One Expressionist whose slim body of work belongs to the canon of German-language literature: a lyricist and playwright who is shattered by the experiences of World War I. The other, also a major figure among 20th-century writers, who experiences World War II, faithfully following the propagandists of Aryan supremacy. The former, reviled in the Third Reich and long marginalized afterward, and the latter, who nonetheless cannot let go of him - Georg Trakl and Franz Fühmann. When Fühmann acquires a small collection of Trakl's poems shortly before Germany's capitulation, it sparks a lifelong engagement with the Austrian's work, culminating in the autobiographical-essayistic book "Vor Feuerschlünden." In encountering Trakl's poems, Franz Fühmann attempts to explore a central conflict in his life, that between poetry and doctrine. Both were rooted in me, and I took both existentially. Engaging with Trakl, Fühmann confesses, reveals his own contradictions, ultimately leading him not only to a different understanding of Trakl's poetry but also to a redefinition of his own position as a writer.