Yesterday was a little bit exhausting (because of the flu), so I spent some time in the afternoon laying down and read "Narcissus & Goldmund" by Hermann Hesse. Hermann Hesse was a German-Swiss poet/writer, he wrote several fiction mainly about individual's search for the meaning of life, duality, self-knowledge and spirituality back in the 1900s. He later won a Nobel Prize in 1946.
I first read Siddharta (1922) in 2014, and my creative director passed me her book because she thought that I might like it. I did like it and I reread it several times over the years. Then I accidentally found Steppenwolf (1927) with the same classic cover edition and I bought it from a second-hand shop for RM 3 - didn't like the story as much, but here are some beautiful excerpts. Then I can't remember when/how did I come across Narcissus & Goldmund (1930), also with the same cover edition. All by Bantam Books printed in the 70s.
I'm not a collector, but finding a book with a classic cover still intact and decent is somehow fulfilling.
So this year I want to read more classics right, I'm pausing on Dostoyevsky at this moment and decided to read as much Hesse instead because he wrote about spirituality from a Westerner's point of view in the 1900s and I think that is an interesting read.
I listened to his novella: The Journey to The East (1932) last month then I continued reading my copy of Narcissus & Goldmund. I'm curious about Wandering (1920) but I couldn't find a physical copy anywhere. Most of his other works can be found on Scribd - I just need to learn to read on screen:F
You can see his pattern and repetitive topics in his different fiction. Maybe one day I should fully nerd up and compile together all the things I find interesting about Hermann Hesse. Also, at times, you can feel like reading Haruki Murakami combined with Paulo Coelho. But it is still uniquely Hesse.
Interesting facts about Hesse :
- So in search of the 'meaning', he went on a pilgrimage to Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Borneo, and Burma back in 1911 - when people don't really travel that much, to search for 'enlightenment' in the East. Isn't that interesting? Coming to Southeast Asia for enlightenment.
- On religion: He believed that "for different people, there are different ways to God"; but despite the influence, he drew from Hindu and Buddhist philosophies, he stated about his parents: “their Christianity, one not preached but lived, was the strongest of the powers that shaped and molded me".
- He was banned and banished from Germany during the Nazi regime: for his anti-war views and critiques, he also supported German refugees.
- 1904 - Peter Camenzind
- 1906 - Unterm Rad (Beneath the Wheel; or The Prodigy)
- 1910 - Gertrude
- 1914 - Rosshalde
- 1915 - Knulp (or Three Tales from the Life of Knulp) ✓
- 1919 - Demian ✓
- 1922 - Siddhartha ✓
- 1927 - Der Steppenwolf ✓
- 1930 - Narziß und Goldmund (Narcissus and Goldmund; or Death and the Lover) ✓
- 1932 - Die Morgenlandfahrt (Journey to the East) ✓
- 1943 - Das Glasperlenspiel (The Glass Bead Game; or Magister Ludi)
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