/lit/ - Literature

Generally the opinion on this board is that it's good, and one of Hesse's best works. It definitely has a main character that is most similar to the posters here, out of all his works, so that may influence it.

>>9734395
literally me

>>9734395
Hesse is kino-tier and it's a shame that while Steppenwolf is fantastic, and autists like to bitch about Siddhartha being an easy-to-read, vanilla eastern metaphysical Roman with fantastic prose, his other works like Peter Camenzind, Glass Bead Game, or Narcissus and Goldmund get a fraction of the attention those other two get.

>>9734395
muh too cuck not to live fully a life of absolute madman
but uncuck just enough not to live the chill out man, just cuck around life

stuck in the middle, story of how life can be wasted there

This book changed my life, it's a must read.
I was depressed before reading it, now i'm feeling happy.

One cannot help but notice the irony that, though Hesse seems to believe Harry has done so, he has quiet clearly failed to understand Pablo and Hermonie's lesson. He does not embrace "humour" as they and Mozart instruct but instead declares he will go through "hell" and existential struggle to discover it. Which seems to entirely miss the point of the lesson he has been taught.

>>9735893
Hermione's*

>>9735873
really?

Having not ever read this book, is it an insult if somebody tells you that the protagonist resembles you?

>>9736500
>the protagonist resembles you
You meant-
>you resemble the protagonist
You pompous, presumptuous piss ant. This book was written far before you were ever a little semen seaman traversing the tides the ovarian ocean.

My favorite Hesse book by far. Also one of my favorites in general, it's a deceptively optimistic book that more people need to internalize.

>>9734395
It's quite good IMO, I've read a decent amount of Hesse over the years too. Best works would be Narziss and Goldmund > Glass Bead Game > Demian > Steppenwolf > Siddhartha

Its ok. Its a little preachy.

>>9734395
Very good. His other books are all good in their own way as well.

Hesse is a proto-PauloCoelho. (The Glass Bead Game is good though).

>>9734395
I completely forgot that I had read this book until I saw it posted here on /lit/

>>9734395
At best it could be called perverse. Hesse is completely without subtlety and his blending of east and west is as vulgar as it gets. What he lacks in sophistication he makes up for in sententiousness.

>>9737029
Anon, marry me.

>>9735873
How did it change you?

>>9737019
>proto-PauloCoelho
please be bait

>>9734395
It's what The Alchemist is to normies but for cringey pseuds.

>>9735873
>tfw going out and 'enjoying life' but became even more depressed

>>9737107
>thinking that was the message of the book
HAHAHAHA oh man

>>9734395
>steppenwolf
Never too late is a great song man very underrated

>>9737099
It wouldn't be considered a classic if only cringey pseuds like it.

>>9734395
I liked it. Hesse does a good job at capturing the feeling of isolation and existential dread, which I imagine a good portion of /lit/ understands. He's also rather subtle in the way he condemns materialistic-bourgeois society; there were obvious hints towards that message, such as being told that "this world isn't for artists and philosophers." But you don't realize how much effect that bit of common sense has on Harry until the Magic Theater. It's nice that he managed to condemn bourgeois society in this manner without seeming to actually promote communism. For that reason it makes sense that Fascists tended to enjoy the book, despite Hesse being banned in Germany. Learning to accept and enjoy the material world alongside more aesthetic and metaphysical things seems like it should be obvious, but it's profound to see it played out right in front of you.

My only real complaint is that its psychology isn't quite as good as Demian. He captures the feeling of loneliness perfectly, but the Steppenwolf Treatise he reads talks more about mystical things, alongside some bits of psychology. But it doesn't display a Jungian sense of personal growth like Demian did with representing a person going from childhood into adulthood. This is made up for by his other personal developments, but it might be a bit disappointing for people expecting to see archetypal progress.

I wish i had discovered him a year or two before i did. Steppenwolf is definitively the best of what i've read (demian, siddhartha, klinsgor)

What was up with the ending, though?

Hesse is a good writer, but I did not enjoy this particular book. I thought the deus ex machina appearance of the girl very contrived and unrealistic. That piece of plot lent the rest of the work a feeling of unpleasant artificiality.

>>9737356
I think it's interesting how it was some completely random women, who people like Harry would normally overlook. She does a great job at representing indulgence in bourgeois society. Although it seems like there's a sense of fate and destiny in Hesse's mind; hopefully that makes up for her seemingly impossible meet up. Although he uses similar impossible meetings regularly; in Demian he receives a letter from someone for absolutely no reason, and finds them out of pure 'luck.' Hesse isn't the kind of person you read for a good story, (which admittedly he's not the author you'd read for that) but he's as grand as Dostoevsky in terms of conveying raw humanity to the reader.

I haven't read a single word of it, now let me tell you all about how it's a trash young adult novel.

>>9737213
>>9737213
>It wouldn't be considered a classic if only cringey pseuds like it.
It's not.

>>9737356
The point, as I understood it, is that Hermione's existence is meant to be ambiguous. Does Harry really meet her, or is she just an invocation of his boyhood affection for Herman and a hallucination?

>>9737346
What was wrong with the ending Anon? As I've mentioned already in the thread I think it's a very nice, ironic, way of completing Harry's story.

>>9737019
Please, please, be bait

Could'nt relate to Harry Haller very much, most of the time he either came of as annoying, prepotent or just unrelatable. The most relatable thing was actually the Steppenwolf treatise, i also like this as a stylistic device, from what i've read in the original first print it was in a different color to present it as distinctly seperate. Apart from some of that, i couldn't quite get my hand on what was supposed to be the big deal. Themes of alienation and imcompatibility to society have been better handled elsewhere, Hesse also takes himself way too seriously. The alienated, intellectual, unable AND unwilling to fit in and yet yearning for it however serious, always has an element of ridicilousness or comicality. However righteous his feelings, he is also a special snowflake. Hesse fails to capture or understand this. Also the ending was insane: The main point in Hallers healing is that he is cured by a series of random sexual encounters. He basically fucks every women and girl he ever missed out on and recoveres through it in a fantasy or intoxicated dream, or so is implied. Or to put it differently: I dont care about a protagonist who lets out in the end that apparently his only problem was that he couldn't get laid.

>>9737939
Also read Demian and had more or less the same problems. Apperently i'm not a Hesse guy, don't plan on reading any more of his.

>>9737876
>>9737096
Are you one of those people who unironically thought The Alchemist was deep and life changing only to be dumbfounded when you understood that everyone else understands it to be a joke? If so I'm very sorry but facts are facts. Hesse is trash and anyone remotely qualified to possess one iota of self-respect knows that.

Recently read it. I think the intro didn't really add anything to the story. It seemed like it was trying to ground it, but the first two thirds are really grounded anyways.

If you are anything like Harry this book will show you Hesse's general themes much better than other books like Siddartha and Journey to the East. It's a fun ride regardless.
>>9737512
Found it in the classic section of my bookstore. Checkmate anonymous

>>9737096
>>9737876
Nah, not bait. I think his prose is good, but the content is mostly garbage. Muchos artificios para no decir nada, que diría Sábato.

>>9737939
YOUR RRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

>>9737956
>facts are facts
>states own opinion

>>9737096
>>9737876
t. Paul Kaninchen

>>9734395
Made me realise I was born to be wild.

>>9736534
I kekked so hard.

>>9737873
I didn't understand it. Did he die? Was it just a trip?