The Nuremberg trip
The Nuremberg trip is a travel report by Hermann Hesse with memories of his trip through southern Germany , which he undertook from the end of September to the end of November 1925. The first edition was published in 1927 in Berlin by S. Fischer Verlag .
content
Hesse reports on his reading trip from Ticino to Ulm , Augsburg and Nuremberg with stops in Locarno , Tuttlingen , Blaubeuren and Munich .
First of all, Hesse argues that it is not easy for a poet to keep appointments like these - especially readings by authors in front of a large audience. He lurks for weeks, sometimes months, painting, walking or lying on the sofa for the kiss of the muses. The arrival of the muses could coincide with one of these darned reading appointments. In addition, in the text Hesse repeatedly articulates his insurmountable aversion to machines that emit exhaust gases in larger cities. He suffers from such creations of the modern age. But it doesn't make him sad, he endures life with humor. Hesse knows the motivation of the humorist, his "amazement that this miserable life can still be so beautiful and delicious".
Already in Locarno he noticed a pleasant side of the devil travel: he got no mail.
In Tuttlingen he enjoys the local half-timbered gables by moonlight and remembers his “foolish life and lonely aging”. The walk through the “sanctuaries” of his youth lets Hesse overcome the “choking disgust” for a while and “endure, love”, even “praise” life. He lists his favorites: from Goethe to Mozart , they all lived before 1850. He has difficulty controlling his irritability before the first reading. On the one hand, he doesn't want to read, wants to go home and, on the other, he admits his vanity. Hesse doesn't want to be a loser.
Things are going unexpectedly well in Ulm and Augsburg. Acquaintances are waiting for him everywhere along the way and invite him. For him, the most lively in the midst of the prevailing medieval flair are the dead, the immortals: Hölderlin and Mörike . Hesse describes them, "whose works made the sober world beautiful and possible", as "creators out of need, not out of luck, builders out of disgust for reality". He is not impressed by the Fugger splendor , but rather by seemingly irrelevant things: by a man praying, by a peasant woman in costume.
Finally Nuremberg arrives, it becomes the great disappointment. The city is simply “too north” for the sun-kissed train traveler from the south. The Dürerhaus right under the castle , St. Lorenz and the friendly Nuremberg residents cannot hide this. Then he is bothered by "the exhaust gases of these accursed machines". Hesse escapes with the express train to see Thomas Mann and Joachim Ringelnatz in Munich. He also attended a performance with the unforgettable Karl Valentin . A total stranger from the audience lays her elbows on Hesse's shoulders.
Hesse also relentlessly researches the cause of his illness. He probably failed to "adapt to reality".
Book editions
- The Nuremberg trip . Cover and title page designed by Hans Meid . Fischer, Berlin 1927 (25th thousand 1942).
- Spa guest. The Nuremberg trip. Two stories. Fretz & Wasmuth, Zurich 1946.
- The Nuremberg trip . Suhrkamp, Frankfurt am Main 1975 (12. A. 1994), ISBN 3-518-36727-7 (st 227).
- The Nuremberg trip . Afterword by Siegfried Unseld . With color photographs by Pieter Jos van Limbergen. Suhrkamp Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1994. ISBN 3-518-40602-7 .
- The Nuremberg trip . Afterword by Siegfried Unseld. With color photographs by Pieter Jos van Limbergen. Insel Taschenbuch 4279. Insel Verlag, Berlin 2013. ISBN 978-3-458-35979-1