This would be the 2nd book that was written by Hermann Hesse. It was written back in 1906. Usually, the early ones are not that good, so I already expected it to be among 'not-his-best-works'. The experience of reading it was a bit underwhelming. I read it because I was curious.
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Beneath the Wheel is a story about a young talented boy called Hans Giebenrath. He is talented, smart, and one of the prominent boys in his village. He excels in his qualification exam and wins a scholarship. The whole town expects him to continue his studies. Even during the summer holiday afterward, he continues studying because everyone expects him to.
In the seminary, he dutifully follows the regimen of school, excels in examinations, and becomes one of the favorite students among the teachers. He is the model student until he becomes close with one of the rebellious young poets; Hermann Heilner. Heilner is a problematic student, a bad influence and he is then expelled from the seminary.
This leads to a feeling of disassociation for Hans and he could no longer study like his usual self. Hans too is sent home after a nervous breakdown. Back home, Hans feels disconnected from everything and everyone in his old town.
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It is quite an underwhelming read, but I still love the translation and story-telling. A bit boring and draggy at times. I think the climax of the story is when Hans is sent home - but even then, nothing much really happened. Felt like the writer only wrote vibes and his thoughts on the education system. Compared to all his other books that I read with heavier philosophical topics, this just feels like vibes.
I think what HH is trying to say here :
- The education system is trying to put us in a dedicated box that focuses solely on academics to create people that can do work instead of thinking creatively - as in artists, poets, innovators
- Don't study, study, study - go out, have a life, be in nature, dream, rest, go out fishing, make friends, sleep under the tree
- Boarding school is rigid and biased, they focus on academics alone
- You go into the system, you die - literally - Hans was found dead after he started working.
On school system:
It is his duty and responsibility to control the raw energies and desires of his charges and replace them with calmer, more moderate ideals. What would many happy citizens and trustworthy officials have become but unruly, stormy innovators and dreamers of useless dreams, if not for the effort of their schools?
In young beings there is something wild, ungovernable, uncultured which first has to be tamed. It is like a dangerous flame that has to be controlled or it will destroy. Natural man is unpredictable, opaque, dangerous, like a torrent cascading out of uncharted mountains. At the start, his soul is a jungle without paths or order. And, like a jungle, it must first be cleared and its growth thwarted. Thus it is the school's task to subdue and control man with force and make him a useful member of society, to kindle those qualities in him whose development will bring him to triumphant completion.
When Hans was struggling with depression:
No wonder that none of this helped. Every healthy person must have a goal in life and that life must have content; young Giebenrath had lost both.
He felt the desire to sink down, to fall asleep, to die, and suffered agonies because his youth itself made this impossible, clinging to life with its quiet obstinacy.
Just vibes:
It is good to suck it into your lungs with winter so near since it makes you grateful and brings back a host of memories: of the gentle May rains, summer downpours, cool morning dew in autumn, tender spring sun, blazing hot summer afternoons, the whites and rose-red blossoms and the ripe red-brown glow of fruit trees before the harvest -- everything beautiful and joyful that happens in the course of a year.
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I have another 2 books to read that I bought from Kindle: Rosshalde & The Glass Bead Game, let's see whether they are any good. Oh, and these books cost $1.99 on Kindle (hardly can find the physical copies anywhere) so, I think it is good enough. I hope it is from a reliable publishing and a good translation.
Novels :
- 1904 - Peter Camenzind
- 1906 - Beneath the Wheel ✓
- 1910 - Gertrude
- 1914 - Rosshalde
- 1915 - Knulp ✓
- 1919 - Demian ✓
- 1922 - Siddhartha ✓
- 1927 - Steppenwolf ✓
- 1930 - Narcissus and Goldmund ✓
- 1932 - Journey to the East ✓
- 1943 - The Glass Bead Game
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