In October 1952, Hermann Hesse traveled from Tessin to Nuremberg. The occasion for this two-month journey, "born from the dark memories of the beautiful Lao and the poet Merike" and "destined to bring back the sounds of youth," was invitations for literary lectures in Ulm, Augsburg, and Nuremberg.

Stopovers on the journey included Tuttlingen, Blaunau, Ulm,...