This electronic thesis or dissertation has been downloaded from Explore Bristol Research, http://research-information.bristol.ac.uk Author: Chamsaz, Pardaad Title: The Secret of Creation Stefan Zweig as Collector, Eulogist and Biographer of Balzac General rights Access to the thesis is subject to the Creative Commons Attribution - NonCommercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International Public License. A copy of this may be found at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/legalcode This license sets out your rights and the restrictions that apply to your access to the thesis so it is important you read this before proceeding. Take down policy Some pages of this thesis may have been removed for copyright restrictions prior to having it been deposited in Explore Bristol Research. However, if you have discovered material within the thesis that you consider to be unlawful e.g. breaches of copyright (either yours or that of a third party) or any other law, including but not limited to those relating to patent, trademark, confidentiality, data protection, obscenity, defamation, libel, then please contact [email protected] and include the following information in your message: •Your contact details •Bibliographic details for the item, including a URL •An outline nature of the complaint Your claim will be investigated and, where appropriate, the item in question will be removed from public view as soon as possible. The Secret of Creation Stefan Zweig as Collector, Eulogist and Biographer of Balzac Pardaad Chamsaz A dissertation submitted to the University of Bristol in accordance with the requirements for award of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Faculty of Arts. SCHOOL OF MODERN LANGUAGES JUNE 2019 WORD COUNT: 83,951 0 i Abstract Stefan Zweig’s devotion to mediating cultural history has often been dismissed for its hyperbole, its lack of engagement with socio-political factors, and its proximity to a cult of genius around contemporary authors. This thesis does not deny Zweig’s tendency towards abstraction and his flight from the real but seeks to complicate such idealism by rethinking three particular groups of texts in their material contexts. First, thanks to the project’s proximity to the British Library’s Stefan Zweig Collection, the discussion develops a theoretical understanding of Zweig as collector and as a reader of manuscripts. Focusing on the materiality of textual production and reception, Zweig’s essays animate an encounter with manuscripts that are as much to do with traces as they are authors. Ultimately, the author searches for the secret of creation, not the creator. Second, the thesis considers Zweig’s eulogies as a distinct genre, making the case that such texts respond to specific deaths, and thus cannot be read simply for harmonizing rhetorical strategies. The social, literary and personal contexts become significant in the re-interpretation of a genre that entails a process of mourning. Third, the focus on material texts and on remembering creative figures is united in a discussion of Zweig’s unfinished Balzac biography. It makes the case that Zweig’s lifelong preoccupation with Balzac had a textual basis, as Balzac’s own manuscripts, his letters, diaries, reflections, and works ultimately infected Zweig’s process. This lays the ground to expand Zweig’s biography to include its compositional process and this section uses archival material to interpret the revisions made by the biographer between first and second drafts. Ultimately, rethinking Zweig’s writing in terms of his own sustained interest in literary materiality opens it to new critical relationships. For Zweig, nothing can be understood without an understanding of the secret of creation. i ii Acknowledgments This thesis is the result of a collaborative project in many respects. I would like to thank my supervisors at the University of Bristol, Dr Steffan Davies and Professor Robert Vilain, who helped shape and challenge my ideas and who have remained patient over the years, never failing to reinvigorate the writing in times of doubt. Also, this thesis would not have been written, were it not for Susan Reed, who initiated the project, and who, with Janet Zmroczek, inducted me into the singular world of the British Library. The collaboration with the British Library and the University of Bristol on this unique project has provided life-changing opportunities that continue to resonate. I would also like to acknowledge the support of the Arts and Humanities Research Council throughout and, for his administrative support and encouragement to travel for research, I thank James Perkins at the British Library. There has been another side to this thesis, a rare chance to contribute to the cultural output of a major heritage institution. For enthusiastically welcoming my work on the published catalogue, on the study day, the evening performance, and the exhibition in the Treasures Gallery at the British Library, I would particularly like to thank, again, Susan Reed, Sandra Tuppen, Pam Porter, Scot McKendrick, and Richard Chesser, amongst many others who helped bring the Zweig Collection to life. Researching Zweig has taken this project to places near and far, which could only have been achieved through the generous funding of the AHRC and the British Library, but also through the generosity of archives and scholars I encountered along the way. For the innumerable scans and unexpected friendships over two visits, I am indebted to the Archives & Special Collections of the Daniel A. Reed Library at the State University of New York at Fredonia, and especially to Kim Taylor. I would also like to thank Oliver Matuschek for his constant interest and invaluable insight into the history of all things Zweig. Most of all, I would like to acknowledge the support of the Heirs to Stefan Zweig, whose passion for Zweig’s legacy was a constant source of inspiration. No one writes a thesis in isolation and this was nowhere truer than at the British Library, where I was lucky to be part of a community of collaborative students. I cannot begin to thank Katie McElvanney and Michael Carey for just being there, for making me work and for distracting me in good measure. Finally, this thesis has not just been mine for nearly five years; friends and family lived with it, interrogated it, did not get it, and did so while always supporting me. I hope I can one day be the same support to those close to me: my mother, my brothers, and my good friends. I reserve the last acknowledgement for the one person who has actually lived with this thesis, who at the beginning in 2014 was friend and is now both friend and family. I would have never done this without your patience and love, so this is for you, Melissa. iii iv Author’s Declaration I declare that the work in this dissertation was carried out in accordance with the requirements of the University's Regulations and Code of Practice for Research Degree Programmes and that it has not been submitted for any other academic award. Except where indicated by specific reference in the text, the work is the candidate's own work. Work done in collaboration with, or with the assistance of, others, is indicated as such. Any views expressed in the dissertation are those of the author. SIGNED: ……………………………………………………………… DATE: ….. 12.06.2019 ….. v vi Table of Contents List of Abbreviations xii Introduction 1 Section A: The Collector 1 Why the Manuscript Collection? 9 2 History and Premise 13 3 Contextualising the Collection 18 3.1 Collection as World 3.2 Chaos, Order, Myth 4 Experiencing the Collection 25 4.1 Defining Zweig’s Handschriftenkunde 4.2 Between Traditional and Modern Textual Criticism 4.3 Between Mind and Body 4.4 The Return of the Author 5 Refining the Collection 60 6 An Ethics of Remembrance 69 Section B: The Eulogist 7 Eulogy as a Distinct Genre 75 8 The Contexts 79 8.1 Denying Death and Failing to Mourn 8.2 Mourning Practices and Rhetorical Strategies 8.3 The Feuilleton Eulogy 8.4 Zweig’s Practice 8.5 The Tropes 9 The Early Eulogies (Jakob Julius David, Adalbert Matkowsky, Josef Kainz) 95 10 The First World War Eulogies (Emile Verhaeren, Peter Rosegger, ‘Nekrolog auf ein Hotel’) 106 vii viii 11 The Post-War Eulogies (Heinrich Lammasch, Alfred Fried, Walther Rathenau) 116 12 The End of an Era (Rainer Maria Rilke, Hugo von Hofmannsthal, Arthur Schnitzler, Hermann Bahr) 125 13 The Exile Eulogies (Alexander Moissi, John Drinkwater, Joseph Roth, Sigmund Freud, Max Hermann-Neiße) 151 14 Abschiednehmen ist eine schwere Kunst 165 Section C: The Masterpiece 15 The ‘Big Balzac’ 167 15.1 The Focality of Balzac 15.2 A Poetics of Incompletion: Balzac’s proofs 15.3 The Long Inception of a Magnum Opus 16 Balzac Reception 182 17 The Content 186 17.1 Biography as Lebensroman 17.2 Thematic Summary 17.3 Critical Response 18 The Drafts 199 18.1 The Archive and Richard Friedenthal 18.2 Methodology 18.3 Interpretation of Revisions 19 The Immense Palimpsest of History 229 Conclusion 231 Bibliography 235 ix x Abbreviations B I Stefan Zweig, Briefe 1897-1914, ed. by Knut Beck, Jeffrey B. Berlin, and Natascha Weschenbach-Feggeler (Frankfurt am Main: Fischer, 1995) B II Stefan Zweig, Briefe 1914-1919, ed. by Knut Beck, Jeffrey B. Berlin, and Natascha Weschenbach-Feggeler (Frankfurt am Main: Fischer, 1998) B III Stefan Zweig, Briefe 1920-1931, ed. by Knut Beck and Jeffrey B. Berlin (Frankfurt am Main: Fischer, 2000) B IV Stefan Zweig, Briefe 1932-1942, ed. by Knut Beck and Jeffrey B. Berlin (Frankfurt am Main: Fischer, 2005) BZ Stefan Zweig, Balzac, ed. by Knut Beck (Frankfurt am Main: Fischer, 1990) [Gesammelte Werke in Einzelbänden] GWE Gesammelte Werke in Einzelbänden, ed.