Via The Atlantic. He’s talking about Zweig’s memoir The World of Yesterday (1943):
It occurred to me as I read this: If Zweig had just held on to his faith a little bit longer, Nazism was doomed. And although he would never get back the world of yesterday, he could have played an important part in building the role of tomorrow....The World of Yesterday is a book for these times. See, for instance, what Zweig had to say about the desire for order.
We all have to hold on, even when things seem despairing, because you never know that hope isn’t just a few months away and, in the deep dark you see, there’s already the glimmerings of the light of tomorrow. And that the world of yesterday can be a resource for the world of tomorrow. Don’t despair. Don’t quit.
Related reading
All OCA Stefan Zweig posts (Pinboard)
comments: 2
I always think of how people suddenly stopped believing in McCarthyism, but not until Joe tried to disparage the army.
During the horror, President Truman said that America sometimes gets bouts of hysteria, but that the Constitution was strong enough to help the republic prevail.
Considering Frum, I guess back in France nobody anticipated how abruptly the Reign of Terror would end.
Each time I’ve thought there was a tipping point with the current occupant, there wasn’t. But I have to believe that there will be one.
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