讀王先霈先生所著《文學美》一書 ,書中所援引的一個材料給我留下了極深的印象 :奧地利著名作傢斯蒂芬·茨威格的小說《舊書商門德爾》的主人公門德爾 ,是一個猶太血統的舊書商 ,他嗜書成癖 ,幾十年如一日 ,每天從早到晚坐在同一傢咖啡館的同一張骯髒的石桌旁 ,身子前後搖晃着 ,低聲吟誦一本書或是一本雜志。就在他的身邊 ,打彈子的人吵吵嚷嚷 ,電話鈴陣陣作響 ,侍者奔來跑去 ,他一概毫無感覺。甚至 ,有一次 ,一塊燒着的煤從火爐裏掉在離他衹有兩步遠的地板上 ,把地板燒焦了 ,冒起的煙熏到他身上 ,他也依然沒有發覺 ,直到遠處的顧客嗅到焦臭...

　　Stefan Zweig's Buchmendel (1929) tells the tragic story of an eccentric but brilliant book peddler Jacob Mendel (also Jakob Mendel) who spends his days trading in one of Vienna's many coffeehouses. With his encyclopaedic mind and devotion to literature, the Poland-born Russian-Jewish immigrant is not only tolerated but liked and admired by both the owner of his local Café Gluck and the cultured Viennese clients with whom he interacts in the pre-war period. In 1915, however, he is falsely accused of collaborating with Austria's enemies and is dispatched to a concentration camp. On his return, towards the end of the war, everything has changed. His mind no longer remembers, his eyes can no longer read, the café undergoes new, brittle ownership, and his clientele have disappeared. Jacob Mendel finally dies, destitute, incapacitated and forgotten.
　　
　　What initially reads as another of the many modest human dramas that Zweig made his speciality, this small tale actually has a far more panoramic sub-plot, for it is a metaphor of the Great War's impact on Viennese life and culture. It is also particularly interesting to the historian for understanding the strategies by which post-war writers re-imagined pre-war Vienna, how they conceptualised the war itself, and how memory and myth deeply influenced their conception of history.