Thank you for sharing. I have read Zweig's The World of Yesterday, which I regard very highly, but never one of his creative works. I recommend it to everyone who wants to experience a slice of life/live vicariously with an engaged citizen of pre war Europe.
I can "relate" to the isolation and frantic labor on some project, which is unhealthy enough on its own. To do so under Nazi domination as a way to survive interegations with no other intellectual outlets possible, leading to project induced psychosis, is just frightening. And it's all portrayed in such a relatively light hearted, optimistic atmosphere of a transatlantic ship bringing bored passengers together for a nice game of chess. Good job, Zweig.
