born Nov. 28, 1881, Vienna, Austro-Hungarian Empire
died Feb. 22, 1942, Petrópolis, near Rio de Janeiro, Braz.
Austrian writer.
He was deeply influenced by Sigmund Freud , whose theories on psychology informed Zweig's analyses of historical figures and his subtle portrayal of fictional characters. His essays include studies of Honoré de Balzac , Charles Dickens , and Fyodor Dostoyevsky , in Three Masters (1920); and Friedrich Hölderlin , Heinrich Kleist , and Friedrich Nietzsche , in Master Builders (1925). He achieved popularity with The Tide of Fortune (1928), five historical portraits in miniature. He also wrote biographies, poetry, short stories, dramas, and a novel. Driven into exile by the Nazis in 1934, Zweig and his second wife went to England and then Brazil, where, lonely and disillusioned, they committed suicide.