Monday 6 August 2012

No Zweig Plaque

Alison Flood writes in the Guardian that English Heritage will not be attaching a blue plaque to the London building where the Austrian-born writer Stefan Zweig lived for five years in the 1930s. Apparently, "reaction to the recent reissue of his autobiography appeared to show that there is not a modern critical consensus about his work." Which made me laugh, especially when I (mistakenly) searched for reviews of Oliver Matuschek's recent biography and found only praise for Zweig, and then realised they were referring to poet and reluctant translator Michael Hofmann's entertaining slating of The World of Yesterday in the London Review of Books back in 2010. Want a blue plaque attached to your house after you die? Better not get on Michael Hofmann's nerves then.

There is of course an informal campaign to get Zweig's former house a blue plaque, led by vocal British campaigning authors Zadie Smith and Antonia Fraser. And according to Guy Cunningham's piece in Bookslut, Zweig's fans also include Joan Acocella, Clive James and the late John Geilguld. Not to forget the England football team's "cerebral leader" Roy Hodgson, who famously enjoyed Beware of Pity. Fraser mentions in the Guardian piece that "one of the things about London is that we welcome refugee writers – it's an honour for London and part of our heritage to have a plaque [commemorating Zweig]". English Heritage sees it differently and refuses to budge for the next ten years though, so don't plan your exiled writers sightseeing tour of London just yet.


7 comments:

Harvey Morrell said...

Maybe Hofman was taking his cue from Thomas Mann who, according to Clive James in Cultural Amnesia, debated with his children as to who should be accorded the Palme der Minderwürdige. One of the authors Mann named was Zweig (along with Feuchtwanger and Remarque). For what it's worth, James is not of the opinion that Zweig is second rate.

Ina Pfitzner said...

I can't seem to find it on their webpage, but the sonntaz ran an article last weekend that they just opened a Casa Stefan Zweig in Petropolis, Brazil. One would think that they appreciate him more over there...

David said...

Mann was no doubt jealous because Zweig sold far more books back then...

Zweig deserves the plaque, even if just for "Schachnovelle".

kjd said...

Aha!

http://forward.com/articles/157393/death-in-petropolis/

kjd said...

And I'm always a bit puzzled by Clive James, who I know primarily for his wacky 90s television appearances, memorably him looking rather grandfatherly in an illegal Berlin night club by the name of "Boudoir", hence rendering the place forever uncool. It folded shortly afterwards.

I'm sure there are plenty of things that motivate people to speak ill of other writers, though.

schultzie said...

Personally I couldn't stand his autobio - too much bragging and bs

kjd said...

So it was your fault, Schulzie!