Eminent historian Peter Gay (né Fröhlich) passed away yesterday; see, for example The New York Times' obituary.
While I've read a couple of his works -- long. long ago -- what came immediately to mind when I heard the news was his 1983 review of Ronald Hayman's Brecht in The New York Times Book Review, where he offered a parenthetical 'correction':
True, Stefan Zweig had long been eclipsed, and has only recently been revived, while Arnold only intermittently registers in English at all (Overlook re-issued The Case of Sergeant Grischa just over a decade ago; see their publicity page, or get your copy at Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk, while Freight Books did bring out his Outside Verdun (to little notice) last year; see their publicity page, or get your copy at Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk). Nevertheless, if you're aware of them -- as Gay seemed to be, to the extent that he recognized Stefan was long-dead in 1948, and Arnold the obvious Zweig giving speeches in post-war East Berlin -- you surely should -- indeed: must be aware that they were not in any way related. (A letter to the editor from a relative of Arnold's clears things up.)
It was a disillusioning moment for me -- haunting me still, even three decades on.
While I've read a couple of his works -- long. long ago -- what came immediately to mind when I heard the news was his 1983 review of Ronald Hayman's Brecht in The New York Times Book Review, where he offered a parenthetical 'correction':
Cool and generally competent (the author's most egregious slip is having Stefan Zweig make a speech in East Berlin in 1948, six years after his suicide in Brazil; he obviously had his brother, Arnold, in mind)I still remember my teenage-shock -- that a scholar of this stature, and a publication such as The New York Times Book Review, could slip so in (semi-)correcting slippage .....
True, Stefan Zweig had long been eclipsed, and has only recently been revived, while Arnold only intermittently registers in English at all (Overlook re-issued The Case of Sergeant Grischa just over a decade ago; see their publicity page, or get your copy at Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk, while Freight Books did bring out his Outside Verdun (to little notice) last year; see their publicity page, or get your copy at Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk). Nevertheless, if you're aware of them -- as Gay seemed to be, to the extent that he recognized Stefan was long-dead in 1948, and Arnold the obvious Zweig giving speeches in post-war East Berlin -- you surely should -- indeed: must be aware that they were not in any way related. (A letter to the editor from a relative of Arnold's clears things up.)
It was a disillusioning moment for me -- haunting me still, even three decades on.