Are his works actually good or is it just kitsch? When I was 20 years old, I enjoyed reading picrel. It's set in Medieval Germany and from what I remember the protagonists represent two archetypes: Narziß lives an ascetic life and dedicates himself to science, logic, etc. whereas Goldmund follows his primordial urges and becomes an artist. Because of their one-sidedness neither of them is capable of a fullfilling life.
>>24997778His works are young adult books done right
I think you should have a genuine interest in Christianity or at least believe in the monotheistic God to be able to connect with his works. Being well read helps a lot in general, he makes obscure references to long forgotten authors.
>>24998080how is siddhartha christian or monotheistic tho?
>>24998084IDK but you have to care about Christianity to care about most of German literature
>>24998135>Said the mute to the deaf
>>24998016Piß off. Steppenwolf is exclusively for the middle-aged.
>>24999117It was the book that popularized Hesse among yüngenadultenreüders
>>24999188You mean hippies. None of them understood the book.
>>249992112deep4u
>>24997778What about being a hobo that bangs other men's wives and random whores makes Goldmund an artist? (Or was it narcissisuss idk idc)
>>24999276ask your mother, I'm an artisan of cock
>>24997778if you are a based Hesse reader, you will also enjoy BOM. the GBG makes an important appearance in it
His books are the ultimate existential crisis-core. If you're lucky something in them will resonate with you, but don't be the guy who spends years and years in this kind of state.
>>24999263I dunno, your mom's pussy is deeper and that's not 2deep4me.
>>24997778I liked Steppenwolf but Demian was a slog to get through.
>>25004419it wasn't his best book
>>24997778was it just me or was there a lot of intense homoeroticism in Narziß und Goldmund?
Tried to read the glass bead game. Got 140 pages in and realized I was wasting my time. Dont think I'll try any of the other works anytime soon
>>24997778So instead of reading another Hesse book ir rereading the one you liked, you just asked us what to think?
I hated Siddhartha and hated Steppenwolf. People tell me to read N&G or Bead and I'm just not going to do it. "Just Kitsch" is an apt critique; he fills his books with the trappings of depth sans substance. I can't complain too much about his actual style because I've only read English translations; maybe it works better in the original but the English in manages to be somehow both childish and joyless.At least they're short. Read one if you must, and make up your own mind.
>>24999276the reason he goes to manwhore arond baden or wherever the book is set is because he has a longing for the feminine (iirc he had flashbacks to his childhood and how he couldnt remember his mothers face), he then **sees a statue of maria in a church and spends the latter part of the book becoming a wood sculptor, there might be even a parallel to jesus who was carpenter etc etc**i dont know what is it about people from the germanosphere, from hesse to jung to goethe to schiller to freud, but they are all obsessed with this lost feminine unconscious presence which drives man. its rarer or atleast much less overt in other european traditions
>>25006162ive read them all in german, N&G is his best work imo, it has the least of that teenage edgyness. glass bead game is also great and i feel like it would perhaps actually be one of the greatest works of all time if i would bother to give it more attention and research the book deeper but i cant be arsed
I read Siddhartha at the right time and enjoyed it, grew from it. It is a very immature book. Once you no longer have need of it, it loses its reward and appeal.
