Yes, from a scientific point of view, carl sagan's theory is totally untenable. But in the universe, stars also have sizes and brightness. The brightest stars will light up all the nearby star fields and ignite the hope of life in the dark universe. So do we humans. There are also some great men among us who guide the direction of human progress and are well-deserved stars above us.
"When the Stars of Humanity Shine" is a famous historical work by the famous Austrian historian Zweig. In this masterpiece depicting the key moments in human history, we will follow Zweig to review those exciting times in human history. We will regret the collapse of the Byzantine Empire, we will regret the defeat of Waterloo, we will sympathize with Goethe's "old disloyalty", we will understand Tolstoy's cry and hesitation, we will pay tribute to Scott's hard exploration, and we will miss Lenin's hard way home. In a word, Zweig described the stars in human history with meticulous language and ups and downs.
The author himself
Zweig was born in a traditional Jewish family in Vienna, Austria. This rich boy is not as ignorant as a traditional dude. On the contrary, Zweig's academic talent is amazing. /kloc-published his own literary works at the age of 0/7, studied hard during college, and eventually became a generation of literary masters.
The first half of Zweig's life was smooth sailing. Academically, Zweig has a good reputation. In interpersonal communication, Zweig has a deep friendship with Freud and others. What Zweig didn't expect, however, was that the appearance of the devil incarnate Hitler changed his life. After Hitler came to power, he promulgated many anti-Semitic laws. In order to save his life, Zweig was forced to flee his hometown and go to a foreign country. This literature with infinite expectations for human history finally committed suicide by taking poison in Brazil. Maybe the star he expected still hasn't appeared.
The connotation of this book
Zweig is very thoughtful in choosing historical figures, and they are all important figures in European history. They have made indelible contributions to the establishment of the dominant position in the western world.
The characters selected by Zweig can be roughly divided into three categories. The first category is the pioneers and explorers in the period of primitive capital accumulation in the west, who have opened up territory for Europeans all over the world and greatly expanded their living space. The second category is the continental European reformers, whose appearance changed the history of Europe. Among them, Napoleon is an important representative. The last category is famous writers and artists, who have created excellent literary works to enrich people's spiritual world, cultivate people's moral sentiments, awaken people's patriotic enthusiasm and promote people's all-round development.
At that time, Europe was at an important turning point in history, and the pain caused by World War I had not been completely eliminated. The emergence of the Soviet Union made European countries feel uneasy, and post-war European countries were still full of contradictions. Which direction should Europe go? In fact, Zweig just wants to tell the European people through these characters that there is still hope for the future of mankind, and people of all ethnic groups and races can live in harmony. Zweig firmly believes that as long as we work hard, Europeans will definitely find their own way.
But what happened afterwards was beyond Zweig's expectation, first of all, the sudden economic crisis, and then the deepening social contradictions. Finally, the rise of Hitler broke Zweig's fantasy, and World War II officially broke out in 1939. Zweig, who was still thinking about academic issues at that time, was forced to drift about in Europe.
Zweig wrote this book in memory of those who guided mankind forward. Why are you doing this? Because Europe was really desperate at that time. In this sense, Zweig's writing motivation is similar to romain rolland's Who's Who's Who, and both of them express their expectation for the future by praising history and remembering the past. But can Europe still maintain its position in that turbulent and undercurrent era?
Historical limitations
A famous historian once said that history is just a little girl who can dress up. No historian can go beyond his own limitations when writing. So is Zweig. When studying history, Zweig's vision is too narrow, and it is inevitable that it is biased to summarize the whole human history with the actions of a historical figure. The most important thing is that Zweig didn't study history with scientific historical materialism, which doomed human beings to become literary works with shining stars, rather than historical documents in the traditional sense.
Zweig's hesitation and cry did not wake Europe. After the Second World War, Europe was in ruins, and Europe in the traditional sense was gone forever. Zweig committed suicide in despair, and another human star fell. Maybe the stars are often fragile. Only by becoming your own star can you become someone else's star.
When we look up at the starry sky, what are we looking up at? In fact, the stars we saw in the night sky disappeared a few light years ago. But even so, at the moment when he was about to disappear in time and space, the stars sprinkled his last afterglow and gentleness on the vast starry sky. History is rolling forward, and each of us is an ant that pushes history forward. When we are immersed in the present, we might as well look up at the stars in our leisure time, and those sages on earth will guide us in the direction of progress.