Trip to Russia

We have all unconsciously or consciously done and are still doing an injustice to Russia. An injustice by not knowing enough, not being enough. For how to explain that all of us of our generation have been ten times in Paris, ten times in Italy, Belgium, Holland, that we have been everywhere in Spain and Nordland and out of a foolish venial arrogance have never taken a look at Russian? ... In any case, we have too long carelessly left out of our sight the immense variety of Russian achievement, one of the most ingenious and interesting peoples of this earth, two railroad nights and two railroad days from our own habitat, and yet in all its works and dwellings unknown to most Europeans. How much has this Western arrogance cost us, for how few are there among us today in spiritual Europe who know how to fairly compare this new Russia with the old one by their own observation and experience ... Unfortunately, half of all judgments about the present Russia today are prejudices, i.e. rigid points of view pushed in front of one's own field of vision, the other half are after-judgments, i.e. opinions repeated to others'. Biography Stefan Zweig was a novelist, dramatist, journalist, and biographer who lived in Austria. During the 1920s and 1930s, when he was at the height of his literary career, he was one of the world's most translated and popular writers. Zweig was born and raised in Vienna, Austria-Hungary.