STEFAN ZWEIG
Austrian writer and pacifist, famous above all for his biographies. He was born in Vienna, at whose University he studied. Following the outbreak of World War I, Zweig became an ardent pacifist and moved to Zurich, where he could express his views. In his first major work, the dramatic poem Jerem as (1917), he passionately denounced what he regarded as the supreme madness of war. After the war Zweig settled in Salzburg and wrote biographies, for which he became famous, short stories and novels, and essays. Among these works are: Three Masters (1920), studies on Honor by Balzac, Charles Dickens and Fedor Dostoevsky and Healing by the Spirit (1931), where he gives an account of the ideas of Franz Anton Mesmer, Sigmund Freud and Mary Baker Eddy. The rise of Nazism and anti-Semitism in Germany led Zweig, who was a Jew, to flee to Britain in 1934. He emigrated to the United States in 1940 and then to Brazil in 1941, where he committed suicide. carried away by a feeling of loneliness and spiritual fatigue. As a writer, Zweig distinguished himself for his psychological introspection. By omitting non-essential details, he was able to make his biographies as entertaining as a novel. Zweig’s later important writings include the Erasmus of Rotterdam (1934) and Maria Estuardo (1935) biographies, the novel The Royal Game (published posthumously in 1944), and his autobiography The World of Yesterday (1941). As a writer, Zweig distinguished himself for his psychological introspection. By omitting non-essential details, he was able to make his biographies as entertaining as a novel. Zweig’s later important writings include the Erasmus of Rotterdam (1934) and Maria Estuardo (1935) biographies, the novel The Royal Game (published posthumously in 1944), and his autobiography The World of Yesterday (1941). As a writer, Zweig distinguished himself for his psychological introspection. By omitting non-essential details, he was able to make his biographies as entertaining as a novel. Zweig’s later important writings include the Erasmus of Rotterdam (1934) and Maria Estuardo (1935) biographies, the novel The Royal Game (published posthumously in 1944), and his autobiography The World of Yesterday (1941).
Stefan Zweig
MAGALLANES
The man and his deed
INTRODUCTION
Books can have their origin in the most varied feelings. Books are written out of enthusiasm or gratitude, but exasperation, anger, and spite can also ignite intellectual passion. Sometimes, it is curiosity that gives the impulse, the psychological voluptuousness to explain oneself, writing, human figures or events; But other times? Too many? motives of a more delicate nature impel to production, such as vanity, the desire for profit, self-indulgence. Strictly speaking, the writer should give an account of the feelings, the personal appetites that have motivated him to choose the subject of each of his works. The intimate origin of the book that you see here appears to me very clearly. It was born of a somewhat unusual feeling,
It happened this way: last year I had for the first time the long-awaited opportunity of a trip to South America. I knew that some of the most beautiful landscapes on earth awaited me in Brazil, and in Argentina a circle of intellectual comrades whose company would be an unequaled joy for me. And to this anticipation, which alone would have made the trip delightful, the immediate circumstances of it were united: a calm sea, the natural relaxation on the loose and fast transatlantic, the feeling of freedom of all ties and daily humiliations. I infinitely enjoyed the paradisiacal days that the crossing lasted. But suddenly – this was on the seventh or eighth day – I was caught in blatant impatience. Always the same blue sky and the same calm blue sea. How long the hours of travel seemed to me in the midst of that sudden reaction! I deeply wished I had reached the end, and I was glad to see that the tireless clock was tightening the time. Now, the lazy, the indolent pleasure of nothing, bothered me. The same faces of the same people made me tired, the monotony of the movement on board excited my nerves, precisely because of the calm regularity of the pulse. Go ahead, go ahead! Faster, faster! Suddenly, the beautiful ocean liner, so luxurious, so comfortable, was not moving fast enough. The same faces of the same people made me tired, the monotony of the movement on board excited my nerves, precisely because of the calm regularity of the pulse. Go ahead, go ahead! Faster, faster! Suddenly, the beautiful ocean liner, so luxurious, so comfortable, was not moving fast enough. The same faces of the same people made me tired, the monotony of the movement on board excited my nerves, precisely because of the calm regularity of the pulse. Go ahead, go ahead! Faster, faster! Suddenly, the beautiful ocean liner, so luxurious, so comfortable, was not moving fast enough.
Maybe there was only that minute left when my state of impatience was revealed to me so that I immediately felt ashamed of myself. Are you doing, I said to myself, angrily, the most gallant of voyages in the safest of ships; You have at your disposal all the luxury that can be achieved in life. Yes, when night comes, the atmosphere gets excessively cool in your cabin, you just have to turn a key with two fingers and the air heats up. If noon on the equator is too muggy for you, you have fans one step away, which cool the air, and ten steps away the pool awaits you. At the table of this hotel, the best provided, you can choose the dish or drink that you want, because there is everything in this enchanted world, as brought by the hands of angels. If that suits you, you can be alone and read books, or play a game, or enjoy music and society until you are satisfied. All the comforts and all security are provided to you. You know the end of your trip, what time you will arrive and that you will be kindly welcomed. And the inhabitants of London, Paris, Buenos Aires, New York also know, hour by hour, at what point in the universe the ship is. It is enough for you to climb a few steps, take about twenty steps, and the docile spark jumps from the telegraph device without kilos and carries your question, your greeting, to any point on earth, and after an hour , from wherever, your message is reciprocated. Beware, impatient; remember, discontented, what it was like in another time! Compare for a moment this trip of today with those of yesteryear, especially with the first trips of those reckless who discovered, for our benefit, these vast seas and a new world, and be ashamed of their memory. Try to represent them setting off in their fragile fisherman boats into the unknown, ignorant of their paths, lost in the infinite, continually exposed to danger, the whim of inclement weather and all the tortures of scarcity. No light at night, no other drink than the warm water from the vats and the one they collected from the rains; With no other food than soda biscuit and stale bacon, and even days and days short of this very meager diet. Not a bed, not the oasis of a truce, hellish heat, merciless cold, and also the awareness of loneliness, helplessness in the cruel desert of water. There, in the homes, for months and years, no one knew where they were; they didn’t even know where they were going. Scarcity was his companion, Death surrounded them night and day in a thousand ways, by land and sea; They could expect nothing but danger, both from men and from the elements, and for months and years the most dreadful solitude surrounded their miserable vessels. They knew that no one would come to their aid, that they would not find a single ship for months and months in those unskilled waters, that no one would rescue them from distress and danger, nor would they be able to make their death known, its failure. Thus the first voyages of the conquerors of the sea revived within me, and I had to be ashamed of my impatience. that they would not find a single ship for months and months in those untouched waters, that no one would get them out of trouble and danger, nor would they be able to make known their death, their failure. Thus the first voyages of the conquerors of the sea revived within me, and I had to be ashamed of my impatience. that they would not find a single ship for months and months in those untouched waters, that no one would get them out of trouble and danger, nor would they be able to make known their death, their failure. Thus the first voyages of the conquerors of the sea revived within me, and I had to be ashamed of my impatience.
Once experienced, this feeling of shame did not fade from me throughout the journey. The thought of those anonymous heroes did not leave me for an instant. And I wanted to know more about who were the first to face the elements, and read about the first trips through unexplored oceans, whose description had already impressed me in my childhood years. . He went into the liner’s library and picked up some volumes at random. Among all the figures and all the routes, my admiration was linked to the deeds of the man who, in my opinion, reached the most extraordinary thing in the history of geographical discoveries: Fernando Magallanes, the that I left Seville with five fisherman boats to go around the whole land. Perhaps the most magnificent odyssey in the history of mankind is this party of the two hundred and sixty-five determined men, of whom only eighteen returned home in the most punished ships, but with the Great victory flag on the mast. The news was not very abundant, for my wish at least, in those books. Back home, I read and researched more and more, astonished at every step of how little credible that heroic accomplishment had been exposed up to then. As has happened to me on other occasions, I found no better or more effective way to clarify the fact for myself than to shape it and describe it for others. Thus was this book born, surprising myself, if I am to tell the truth honestly. While describing (adjusting to the reliable documents at my fingertips, true to reality) this second Odyssey, I continually had the singular sensation of telling something invented, one of the highest desires, one of the sacred legends of Humanity. Nothing is more excellent than a truth that seems implausible! Something inconceivable always adheres to the great deeds of Humanity, because, in reality, they rise far above the average level. It is precisely in the incredible that it has carried out that Humanity renews its faith in itself. they rise well above the average level. It is precisely in the incredible that it has carried out that Humanity renews its faith in itself. they rise well above the average level. It is precisely in the incredible that it has carried out that Humanity renews its faith in itself.
“IT IS NECESSARY TO SAIL”
In the beginning were spices … Ever since the Romans, through their travels and their campaigns, began to find a taste in the stimulating, soothing or intoxicating ingredients of the East, the western lands no longer know how to do without the spice of indica drugs, both in the kitchen and in the cellar. Until well into the Middle Ages, the Nordic diet was inconceivably bland, and even today’s most common vegetables, such as potatoes, corn, and tomatoes, would still take a long time to grow. acquire a nature card in Europe; lemon as an acidulant and sugar for sweetening are still a vagueness, and the tasty tonic, coffee and tea, have not yet been discovered. Even among princes and distinguished people, gross voracity is the revenge of the monotony without spirituality of meals. And the prodigy appears: a single gram of an indica seasoning, a little pepper, a dried flower of nutmeg, a knife point of ginger or cinnamon mixed in the coarsest of meats, are enough for the palate, flattered, experience a rare and welcome boost. Between the major and minor tones of sour and sweet, heavy and bland, a series of rich tones and semitones suddenly appear: the still-barbaric taste nerves of medieval people. they are never satisfied enough with new stimulants: a dish is not ready if it is not loaded with pepper; They even add ginger to the beer and reinforce the wine with ground spices, until each sip burns in the throat like gunpowder. But the use of abundant spice masses was not limited to the kitchen. The feminine vanity is also increasingly demanding regarding the aromatics of Arabia, ranging from voluptuous musk to suffocating amber and sweet rose oil; weavers and dyers have Chinese silks and Indian damasks made for them, and goldsmiths assemble the white pearls of Ceylon and the bluish diamonds of Narsingar. Even more imperiously, the Catholic Church encourages the consumption of oriental products, because of the thousands of millions of grains of incense that raise the smoke of the censers moved by the celebrants in the thousands of churches, not one it has only left European soil; each one of those thousands of millions of grains of incense arrived by sea, shipped in the lands of Arabia. Apothecaries are also regular clients of the so celebrated specifics of the Indies, such as opium, camphor, the much esteemed resin, and they know from experience that for the sick there is no salve or drug that seems as active as those that in the porcelain jars that contain them bear the words m in blue letters. Logic arabicum or indicum. Because of its character as a select and rare thing, and perhaps also because of the high price, everything oriental had a hypnotic attraction in Europeans. As in the eighteenth century the French, the Arab, Persian, Hindustani attributes were identified in the Middle Ages with the concepts of exuberant, refined, distinguished, courtly, expensive and precious. No item as coveted as the spice. It was as if the scent of oriental flowers had alienated the soul of Europe with their magical influence. and they know from experience that for the patient there is no balsam or drug that seems as active as those that in the porcelain jars that contain them bear the magic words arabicum or indicum in blue letters. Because of its character as a select and rare thing, and perhaps also because of the high price, everything oriental had a hypnotic attraction in Europeans. As in the eighteenth century the French, the Arab, Persian, Hindustani attributes were identified in the Middle Ages with the concepts of exuberant, refined, distinguished, courtly, expensive and precious. No item as coveted as the spice. It was as if the scent of oriental flowers had alienated the soul of Europe with their magical influence. and they know from experience that for the patient there is no balsam or drug that seems as active as those that in the porcelain jars that contain them bear the magic words arabicum or indicum in blue letters. Because of its character as a select and rare thing, and perhaps also because of the high price, everything oriental had a hypnotic attraction in Europeans. As in the eighteenth century the French, the Arab, Persian, Hindustani attributes were identified in the Middle Ages with the concepts of exuberant, refined, distinguished, courtly, expensive and precious. No item as coveted as the spice. It was as if the scent of oriental flowers had alienated the soul of Europe with their magical influence.