Stefan Zweig was born in 1881 in Vienna, Austria. A novelist, poet, playwright, journalist, and biographer, his subjects ranged from Marie Antoinette and Balzac to the Elizabethan Age and the French Revolution. Prominent in the 1920s and 1930s, Zweig was once the most-translated living author. His most popular works include the novels Beware of Pity and Confusion of Feelings . Forced by world events to live in exile in England, the United States, and finally Brazil, in 1942 Zweig and his wife took their own lives.