These are the experiences of a survivor of the concentration camps Auschwitz, Buchenwald, and Bergen-Belsen that form the backdrop for these texts. The experiences of torture, suffering, and the conditions faced by intellectuals raise haunting and probing questions about the human condition and the circumstances of life. The limits of the body also become the limits of the world in the concentration camp, and despite all these experiences, Améry was hardly able to comprehend German art and Austria anymore. In 1966, Améry's "Self-Dialogue" suddenly gained recognition after the author had previously sustained himself through extensive journalistic writing for German-language newspapers in Switzerland.