Claudio Magris tells the story of the downfall of illusions: On one hand, there is the adventurer Jorgensen, who grows up at the royal court in Denmark and years later is deported to the city he himself founded - Hobart Town in Tasmania. On the other hand, there is the Italian Cippico: He has experienced the political struggle in Australia and the Spanish Civil War, survived Dachau, and was eventually imprisoned under Tito on the death island of Goli Otoko. Both heroes, although born in different centuries, fought for their ideals, and both were deceived by the ideologues of their time. A magnificent novel - a biography, a historical work, a chronicle, a work of imagination, and a myth all in one.