The Novels of Hermann Hesse: A Study in Theme & Structure

by Theodore Ziolkowski

Preface
The Themes
Years of crisis
Totality
magical thinking
Timelessness
The Chiliastic vision
The triadic rhythm of humanization
Perspectives of reality
humor
The crisis of language
The Structures
The Gospel of Demian
Siddhartha
the landscape of the soul
The Steppenwolf
a sonata in prose
Narziss & Goldmund
a medieval allegory
The symbolic autobiography of Journey to the East
The Glass Bead Game
beyond Castalia
Epilogue
Between Romanticism & Existentialism
Index of Works
General Index

Genres: Nonfiction, Literature, Literary Criticism, Criticism

388 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1965

Reviews

[Bohdan Pechenyak · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent study of the themes and structure of Hesse's mature novels from "Demian" to "The Glass Bead Game", inductively exploring the process of their creation and the development of Hesse's vision, and attempting to place Hesse's work in the larger context as marking the transition from romanticism (as a typological category, not a strictly historical movement) to existentialism (likewise). Along the way, Hesse's texts are also discussed in the wider context of other European modernist writers during the interwar period (Thomas Mann, Hermann Broch, Andre Gide, Joyce, Proust, Kafka, and others). Goethe, Novalis, Nietzsche and other important influences on Hesse's stylistic and thematic choices are discussed extensively.

[Erik Graff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hermann Hesse was one of the great favorites of my high school crowd, recommended to me first by some of the girls, Rachel and Betsy in particular. I started with Demian, then proceeded to pick up or borrow every novel I could, branching off into his nonfiction and spending a great deal of money at Stuart Brent Bookstore on Michigan Avenue for some of the more obscure titles.

By 1974 I'd read all of his major fiction. This review of his work was, in consequence, a pleasant trip down memory lane which raised to consciousness many of the devices of his art which had worked so effectively on me. Subsequently I went on to find and read a biography of the author.

[Carlos · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an interesting take on analyzing Hermann Hesse’s work. Unlike the majority of the evaluations of Hesse’s work that I’ve read, Ziolkowski is much more reticent to emphasize the influence of Hesse’s personal story in his work. Instead, he seeks to place his work and thought along the progression from the Romantic to the Existentialist movement. Without attempting to pigeonhole him – and, in fact, dedicating an entire chapter to acknowledging the difficulty of finding where along that line Hesse might be better placed – Ziolkowski tackles each of Hesse’s “major” novels and explores the themes Hesse expressed and how he choose to do so. Right from the beginning, however, the reader familiar with Hesse’s work will find that Ziolkowski chose to focus only on the novels that distinguished him from the common writers of his epoch and ignored the early works that won him popular, but not critical, acclaim. This goes far in explaining the bias that underlies this work. Ziolkowski, by trying to place Hesse in the position of a forerunner to the Existentialist movement leaves him little room to grow as a person. While many commentators are quick to point to the evolution in his thought and theme, Ziolkowski curtails that growth by starting right after the point where he has changed the most. Nonetheless, Ziolkowski does give the reader not only a brilliant elucidation of Hesse work and impact but also hands them a looking glass through which to better view all his innovations and experiments.

[Jerry]

review text for 1060