"Pilgrimage: Susan Sontag and Thomas Mann"
in 1947 fourteen-year-old Susan Sontag dares to visit the adored writer Thomas Mann, who lives in exile in the suburbs of Los Angeles, who opens the door to a teenage admirer and invites her to tea. The pivotal meeting, which Sontag would describe in her essay "Pilgrimage" forty years later, remains tinged with shame in her memory. However, this visit and its memory are an eloquent slice of the perception of European culture, which speaks of Europeanness as a state of consciousness, its search and significance for people who carry Europe within themselves as a sign of essential identity. Pilgrimages to new readings of the texts of Thomas Mann and Susan Sontag remain relevant - especially for us and especially in the context of current events.