In Seume’s Footsteps with Alena Urbankova and Eric Pawlitzky

Fellow travellers

Johann Gottfried Seume (1763–1810) walked from Leipzig to Sicily and wrote it up in his classic, A Stroll to Syracuse.

I’m confident I’m the first person in the UK to set out to follow Seume’s footsteps to Syracuse; if others have, they’ve left no trace online.

In Central Europe, where Seume is better known, the story is different. Without trying too hard I’ve found Alena Urbankova’s Unterwegs nach Syrakus (On the Way to Syracuse, 2012) and Eric Pawlitzky’s Seumes Weg (Seume’s Way, 2022). I expect there are more.

They both offer distinct approaches to the stroll: Urbankova’s is literary; Pawlitzky’s, as a photographer, is image-led.

In this post, I introduce Urbankova and Pawlitzky; in future posts I’ll take a closer look at their books and weave their observations into my own travelogue. And who can say, perhaps we’ll meet up in real life one day for a beer along the way?

Alena Urbankova

In the autumn of 2009 I wanted, like the migratory birds, to set off southwards. Along a historic route, in the footsteps of Seume, who in ‘out of pure curiosity and humanity,’ undertook a journey on foot from Saxony to Sicily and, by roundabout ways, back again.

Born in Brno (Czechoslovakia) in 1953, Urbankova was Assistant Professor at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna at the time of her 2009 stroll.

Her book was published in 2012. I have a copy and am slowly translating it with the help of Chat GPT.

On each day of her stroll, she sketched scenes on postcards that she sent back to her university (a delightful idea!).

Eric Pawlitzky

What would Seume see today? How would he see it? That is what I want to explore in writing and photography…I attempted to reconstruct his route, to follow the journey in one go, and largely on foot.

Pawlitzky grew up in Leipzig, first trained in classical music, then turned self-taught photographer. Since 2012 he has received awards and shown his work in more than 30 exhibitions across Europe and Africa. Today he focuses on portraiture and free artistic projects, and is a member of the German Photographic Society.

His book is a beautifully produced collection of photos taken along the way with commentary. I’ll try and pick up a copy when I visit Germany later in the year.

See more about his book here: https://verlag.lunik.de/seume

Pawlitzky has documented his entire stroll, along with excellent photos, here: https://seumes-weg.de/

Again, I am translating each entry with the help of Chat GPT.