The Struggle with the Daemon: Holderlin, Kleist, and Nietzsche

The Struggle with the Daemon is a brilliant analysis of the European psyche by the great novelist and biographer Stefan Zweig. Zweig studies three giants of German literature and thought: Friedrich Hölderlin, Heinrich von Kleist, and Friedrich Nietzsche—powerful minds whose ideas were at odds with the scientific positivism of their age; troubled spirits whose intoxicating passions drove them mad but inspired them to great works.

Born in Vienna in 1881, Stefan Zweig travelled widely, living in Salzburg, Austria, between the wars. He enjoyed worldwide literary fame, first as a poet and translator, then as a biographer.