the First World War breaks out. With travel and even communication across the Atlantic shut down, Ludwig makes a new life in the New World. Years later, however, he returns to Germany to find his beloved a widow and their mutual attraction as strong as ever. But is it possible for love to survive precisely as the impossible?"--Publisher's description.

Media reviews

Le Figaro

Stefan Zweig, l'indémodable L'écrivain autrichien enthousiasme les lecteurs avec « Le Voyage dans le passé », bref récit datant de 1929et jusque-là inédit en français.

User reviews

LibraryThing member kidzdoc

Ludwig is a self-made man, who was born in poverty, put himself through university at night while working during the day, and rose to become the trusted right-hand man of a wealthy German industrialist in the years before the Great War. The industrialist is in failing health, and asks Ludwig to

move into his vast estate. He initially refuses, but finally agrees. Upon his arrival, he meets the industrialist's beautiful young wife, who makes him feel immediately at home, and he soon falls madly in love with her.

Two years later he is sent to Central America by the company, and the trip is to last two years. He is initially reluctant to leave, due to his previously unexpressed feelings for his unnamed love. Once she finds out he is leaving, she admits that she fell in love with him from the moment she first met him, and they agree to consummate their smoldering love on his return. The meeting is delayed due to the onset of the Great War, but eventually he is able to return to Germany, and the two agree to meet. He feels the same passion for her that he had on his departure, but wonders if she will still agree to her promise.

Journey into the Past is a complex, passionate tale of love and how it can grow or wither with time and hardship. The story had me on edge for its short length, and it is one of the best novellas I've ever read.

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LibraryThing member MSarki

I was expecting a bit of a wilder experience with this title based on my first exposure to Zweig with his novella Confusion. It was still a good reading experience, but one I am sure will rank much lower than than most as I continue on with my new study of Stefan Zweig. The other problem I had with

this book was its being written much earlier on in Zweig's writing career and a segment had already been published in an earlier form, but Zweig was never satisfied with it. He continued to work on the novella for years and never did publish it in total. Of course, Zweig died by his own hand, taking the life of his young wife with him. But the hunger by fans of Zweig for any additional work they might read pressured our capitalists to finally present this book to the reading public. My position is, and always has been, that these unfinished works should stay in the libraries in manuscript form and not be produced as a finished product for the simple reason that Zweig did not wish this to be. If he had, he would have given it to his publisher before he offed himself and his lover. But that is me, and what do I know? But the book is tainted no matter what the smarter ones say.

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LibraryThing member countrylife

Ludwig, who is a secretary to the owner of the company, is finally persuaded to attend the owner at home as his health declines. During his years there, he gradually falls in love with the owner’s wife. Sent to Mexico on the firm’s behalf and to make his own riches, they expect to be separated

for two years. WWI intervenes, and it is nine years before his return. They finally meet again, and walking in the park as the day wanes, watching their shadows stretching ahead of themselves, he remembers a quote from Verlaine from a book she had read aloud in the past,

“In the old park, in ice and snow caught fast
Two spectres walk, still searching for the past.

Short and poignant.

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LibraryThing member berthirsch

I recently read Zweig's The Chess Story that led me to this novella Journey Into The Past. I am now a big fan of Zweig.

He tells his tales in simple language that paints a potent picture. Here a young man finds his way in life, romance and business. He finds a mentor who recognizes his special

talents. Invited to join his household the young man and the mentor's wife strike a special connection; before long a sexual energy appears and is impossible to deny. Yet years and World War I seperate them and until 9 years later they reunite.

This book depicts the pain and yearning of unfulfilled love and passion. The energy leaps off the page.

Zweig was a true master. In short novels he leaves the reader with lasting memories and reflections. A gift.

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LibraryThing member viviennestrauss

Intriguing! Don't read the introduction until after you've read the novella though - contains many spoilers!

LibraryThing member hemlokgang

The manuscript of this novella was found in Zweig's belongings after his suicide. Apparently it is partially autobiographical. As is common with other books of Zweig's, the plot is deceptively simple. It consists of the story of a young man and woman who fall in love, but due to her marriage and

his work they cannot be together, and the are separated on separate continents during WWI. The inevitable reunion is thrilling, then tentative, and then sadly unlikely. I think the primary is about all that was lost during the war, on a much deeper level than a first love. It was about the loss of individual and national identity, the loss of lifestyle and about society's very fabric coming apart. Zweig's prose is simple, yet emotionally evocative. Certainly his writing improved in his later novels, but the seeds are all here!

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LibraryThing member BooksForDinner

Read this quick on on the plane coming back from a London vacation. Who is better at inner-angst dissection than Zweig? Just a master at this kind of thing.

LibraryThing member Gypsy_Boy

According to the translator (Anthea Bell), this is a particularly Chekhovian novella. I can’t say, not having read enough Chekhov. As is true of much of his work (both short stories and novels), Zweig is fascinated by and brilliant at depicting psychological issues. The story is simple: Ludwig

falls in love with his boss’s wife; she reciprocates his feelings. He is then unexpectedly sent by his boss to Mexico on a multi-year business project requiring enormous responsibility. Although they promise each other to consummate their relationship when he returns, WWI breaks out and by the time he returns home on a visit years later, he is now married and she is now a widow. Their mutual attraction remains as strong as ever but circumstances have changed enormously. What will happen? The summary sounds melodramatic, but I didn’t find the book to be so. Zweig is a gifted writer whose portrayal of the people and the situation is nuanced, insightful, and rings completely true.

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