Analysis Of Stefan Zweig's 'The Snows Of Yesteryear'

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In Memory of What Once Was
The Snows of Yesteryear is a series of portraits of Gregor von Rezzori’s family including two of his significant nurses and their lives during the two World Wars and the time in between. His home city of Czernowitz was caught in the aftermath of the Austro-Hungarian Empire’s fall when it was continually handed over between Romanian, German, and Russian rule. Rezzori’s autobiography gives an in depth look into his family—materially privileged but emotionally fractured—with each chapter focusing on a person who was essential to his journey into manhood. Rezzori draws parallels throughout the novel of the dissipation of the empire—pre- and post-World War I—and the disintegration of the family. In comparison to Rezzori, Stefan Zweig’s The World of Yesterday is more successful in portraying the grievance of losing his homeland, Austria. There are many parallels throughout Rezzori’s novel about the dissipation of the empire and the disintegration of the family. His parents belonged to the city’s German-speaking elite. His father was an Austrian public servant in charge of the overseeing the Orthodox …show more content…

Each chapter focuses on a person who was central to young Rezzori’s journey into manhood. Rezzori draws parallels throughout the story of the dissipation of the empire—pre-and post-world war I—and the disintegration of the family. Although different in style and account, Zweig provides a more intimate memoir. Growing up in the waning days of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Zweig believed that Europe learned her lesson in that World War I would be the end of all wars. The World of Yesterday is a lament work honoring a dead and buried past making Zweig’s commentary more impactful in his overall approach in comparison to Rezzori’s nostalgic and intimate

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