Thanks to and Caroline and Lizzy for organizing German Literature Month. Please
visit their sites for tons of links to commentary on all sorts of great German
literature.
Those familiar with the
writings of Hermann Hesse will find that Demian covers familiar ground.
Like many of Hesse’s novels, this work is a Bildungsroman, or the chronicle of
the development of a young person’s character. It is a philosophical novel that
draws upon contradictory thought systems as espoused by Carl Jung, Friedrich Nietzsche,
Gnosticism, Christian theology, Hinduism and Buddhism to name a just a few. As
this novel was written fairly early in Hesse’s career, these ideas, as well as
the plot, are unfortunately a little underdeveloped here.
Emil
Sinclair is raised in a middle class German family. His home life is
comfortable and warm with caring family and parents, holiday celebrations,
religion, etc. Early in life he begins to realize that he is different from his
family as well as his peers. Sinclair seems to live more in his mind and spirit
than do those around him. Moreover, he recognizes an opposite world inhabited
by darker things.
“On the other hand, the other world
began right in our own house; it was altogether different, smelled different,
spoke differently, made different promises and demands. In this second world
there were maids and journeymen, ghost stories and scandalous rumors; there was
a motley flow of uncanny, tempting, frightening, puzzling things, things like slaughterhouse and jail, drunks and bickering women, cows giving
birth, horses collapsing, stories of burglaries, killings, suicides. All these
beautiful and scary, wild and cruel things existed all around, in the next
street, in the next house; policemen and vagrants ran around, drunks beat their
wives, clusters of young girls poured out of the factories in the evening, old
women could cast a spell on you and make you sick, bandits lived in the woods,
arsonists were caught by the constabulary—this second, violent world gushed out
fragrantly everywhere,”
Sinclair meets another boy, Max Demian. This extraordinary
character seems to understand the duality inherent in the universe and sees
into a higher reality. This knowledge is accompanied by amazing powers of
persuasion over others. Through the years the pair lose touch for long periods
but reconnect several times.
As Sinclair grows up he vacillates between the worlds of “Light” and “Dark” with periods of wild revelry followed
by stretches of piety and asceticism. Eventually, after episodes of mystical
experiences and dreams, he reestablishes his friendship with Demian.
At this point Sinclair
establishes a spiritual balance between his conflicting natures. He and Demian form
associations with other “enlightened” people who follow many different belief
systems.
Sinclair meets Demian’s mother, Frau Eva. This woman is a
figure of wisdom and near spiritual perfection. Sinclair falls deeply in love with her. The two
experience a spiritual relationship and connection. As World War I breaks out,
both Sinclair and Demian enter military
service and meet their destinies.
This is a deep philosophical work. It is clear that
Hesse is identifying a duality in the universe, the “Light” and “Dark.” There
are multiple references to the Gnostic God Abraxas. This deity represents a
combination of universal opposites.
The “Light” side, Spirituality, Christianity and other
religious thought are portrayed as half of the balance in the universe.
“the reality
of a pious life such as my parents led, for instance; I knew it was neither
unworthy nor hypocritical. Instead, I constantly retained the most profound
respect for religiosity”
The other half of Hesse’s equation is the necessity of the darker side of the Universe.
The writings of Nietzsche are
referenced several times. Some Gnostic interpretations
of Bible stories are presented. For
instance, the idea that the Cain and Abel actually presented Cain in a positive
and noble light is suggested.
It is well known that Hesse’s philosophy was
influenced by the theories of Carl Jung’s collective unconscious. Sinclair comes to understand
that these forces inside of him are shared by all and perhaps result from human
evolution.
“But we’re
comprised of everything that comprises the world, each of us, and just as our
body bears within it the lines of evolutionary descent all the way back to the
fish and even much farther beyond that, in the same way our soul contains
everything that has ever dwelt in human souls. “
Sinclair enters the world of
the highly enlightened when he reconciles that both universal forces are
necessary for a balanced psyche and society. I cannot help but to think that Nietzsche must have rolled in his grave at
the thought that Hesse’s system rolled together his beliefs with the ideas of
piety and Christianity!
I
like Hesse’s take on things as an interesting and useful worldview. As a
personal philosophy, his concept of balance can be beneficial and helpful. However,
Hesse, like many philosophies and religions, seems to go further and imply that
these dualities are part of the basic fabric of the universe. I differ with him
in this regard as I think that these beliefs are more of an enlightened point
of view as opposed to a nuts and bolts description of the universe.
Though
full of varying philosophical thoughts, I find Hesse to be relatively
transparent as to what he is attempting to say. Though this is the first time
that I have read Demian, I have read numerous other works by Hesse, so I
was somewhat intellectually prepared beforehand. I would highly recommend that
a prospective reader be somewhat familiar with the basics of Jung’s theories on
Collective Unconscious and Archetypes as well as Abraxas. A little knowledge of
Gnostic beliefs would also help. Deep study is not necessary, twenty or so
minutes in Wikipedia will open up many doors to this work.
Readers
of this blog will know that I like books full of ideas and philosophical
ruminations. This book is indeed full of these things and I very much enjoyed
it. However I would not recommend this novel to those who are unfamiliar with
Hesse’s other works. The ground that is covered here is covered in his other
books in more satisfying ways. This is a short work, too short to be packed
with so many ideas. Thus I find that the philosophies expounded here seem underdeveloped.
The author needs more words. Similarly, I think more character development
would have helped. Finally, the end of the novel seems rushed and comes too
quickly.
I
have previously read Siddhartha, Steppenwolf, Narcissus
and Goldmund, The
Journey to the East and The
Glass Bead Game. I tend to love Hesse's work. I would recommend any of these as more
fulfilling, both thematically and aesthetically, works over Demian. If one has already read Hesse’s other great works
and wants to read more, then I think that they will find this is an enjoyable supplementary
novel.
