Stefan Zweigs Fouché: biographische Bildnisse einer ‚Hintergrundgestalt‘

The intriguing personality of Joseph Fouché stands at the center of Stefan Zweig’s 1929 eponymous biography and makes a brief, but crucial appearance in his play Das Lamm des Armen (1930). This article examines how biography can be considered as a liminal and hybrid genre at the crossroads of literature and historiography. It discusses how Zweig’s biography of Fouché positions itself towards both discourses while presenting a careful psychological analysis of the protagonist as a political Machiavellian mastermind. Through the analysis of various paratexts, this contribution shows how Zweig invites the reader to connect his psychological analysis with contemporary European politics since 1918.

Keywords:austrian literature, biography, stefan zweig, joseph fouché, literature, historiography

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