Citation

Haenel T. Schweiz. Arch. Neurol. Neurochir. Psychiatr. 1981; 129(2): 297-314.

Vernacular Title

Die Suizidproblematik bei Stefan Zweig.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1981, Orell Fussli)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

7034194

Abstract

The life of the Vienna-born writer Stefan Zweig, whose centenary will be on November 28th, 1981, is portrayed in the light of some external data. His works - mainly novellas - in which the theme of suicide plays a central role, are briefly presented, and his preference for describing psychological borderline and extreme states is stressed. One of his first poems and his last one - more than forty years lie between them - are discussed with reference to his depression and suicidal tendencies. Zweig, who at least since the First World war had been periodically suffering from depressions, was looked after and in a sense also treated by his first wife Friderike von Winternitz, until he had to leave his home in Salzburg in 1935. In 1939, he divorced from his wife and married his sickly secretary, Lotte Altmann, who suffered from asthma and depression. After prolonged stays in England, North and South America he settled in Petropolis near Rio de Janeiro in Brasil, where he spent the last months of his life. Zweig was the second son of a dominating, self-willed mother and a dignified, almost "motherly" father. He felt his childhood to have been constricted and hemmed in. His narcissism, which has played an essential role in relation to his suicide, has its roots in his childhood. Direct as well as indirect hints at suicide were not lacking during the last two years of Zweig's life, which were increasingly filled with depression and anxiety. The preface to his autobiography "The World of Yesterday" may be interpreted as an indirect announcement of suicide. On February 22nd, 1942, Zweig committed suicide together with his second wife in Petropolis.

Language: de