As a methodical exercise, Stifter’s Narrenburg from the Studien is subjected to new comparative approaches. Initial complications between testament (“Fideicommiß”) and the eponymous castle are revealed as a memorial dispositive of two distinct, but intertwined media: writing and the spatial complex of built “Rothenstein”. Another form of difference emerges from intermedial enquiry. First, the focus on temporal ir/reversibility reconsiders what has been regarded as the historicist background of the narrative, thus providing a more dynamic reading of dealing with the past. Secondly, singular and compound architectures need to be distinguished in order to evaluate the ambivalent aesthetics of the “Narrenburg”. Finally, the angle of solitary vs. ensemble is transferred onto the opening scenes of Kafka’s novel Das Schloß . This intertextual comparison does not rely on similar motifs or symbolic meaning; rather, designing space depends on building specific relations, even in literary texts. Along with the theoretical upgrade of productive intermediality the interdisciplinary value of architectural concepts beyond mere topographical perspectives becomes apparent.