Gérard de Nerval is today considered one of the great writers of world literature. Far ahead of his time, he was able to give mental states a written form that is regarded as the beginning of modernity. He developed a special relationship with Germany, which he described as "notre mère à tous - the mother of us all". His enthusiasm for the German language and culture shaped his thinking and writing, and Germany offered him a touchstone in the depths of his soul. This book, a kind of road novel, is based on Nerval's four journeys to Germany and Austria, which he undertook between 1838 and 1854. The text is a fictional narrative, based on authentic sources, following the footsteps of Gérard de Nerval, who explored, contemplated and wrote about Germany. Nerval always encounters his own self in symbolic places like the Rhine, in cities like Weimar and Vienna and in writers and artists like Dumas, Heine, Grillparzer, Liszt, Wagner, Marie Pleyel and the Princess of Sayn-Wittgenstein. His travels are not characterised by the desire to set off for new shores and to return in the end transformed. For him there is only a homecoming that reveals his spiritual abyss, his farewell to the others and to himself.weiterlesen