Classically oriented Carossa did not seem to be at all impressed by these events. By leaving his Munich practice for Italy, he made a major break with the medical profession; when he returned only old friends, those he wanted to treat, would visit his office, and he could spend most of his days at literary composition. Soon after coming back from the classic land, he published the second of his autobiographical series, "Verwandlung einer Jugend" (1926). This same year also brought sadness into Carossa's life when on 29 December his dear friend Rilke died.