This is a study of one of the few prose texts by an author much better known for his poetry. It is inspired by Celan's remark that »Gespräch im Gebirg« was written "in memory of an encounter that never happened." Instead of taking the conventional course and treating this remark as a reference to Adorno, the author examines the poetological implications behind it. Though hermetic at first glance, the text yields up a surprising number of its apparent enigmas when subjected to close reading, poetological analysis, intertextual comparison with texts by Adorno, and reference to letters recently published for the first time.