Arnhilt Johanna Hoefle
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- May 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780824872083
- eISBN:
- 9780824876852
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Hawai'i Press
- DOI:
- 10.21313/hawaii/9780824872083.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, World Literature
How can one author be among the most bitterly rejected writers in one cultural context, while being one of the most celebrated in another? For decades, the works of the Austrian-Jewish writer Stefan ...
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How can one author be among the most bitterly rejected writers in one cultural context, while being one of the most celebrated in another? For decades, the works of the Austrian-Jewish writer Stefan Zweig (1881-1942) have been fiercely attacked by critics and scholars in Europe and North America who questioned their literary value and naïve Habsburg nostalgia. Yet in other parts of the world, such as in China, Zweig’s works have enjoyed not only continued admiration but also truly exceptional influence, popularity, and even canonical status. China’s Stefan Zweig unveils the extraordinary success story of Zweig’s novellas in China, from the first translations in the 1920s, shortly after the collapse of the Chinese Empire, through the Mao era to the contemporary People’s Republic. Extensive research in China has unearthed a wealth of hitherto unexplored Chinese-language sources which evidence that Zweig has been read in an entirely different way there. Traversing a truly global system of cultural transfer and several intermediary spaces, Zweig’s works have been selected and employed for very different literary and ideological purposes throughout turbulent times in China. Declared to be a powerful critic of bourgeois society, the Chinese way of reading Zweig reveals important new perspectives on one of the most successful and, at the same time, most misunderstood European writers of the twentieth century.Less
How can one author be among the most bitterly rejected writers in one cultural context, while being one of the most celebrated in another? For decades, the works of the Austrian-Jewish writer Stefan Zweig (1881-1942) have been fiercely attacked by critics and scholars in Europe and North America who questioned their literary value and naïve Habsburg nostalgia. Yet in other parts of the world, such as in China, Zweig’s works have enjoyed not only continued admiration but also truly exceptional influence, popularity, and even canonical status. China’s Stefan Zweig unveils the extraordinary success story of Zweig’s novellas in China, from the first translations in the 1920s, shortly after the collapse of the Chinese Empire, through the Mao era to the contemporary People’s Republic. Extensive research in China has unearthed a wealth of hitherto unexplored Chinese-language sources which evidence that Zweig has been read in an entirely different way there. Traversing a truly global system of cultural transfer and several intermediary spaces, Zweig’s works have been selected and employed for very different literary and ideological purposes throughout turbulent times in China. Declared to be a powerful critic of bourgeois society, the Chinese way of reading Zweig reveals important new perspectives on one of the most successful and, at the same time, most misunderstood European writers of the twentieth century.
Arnhilt Johanna Hoefle
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- May 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780824872083
- eISBN:
- 9780824876852
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Hawai'i Press
- DOI:
- 10.21313/hawaii/9780824872083.003.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, World Literature
The 130th anniversary of Stefan Zweig’s birthday in 2011 triggered the latest “rediscovery” of the Austrian writer in Europe and North America, manifesting itself in various new editions and ...
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The 130th anniversary of Stefan Zweig’s birthday in 2011 triggered the latest “rediscovery” of the Austrian writer in Europe and North America, manifesting itself in various new editions and translations, exhibitions, graphic novels, radio plays, and movies inspired by his life and work, such as Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel or Maria Schrader’s Vor der Morgenröte. At the same heated debates about the writer’s literary merit flared up again. This introduction provides an overview of the international reception history of Zweig, whose works have been translated into more than sixty languages since the 1920s, while causing relentless aversion and controversy among scholars and critics. This chapter also explains why the Chinese reception with its wealth of unexplored material spanning almost the whole twentieth century serves as the ideal case study not only to re-read Zweig’s work but also to rethink our understanding of cross-cultural literary connections as complex “global systems of cultural transfer.”Less
The 130th anniversary of Stefan Zweig’s birthday in 2011 triggered the latest “rediscovery” of the Austrian writer in Europe and North America, manifesting itself in various new editions and translations, exhibitions, graphic novels, radio plays, and movies inspired by his life and work, such as Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel or Maria Schrader’s Vor der Morgenröte. At the same heated debates about the writer’s literary merit flared up again. This introduction provides an overview of the international reception history of Zweig, whose works have been translated into more than sixty languages since the 1920s, while causing relentless aversion and controversy among scholars and critics. This chapter also explains why the Chinese reception with its wealth of unexplored material spanning almost the whole twentieth century serves as the ideal case study not only to re-read Zweig’s work but also to rethink our understanding of cross-cultural literary connections as complex “global systems of cultural transfer.”
David Bates
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780199674411
- eISBN:
- 9780191752339
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199674411.003.0004
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Medieval History
The chapter begins by justifying the use of the term hegemony, but also points out the relevance of the term cultural transfer as allowing agency to peoples beyond the imperial core. It looks at ...
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The chapter begins by justifying the use of the term hegemony, but also points out the relevance of the term cultural transfer as allowing agency to peoples beyond the imperial core. It looks at imperial rule and the behaviour of the cross-Channel elite, examining both phenomena in terms of cultural values. It relates these both to vulnerability and—ultimately—to the enduring strength of cross-Channel links and of values that predisposed the elite to work for the continuation of empire through periods of disputed succession and civil war up to and beyond 1154. It uses case studies to analyse political behaviour beyond the imperial core in northern France, Wales, and Scotland, demonstrating how the hard and soft power of empire was both seductive and repellent, but that it involved attractions that made for a degree of integration. The theme of underlying plurality runs through the chapter.Less
The chapter begins by justifying the use of the term hegemony, but also points out the relevance of the term cultural transfer as allowing agency to peoples beyond the imperial core. It looks at imperial rule and the behaviour of the cross-Channel elite, examining both phenomena in terms of cultural values. It relates these both to vulnerability and—ultimately—to the enduring strength of cross-Channel links and of values that predisposed the elite to work for the continuation of empire through periods of disputed succession and civil war up to and beyond 1154. It uses case studies to analyse political behaviour beyond the imperial core in northern France, Wales, and Scotland, demonstrating how the hard and soft power of empire was both seductive and repellent, but that it involved attractions that made for a degree of integration. The theme of underlying plurality runs through the chapter.
