Zweig recalls his early days at university. There was at that time a romanticism surrounding academic life that he no longer sees in contemporary society, and he recalls how exciting it was to finally be pursuing a doctoral degree. As the second son of an affluent family, he was not required to take over the family business and was free to pursue whichever course of study he found most interesting. He admits to not being drawn to any one field in particular, so sure was he that real learning happened outside of organized educational systems. This belief, rooted in his childhood in Vienna, still strikes him as true, and he posits that reading and discussion can produce, in many cases, thinkers with a better understanding of a particular text than university professors.

It was during these years that Zweig began to publish his poetry. His poems first appeared singly in various periodicals, but when he was 19 his first collection was released, and he was proud to have an entire book in print. It was well received, and Rilke not only wrote a positive review but also sent Zweig a volume of his own work. He wonders where that slim volume is now, and realizes that it has been 40 years since he published this book.