Suicide as an Ultimate Act of Defiance: Illustrated by Stephan Zweig

Abstract

This essay considers suicide as an ultimate act of defiance, using the life and death of the writer Stephan Zweig as an illustration. The author first describes the many faces of desperation, including troubled teenagers whose running away, drug addiction, eating disorders or aggression may conceal a desire to defy and “punish” their surroundings and, in a few extreme cases, lead to suicidal acts. These are distinguished from the suicidal acts of shahids, attributed to materialistic objectives or fanaticism, and from the defiance of elderly people who, sceptical about resolving their difficulties, protest against family, social or political circumstances by ending their lives. Zweig, born in Vienna in 1881, is presented as a novelist, biographer and dramatist with 46 published books and a bestselling author from 1930 until the Second World War. After the Nazis blacklisted him and confiscated his property, he moved to England, New York and finally Brazil, where his despair over the deterioration of humanitarian values in Europe led to his suicide, which the author interprets as a clear act of defiance against the new European values and the loss of humanism; the age difference with his second wife and her chronic asthma are suggested as further factors. The essay closes with summaries of selected stories by Zweig.

Abstract prepared by the editorial office from the full text of the article; the authors did not supply one.