Joseph Roth
445. Stefan Zweig to Joseph Roth
49 Hallam Street
London W 1
[January 1938?]
straight after getting your letter.
Dear friend,
I am terribly alarmed by your letter: the handwriting looked really sick to me, and I’ve sensed for a long time that you are desperate (perhaps still more than I, who is being driven demented by this time, in which EVERYTHING our arch-enemies attempt seems to come off). Can I do anything for you? It’s so hard, because I know nothing of what you’re going through. Couldn’t kind Irmgard Keun1 write to me about you—you have no idea (quite irrespective of your feelings for me) of how I cling to you, and am really permanently concerned about you. Perhaps I will come to Paris now, I had intended to go first to Lisbon, Estoril, and then work on the quiet Riviera there. The novel is basically done in outline, a first draft is also complete, but now it’s at the second stage. But I am still unhappy about much of it, the dialog, the style. Tired as I am, it will take me longer than I thought, and I admire your penetration—though admittedly you’re 15 years younger than me, and what years! My dear fellow, I’m blathering, but that should show you my deep need to sit with you again, to talk things over, and above all to hear about you and your work. I know nothing of you, and I don’t want to lose you, it offends me when a new book comes out, that you, my friend, have struggled over for a year, and I don’t know about it, I am the last to get to hear of it, when once I was proud to be the first and nearest and most involved.
Please look after yourself. Is Paris good for you? Mightn’t the Midi be better? Ach, I’m asking you questions, and I know you won’t answer me any more. But I go on asking, or rather my heart asks after you.
Warmest best wishes your old
St. Z.
As soon as I know when I’ll be going, I’ll write to you.
1. kind Irmgard Keun: German novelist who lived with Joseph Roth in Ostend and Paris from 1936 to 1938, and accompanied him on a PEN-funded lecture tour of Poland. Keun returned to Germany in 1940, where, aided by false reports of her death, she managed to stay concealed with her family.
446. To Pierre Bertaux
Paris-Est
Buffet-Bar
[24 February 1938]
Dear friend,
1. before my departure:
In Austria probably a state of siege,
to keep internal affairs in Skubl’s1 hands. 2. Jesuitical-typical: half the Austrians Nazis who were set free, now locked up again. 3. For France MY advice:
a. WITH Russia;
b. WITH Czechoslovakia OPEN DECLARATION of a MILITARY ALLIANCE;
c. Intercede for Austria, openly
d. Pyrenees.2
Sincerely, my train’s leaving
Your old
Joseph Roth
And please: Let Ce Soir3 know that I’ll be in touch from Vienna!
1. Skubl: Michael Skubl (1877–1964), from 1934 to 1938, Austrian chief of police. With the Anschluss looming, he resigned his post.
2. Pyrenees: remote southwest France, where Bertaux had a house
3. Ce Soir: pro-Communist evening paper in Paris.
447. To Blanche Gidon
18 rue de Tournon
Paris
[postmarked: 12 May 1938]
Dear friend,
please, if at all possible, try and do something for Dr. Broczyner. He is the model for my Dr. Demant1 in the Radetzky March.
Also, I have a wonderful Austrian seamstress:
Elisabeth Streit,
23 rue de Liège
Very deserving and unhappy.
Also I have many suggestions to make to you. I myself am wretched.
Could you call me between 12 and 1? Danton 16-16.
Always your loyal
Joseph Roth
and Dr. Gidon’s humble servant as well.
1. the model for my Dr. Demant: not so, apparently. Eduard Broczyner was a fellow pupil of JR’s in Brody, and also knew him later in Vienna and during the emigration in Paris.
448. To Blanche Gidon
rue de Tournon 18
[postmarked: Paris, 28 May 1938]
Dear friend,
Morgenstern1 told me of your kindness. Of course I ask you, must unfortunately ask you again, to help me.
Can you call me today between 3 and 5? At 8 o’clock tonight the best German actor Ludwig Hardt will be reading from the best German writers at Rue de Rennes 44.
Can you make it? Please do call me!
Sincerely,
your old Joseph Roth
1. Morgenstern: Roth’s friend and neighbor at the Hotel de la Poste, Soma Morgenstern.
449. Stefan Zweig to Joseph Roth
[summer 1938?]
Dear friend,
your silence is obdurate, but I think often and always kindly of you. My life of late is too crowded, I successfully went over the first draft of the novel (which with me is almost tantamount to rewriting the whole thing), then collected material for a novella (or a sort of symbolical novella)1 that I am now already working on, though subject to many disturbances. I have to be alone for that sort of work (the creative, conceptual part), and for the past 10 days wanted to hole up in Boulogne, but the weather hasn’t let up at all. In Germany, Castellio has cast a shadow, also the delivery of supplies to Hungary, Poland, etc.—Austria has no contract with those states—that hitherto went out to that noble land is now impossible, and there’s no shortage of other minor irritants—I’m surprised still to be able to work at all. Here I’m living as in a cave, know about a tenth of the people I knew two years ago, and lots of leaves are blowing down from the old bands of affection. Well, the German ax has taken hefty swings at the tree!
And you! I am always filled with impatience when I think of you. Your first novel2 must be finished by now, and I’m wondering how the work on the second is going. Where will you be? Where can I find you. I’m wary of Amsterdam, because I’d have to call on some 15 people there, and anyway only German Lufthansa flies there. How long are you staying there? Have you made any resolutions? Roth, I hope you keep it together, we need you. There are so few human beings, and so few real books in this overcrowded world!
Sincerely your Stefan Zweig
1. symbolical novella: this sounds like Zweig’s Chess Novella, written between 1938 and 1941, published posthumously in 1942.
2. your first novel: The Tale of the 1002nd Night, with The Emperor’s Tomb as the second.
450. To Stefan Zweig
18 rue de Tournon1
Paris 6e
Paris, 19 September 1938
Dear friend,
this just provisionally, to let you know that I’m always thinking of you, and especially in these days. Please forgive the typewriter.
I am overloaded with Austrian matters, refugee committees, and the like.
Please don’t be offended by the dictation, but won’t you come here for a day. It’s high time—and perhaps the last time—that we could see each other.
I heard your mother died. I would like to convey to you my really sincere commiseration.
I see your wife from time to time. Please, won’t you come here for a day. It’s easier for you than for me.
Sincerely,
your old Joseph Roth
1. 18 rue de Tournon: this is Roth’s “last address,” the Hotel de la Poste, around the corner from the now demolished Foyot. It was from there that he was taken on 23 May 1939 to the HÔpital Necker, where he died four days later. He told Soma Morgenstern, “I have finished my last book. I don’t want a doctor, just a priest.” It was not the easy death evoked in The Legend of the Holy Drinker. Friends reported seeing Roth strapped to his bed with delirium tremens, but he
was denied alcohol by the hospital staff. That was a contributory cause of his death, whose official cause was given as pneumonia. He was buried on 30 May 1939 in the Cimetière Thiais, in the remote south of Paris.
451. To Leo Cenower
18 rue de Tournon
Paris 6e
Paris, 27 September 1938
To Mr. Leo Cenower, c/o Mandle, Zürich, Konradstrasse 51
Dear friend Cenower,1
ten days ago I might have been able to do something for your wife, but you didn’t write me in time. Now there’s mobilization, and there’s nothing I can do. I myself am at risk. I might have to leave Paris any day now.
Try—this is my advice to you—to leave Switzerland yourself. It will be impossible for you there. Somewhere in the French provinces would be better. Do as follows. Perhaps you could cross over into France with the electrical tram, make inquiries about it . . . Unfortunately, that’s all I can suggest.
Write to me straightaway, and if you come to Paris, let me know a day in advance.
Sincerely
Your [Joseph Roth]
1. Cenower was a war comrade of JR’s.
452. To Blanche Gidon
[Paris] 5 October 1938
Madame Blanche Gidon
Dear friend,
poor thanks to you for showing so much heart: I have another young Austrian to commend to you, a Mr. Walter Ringhofer. He is one of the best tailors. I have been trying vainly to help him for the past fortnight. You will see for yourself how nice he is. Please, if you can, try and find him a place somewhere. At the very least, I would beg you to listen to him. He is unfortunately one of very many to have come to me from the committees.
Please forgive me for taking advantage of your goodness, and till soon, I hope,
Sincerely,
your old Joseph Roth
453. To Stefan Zweig
[Paris] 10 October 1938
Dear friend,
of course I’ll talk to your wife. I have never—long before the catastrophe—had any understanding of furniture and the like. I shit on furniture. I hate houses. I will tell your wife.
I don’t see, dear friend, why you describe our situation as “hopeless.” If it is, then only because you make it so: we have the duty, the absolute duty, to show not the least pessimism.
The Mexican president of police wrote to me spontaneously. I can befriend him right away. He is an old Austrian officer.
Our situation is by no means as hopeless as you would have it. You are a defeatist.
In spite of which, I remain sincerely
your Joseph Roth
454. To Heinrich, Count Degenfeld
18 rue de Tournon
Paris 6e
Paris, 6 November 381
His Grace,
Heinrich, Count Degenfeld2
Chateau Steenockerzeel near Brussels
Your Grace,
my friend Mr. Klaus Dohrn tells me that His Majesty, our Emperor, expresses the wish that I may recover my health, and accept medical advice.
I beg you, Your Grace, to give His Majesty my sincerest thanks, and assure him that I will of course obey any order3 he cares to give me.
In particular I am delighted that His Majesty calls upon me to visit you in the course of the next week. I am moved in the extreme by the kindness of His Majesty in drawing your attention to me.
With thanks for your trouble, and your humble servant,
Your [Joseph Roth]
1. Paris, 6 November 38: one day later, Herschel Grynszpan, a young Polish Jew, shot a secretary of the German embassy in Paris. That provided the Nazis with the pretext for instigating pogroms against Jews in what became known as Kristallnacht (9–10 November).
2. Count Degenfeld: Count Degenfeld-Schonburg (born 1890) was first Otto von Habsburg’s tutor (in 1922), then became his adjutant and private secretary.
3. any order: the “order” that Otto von Habsburg communicated to his loyal subject Joseph Roth, and which he was in no position to carry out, was that he should take better care of his health.
455. To Blanche Gidon
Paris
rue de Tournon 18
[postmarked: 15 November 1938]
Tuesday
Dear friend,
my eyes are in grave danger. May I count on you to find a moment to advise me in the course of the afternoon. I am very fearful. Please.
Your old
Joseph Roth
456. Stefan Zweig to Joseph Roth
49 Hallam Street
London W 1
[end of 1938]
Dear Josef Roth,
I have now written to you three or four times, always without reply, and think our old friendship gives me the right to ask you what you mean by this obstinate and hopefully not ill-intentioned silence. It is probable that I will pass through Paris on my way out or back, in January or March, and I would simply like to know which you prefer: that I try to visit you, or that I avoid you (as you so sedulously avoid me). I write without the least trace of chilliness, but purely and simply for information; your silence is too striking, too protracted and oppressive for me to be able to explain it away, say, by business on your part.
All best wishes and that the year ahead (in spite of everything) may be no worse than the one just gone.
Your Stefan Zweig
457. The American PEN Club to Joseph Roth1
The P.E.N. Club
(written in English)
American Center
January 21, 1939
Mr. Joseph Roth, c/o Querido Verlag, Keizersgracht 333, Amsterdam, Holland
Dear Mr. Roth:
On behalf of the American P.E.N. Club, I have the honour to invite you to be a special guest at the World Congress of Writers to be held on invitation of the New York World’s Fair on May 8, 9 and 10, 1939.
When the four basic freedoms—the right to speak, to publish, to worship, and to assemble—are being denied and threatened over an increasingly large part of the world, it seems to us particularly urgent that writers from all countries should gather to consider ways and means of defending free expression under difficult circumstances. We believe that this is the psychological time and the New York World’s Fair—which is celebrating 150 years of democracy in America and emphasizing these four freedoms—is the logical place for such a meeting.
The P.E.N. Centers each have been invited to appoint a representative and we have compiled, in addition, a list of distinguished men and women of letters, such as yourself, to be invited as guests of honor.
We very much hope you will attend. Living expenses will be paid and entertainment provided for the three days of the Congress at the Fair and for three or four days more when we expect to entertain P.E.N. representatives and our guests of honor in New-York City and in country residences belonging to members of the American P.E.N. Club, their friends, and important patrons of literature.
We will also arrange a series of optional excursions of various lengths at reduced costs—including a trip to Washington where we expect the President of the United States to receive us—and hope to arrange for reduced steamship rates from Europe to New York. Details of all these arrangements will be sent later.
This Congress will provide an opportunity for the writers of the world to publicly and freely state their belief in the personal freedoms without which the creation of literature is impossible in a setting commanding international attention.
We would like you to be present and hope your plans will allow a visit at this time. May we have your early acceptance?
Sincerely,
Dorothy Thompson
President
1. This invitation, from Dorothy Thompson, who had translated Job and was an admirer of Roth’s work, was found
among Roth’s papers at his death. It was marked in Roth’s hand with the words “best thanks for the copy, dearest Friederike [Friderike Zweig?]. Your J.R.” The sixth act of Roth’s life begins here.
Bibliography
Bronsen, David. Joseph Roth: Eine Biographie. Cologne, 1974.
Cziffra, Geza von. Der heilige Trinker: Erinnerungen an Joseph Roth. Frankfurt and Berlin, 1989.
Kesten, Hermann. Meine Freunde, die Poeten. Frankfurt, Berlin, and Vienna, 1980.
Lunzer, Heinz, and Victoria Lunzer-Talos. Joseph Roth: Leben und Werk in Bildern. Cologne, 1994.
Morgenstern, Soma. Joseph Roths Flucht und Ende: Erinnerungen. Lüneburg, 1994.
Nürnberger, Helmut. Joseph Roth. Reinbek, 1981.
Roth, Joseph. Aber das Leben marschiert weiter und nimmt uns mit: Der Briefwechsel zwischen Joseph Roth und dem Verlag De Gemeenschap, 1936–1939. Edited by Theo Bijvoet and Madeleine Rietra. Cologne, 1991.
———. Briefe, 1911–1939. Edited by Hermann Kesten. Cologne, 1970.
———. Gesammelte Werke in sechs Bänden. Edited by Klaus Westermann and Fritz Hackert. Cologne, 1989–91.
———. Geschäft ist Geschäft: Der Briefwechsel zwischen Joseph Roth und den Exilverlagen Allert de Lange und Querido, 1933–1939. Edited by Madeleine Rietra with Rainer-Joachim Siegel. Cologne, 2005.
Sternburg, Wilhelm von. Joseph Roth: Eine Biographie. Cologne, 2009.
Index
Page numbers in italics refer to illustrations.
8 Uhr Blatt, 79
Adler, Friedrich, 48, 50
Adler, Viktor, 48
Aesthetics, or the Science of Beauty (Vischer), 12, 13
Aix, 47
Albania, xii, 5, 15, 22, 56, 94, 456
Albatross Press, 329, 357
Albin Michel, 435
Alcazar, 193
Alexander, Kurt, 260, 261–63, 357
Alexander the Great, 43, 131
Allert de Lange, 166, 255, 315, 328, 339, 342, 350, 352, 357, 363, 373–74, 376–77, 422–24, 427–28, 435, 436, 443, 451, 454–55, 490
All Quiet on the Western Front (Remarque), 318
Altmann, Lotte, 332, 479
Americanism, 132, 142
American PEN Club, 530
Joseph Roth- a Life in Letters Page 54
