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/lit/ - Literature

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15886484 No.15886484 [Reply] [Original]

Let's have a Hesse thread.

I've recently read Narcissus and Goldmund, Gertrud, and Siddharta. Each one of them moved me deeply and even made me tear up by the end.

What other works by him should I read? Are there any other authors like him?

>> No.15886510

>>15886484
Steppenwolf

>> No.15886511
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15886511

This book dragged me out of depression and filled me with desire to live.

>> No.15886914

>>15886484
steppenwolf was pretty good, the ending felt a bit unfinished and unsatisfying but it was still enjoyable.

>> No.15886930

coelho-tier

>> No.15886979

>>15886484
Demian is one of my favorite books ever (I'm really interested in Gnosticism) and Siddhartha was great, too. But I have to say, I really didn't care for Steppenwolf at all. The prose and story was extremely dry compared to his other books, and it doesn't really bring any themes that aren't better represented by Mann or Camus.

Anyone agree?? Or did I get filtered?

>> No.15886999

>>15886979
You got filtered.

Steppenwolf is one of my favorite novels of all time.

Siddhartha was useless. My friend is studying to be a Buddhist monk and tells me it’s a gross misinterpretation of the tenets it’s trying to describe. I saw it in so many dorm rooms during college, never understood the appeal.

>> No.15887017

>>15886979
I agree, I'm reading Narcissus and Goldmund now and the difference is like Herzog vs Henderson. The themes are the same but Goldmund is written much more clearly, like an actual story instead of a depressing self insert tale.

>> No.15887058

>>15886999
So, in a few sentences, what makes Steppenwolf a great novel?

>> No.15887060

>>15886999
>>15886979
Read Jung. Steppenwolf is about man’s alienation from the modern world as it existed when Hesse was writing. Camus rejects the idea that there is any cosmic meaning in human existence or suffering, whereas Hesse believes that there is.

IMO Camus is hugely overrated.

>> No.15887151

>>15886979
>>15887058
You need to be in or at least experience a dark place to truly appreciate Steppenwolf. It is about loneliness, alienation and being able to have a fresh look at things around. What I truly appreciated is that it was very gradual and pragmatic dragging out of muddy waters into a better frame of mind.

>> No.15887212

>>15887058
Kind of responded in >>15887060, but it’s one of the great modernist novels. It explores the alienation experienced by many living in the post-WWI order, and the quixotic search for cosmic meaning in a radically transformed industrial civilization. The book develops these themes, and they are eventually manifested in a Jungian dream sequence that culminates in Steppenwolf’s self-actualization, where Hesse reconciles the antagonisms between Steppenwolf and himself and the post-WWI social order. It foreshadows absurdism and the later writing of Camus. But it addresses these ideas more artfully, and more fully explores their relationship to the human psyche in industrial society.

Siddhartha is just Hesse’s lame take on le epic oriental ideas he doesn’t fully understand. It’s dull, ponderous, vapid, and doesn’t come close to Steppenwolf imo.

>> No.15887276

>>15887212
This sounds interesting, you sold me on Steppenwolf.

t. different anon

>> No.15887329

>>15887276
definitely recommend, it’s probably my favorite :)

it’s a great novel, but it also really does hold up so well at a time when we’re experiencing a similar spiritual crisis.

>> No.15887455

>>15886914
Hesse wasn't exactly known for great endings. I think the short stories at the end of The Glass Bead Game were his way of saying sorry ...

>> No.15887463

>>15887060
>Read Jung
Worth repeating. You can't understand Steppenwolf without it. It's a story of the individuation process.

>> No.15887492

>>15886484
Who here >Klingsors letzter Sommer<?
Anyway, you'd probably like Unterm Rad (Under the Wheel) just as well.

I'm personally quite impressed by how untaintable his soul was - very few men came out of WW1 and WW2 with as much faith and compassion towards mankind as he did. He's kind of a holy fool in that regard.

>> No.15887657

>>15886484
Siddhartha is overrated. I don't know why /lit/ likes it so much.

>> No.15887686

>>15887463
Based. I read Steppenwolf before I was familiar with Jung. Still loved it, but reading Jung gave me a much deeper appreciation for it.

>> No.15887703

>>15887686
>>15887463
Well, you could read Jung or eat mushrooms to warm yourself up for Steppenwolff.

>> No.15888015

>>15886914
Just like life I guess

>> No.15888042

>>15887060
>>15887463
What's the best place to start with Jung? The red book?

>> No.15888107

>>15888042
Probably Man and His Symbols. Then Psychology of the Unconscious or Modern Man in Search of a Soul.

He has written a LOT, some of it batshit.

>> No.15888434

>>15886484
I really like demian and the short story the prodigy.
Hesse is probably one of my favorite authors, but his endings (like in siddhartha and demian) always throw me off a bit.

>> No.15888437

>>15886999
>>15887212
Siddhartha isn't about Buddhism. The main character just has the same name. He explicitly rejects Buddhism in the story as being for plebs. The philosophy is Hindu.

>> No.15888443

>>15888437
whatever bro i still thought it was boring and pseud-tier

>> No.15888449

>>15887463
>>15887686
what is some recommended jung reading that informs steppenwolf?

>> No.15888498

>>15888042
Heck no. Save that till last.
A good intro would be The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious, which introduce his most fundamental ideas.

>> No.15889227

>>15886999
Same here.

>> No.15889258

>>15886914
The worst part is that Steppenwolf is one of his better endings.

>> No.15889473

>>15888443
Well you are wrong

>> No.15889579
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15889579

>>15888443
>whatever bro i still thought it was boring and pseud-tier

>> No.15889590

glass bead game seemed to me to be everything he had to say summed up in one big wonderful book

>> No.15889638

siddartha was really cringe anon