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دميان

Hermann Hesse

4.13 · Rating details · 78,818 ratings · 4,513 reviews

روايته "دميان" التي بين يدي القارئ والتي عكست استغراق الكاتب، وإنهماكه الكامل بأليات اللاوعي وبطرئق التحليل النفسي. ...more

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150 pages

Published 2007 by تهران (first published 1919)

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Apr 11, 2011 RandomAnthony rated it liked it · review of another edition

Hermann Hesse's Demian influenced me more than just about any book although I haven't read the novel in twenty years. Through my late teens and early twenties I searched out every Hesse book I could find, including the rarities, journals, letters, etc., going as far as to ferret out European editions in a Berlin bookstore on a solo trip as much influenced by Hesse as cheap airfare. My initial college experiences (three institutions in six semesters) ended badly. I became depressed and, although Hermann Hesse's Demian influenced me more than just about any book although I haven't read the novel in twenty years. Through my late teens and early twenties I searched out every Hesse book I could find, including the rarities, journals, letters, etc., going as far as to ferret out European editions in a Berlin bookstore on a solo trip as much influenced by Hesse as cheap airfare. My initial college experiences (three institutions in six semesters) ended badly. I became depressed and, although I had friends, spent much of my time isolated with books. My hostile, unsupportive parents created a tense, unsafe environment. The future looked bleak. I was terrified.

But I had Hesse. And many of the Hesse protagonists reminded my sad, desperate ass of myself. I eventually finished college, scraped out an existence, and learned to survive. Later a woman graciously and sympathetically agreed to marry me. We moved to Wisconsin. When packing up the apartment for the trek north I crated the Hesse books and didn't return to the author for twenty years.

A few weeks back I spotted a decent Demian edition, with the Thomas Mann introduction, for a couple bucks at a Borders closing sale. I read the book over seven illness-ridden gray spring days. And while my perceptions of the novel changed, of course, with the passing decades, Hesse's vision once again earned my appreciation.

Sinclair, the novel's narrator, is a German teenager transitioning from the warm, safe glow of his childhood world into a much scarier adulthood. He tries to follow the rules but feels himself called to something other than the town status quo. In school he meets a new student, the mysterious, adult and somewhat feminine Demian. Sinclair, through Demian, learns of the individuals with the “Mark of Cain.” These people are special; they can't feel fulfilled within the normal societal context and must look elsewhere for meaning. Sinclair spends much of his time alone, feels loss and terror, and almost fails out of boarding school. Do you see why this setup was attractive to a teenager who felt like he couldn't stand ten minutes in a room with his parents and couldn't pass his first university courses? I wanted to feel as if my isolation and third-rate social skills had meaning and set me apart with a purpose I couldn't comprehend. Demian and Sinclair separate after graduation and the latter experiments with alcoholic hazes before falling under the influence of a new mentor, the benevolent but drunken and limited church organist Pistorus. Sinclair paints and creates a vision of a bird breaking out of the egg as metaphor for his own process. I wanted so badly to embody that bird, to prove my failures as something deeper than incompetence. Sinclair catches up with Demian near the start of what seems to be the second world war, and when they next part they declare themselves part of a new vanguard who will help reshape the world after the military convulsions.

Demian is flawed. Some passages rely on vague, mythic language that mires in mystical and somewhat frustrating possibilities; in other words, one could accuse Hesse of taking the easy way out by framing Demian's insight as near indescribable. And when Sinclair and Hesse “call” each other the pair somehow telepathically sense the need to meet. This magic, romantic power is easier to describe than anything tangible and even as a teenager I knew this type of interaction was beyond my capabilities and probably bullshit. And when Demian says things like “The new world has begun and the new world will be terrible for those clinging to the old. What will you do?” he benefits from the lack of detail. But none of that mattered to me twenty, twenty-five years back. Hesse portrayed identity-challenged young men who struggled on the edge of mainstream daily existence and hoped for something more. And while I can see the inherent romanticism and frustrating pseudo-spiritualism with older, calmer eyes, I still feel the pull of Hesse's work. Without Demian and similar books I would have lacked a voice for emotions I couldn't articulate on my own; Hesse's work became a framework around which I could see potential self-value at a time in my life when I was precariously close to a feeling worthless. And while I can position Demian as a novel that resonates differently with me at forty-one than at nineteen, I recognize the camaraderie inherent in this book with a part of me that will never completely disappear. Demian is intrinsic to my narrative vocabulary and always will be. The vestiges of Hesse's influences are subtle but still present; while I like to think I would search for meaning in what I do, beyond convention, without ever reading Hesse, his work provided form and foundation, however mystical, on which I could build as I grew older and (hopefully) more capable. Thank you, Mr. Hesse, for being there when I needed you most. ...more

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Sep 28, 2009 Ahmad Sharabiani rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: european, 20th-century, classics, literature, fiction, german

Demian: Die Geschichte einer Jugend = Demian: The Story of Emil Sinclair's Youth, Hermann Hesse

ّFirst Publication date 1919. Emil Sinclair is a young boy who was raised in a middle class home, amidst what is described as a illusory world.

Sinclair's entire existence can be summarized as a struggle between two worlds: the show world of illusion (related to the Hindu concept of maya) and the real world, the world of spiritual truth.

In the course of the novel, Sinclair is caught between good and Demian: Die Geschichte einer Jugend = Demian: The Story of Emil Sinclair's Youth, Hermann Hesse

ّFirst Publication date 1919. Emil Sinclair is a young boy who was raised in a middle class home, amidst what is described as a illusory world.

Sinclair's entire existence can be summarized as a struggle between two worlds: the show world of illusion (related to the Hindu concept of maya) and the real world, the world of spiritual truth.

In the course of the novel, Sinclair is caught between good and evil, represented as the light and dark realms.

Accompanied and prompted by his mysterious classmate and friend 'Max Demian', he detaches from and revolts against the superficial ideals of the world of appearances and eventually awakens into a realization of self.

تاریخ نخستین خوانش: در یکی از روزهای ماه آگوست سال 1974میلادی

عنوان: دمیان: سرگذشت جوانی امیل سینکلر؛ اثر: هرمان هسه؛ مترجم: خسرو رضایی؛ تهران، بنگاه ترجمه، 1346؛ در 263ص؛ زیر نظر احسان یارشاطر؛ چاپ دیگر تهران، جامی، علمی فرهنگی، 1386؛ در 200ص؛ شابک 9645620457؛ چاپ سوم 1392؛ موضوع داستانهای نویسندگان آلمانی - سده 20م

عنوان: دمیان؛ اثر: هرمان هسه؛ مترجم: لیلی بوربور؛ تهران، فرس، 1363؛ در 239ص؛

عنوان: دمیان؛ اثر: هرمان هسه؛ مترجم: محمد بقایی (ماکان)؛ تهران، انتشارات تهران، 1371؛ در 258ص؛ شابک ایکس - 964560950؛ چاپ دوم 1372؛ چاپ پنجم 1385؛ چاپ ششم 1388؛ هفتم 1393؛ شابک 9789645609502؛

عنوان: دمیان؛ اثر: هرمان هسه؛ مترجم: عبدالحسین شریفیان؛ تهران، اساطیر، 1374؛ در 197ص؛ شابک 9645960266؛ چاپ دوم 1375؛ چاپ چهارم 1385؛

من گرگ دشتها در میان برفها همه جا در پهنای دنیا سرگردانم؛ داستانی مربوط به دوران نوجوانی نویسنده است، که خود را در آن، «سینکلر» نامیده‌ است، نامی که در آغاز نویسندگی، به عنوان تخلص خود برگزیده بودند؛ این داستان نخستین بار در سال 1919میلادی منتشر شد؛ «دمیان» را حدیث نفس انسان دانسته‌ اند، حسب حال ایامی از عمر آدمی؛ که معمولاً در چنبره ی ارزش‌های قراردادی زندانی می‌شود، و هرگزی مجال ظهور نمی‌یابد

تاریخ بهنگام رسانی 21/06/1399هجری خورشیدی؛ ا. شربیانی ...more

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Dec 10, 2010 Paquita Maria Sanchez rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: literature

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Oct 12, 2012 Jenn(ifer) rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: nobel-laureates, my-reviews-that-dont-suck, own, you-should-read-this, game-changers, the-germans, 5-f-ing-stars, read-in-2012, the-tops

I wanted only to try to live in accord with the promptings which came from my true self. Why was that so very difficult?

This quote stands alone on the very first page of the novel, and it tells you all you need to know.

I loved this book. I want to make you love it. I sit here at this keyboard and try to write, yet after reading this exquisite novel, everything I have to say sounds trite. I type. I delete. Type some more. Delete. Nothing I say is adequate.

I feel like I live inside Hermann Hess ...more

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Jul 19, 2018 Sean Barrs rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Recommends it for: the philosophically minded

Shelves: 4-star-reads, modernist-movement

“I realize today that nothing in the world is more distasteful to a man than to take the path that leads to himself.”

Demian is a sad and lonely read; it is a thoroughly depressing exploration of the human soul and the adolescent mind.

The book portrays a general sense of detachment and dispossession with reality and the rest of the world. Emil Sincliar is different. We all are, in our own way; though Emil is separate to everyone else in his solitude. He doesn’t quite belong with othe “I realize today that nothing in the world is more distasteful to a man than to take the path that leads to himself.”

Demian is a sad and lonely read; it is a thoroughly depressing exploration of the human soul and the adolescent mind.

The book portrays a general sense of detachment and dispossession with reality and the rest of the world. Emil Sincliar is different. We all are, in our own way; though Emil is separate to everyone else in his solitude. He doesn’t quite belong with other people; he doesn’t enjoy the same things and often feels unmoved by things that would directly affect most people: he is an outsider looking in, fated to exist apart from the rest of humanity.

Unlike Harry Haller in Steppenwolf, Emil is not a genius or particularly gifted with anything; however, he is a truth seeker: he wishes to find the truth of himself in a world that dictates otherwise. Society is driven by monetary success, relationship success and occupation success though Emil does not want any of these things: he wants to understand human nature at its very core so he can better understand himself and his own place within this world. He is suicidal, depressed and exhausted with the realities of modern existence.

“I have been and still am a seeker, but I have ceased to question stars and books; I have begun to listen to the teaching my blood whispers to me.”

He looks within himself and finds the answers. Through the words of a friend, he realises that morality, that good and evil, that god and the devil, are not necessarily diametrically opposed but are part of larger whole: one entity that exists in union. (Sounds like Hesse has been reading Nietzsche.) His soul becomes less fractured and his person becomes more solid as a result. He is ready to be born anew with his knew knowledge; thus, he expresses himself in art, art that echoes the images and ideas of the surrealists.

description

As with most modernist works, Demian is an absolute treasure trove of psychoanalytical theory. Part of me considered that none of the events are real or the characters, but are mere tools used by the author and our narrator (Emil) to express his mental states and his sense of anguish in a world that he feels apart from. Despite being a relatively short work, the narrative is dense and obscure. I would love to read this in conjunction with Jung or Freud and consider the implications of the dreams and the expressions of emotions. There’s certainly a lot to pick apart here.

This is a very clever book, though I don’t think it is nearly as successful as Steppenwolf, which explores similar themes to a higher degree of effectiveness; it is, nevertheless, definitely worth a read for the philosophically minded. ...more

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Jul 28, 2009 karen rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: my-summer-of-classix, not-a-polyglot

i am so glad i give authors three books to make me love them. this was hesse's last chance to woo me, and he really almost got a five-star valentine from me, but we will call it a four and a half - must be a little coy, after all. this is a book that i would love to go back in time and give myself upon graduating from high school. i would love to know whether it would have made me more or less insufferable than i am now. because i could see it going either way, at seventeen. i could see myself t ...more

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Mar 21, 2015 Rowena rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: german-lit

"But every man is more than just himself; he also represents the unique, the very special and always significant and remarkable point at which the world's phenomena intersect, only once in this way and never again. That is why every man's story is important, eternal, sacred; that is why every man, as long as he lives and fulfills the will of nature, is wondrous, and worthy of every consideration."

It's quite timely that I read this one so soon after reading Zweig's tale ( Burning Secret ) about a "But every man is more than just himself; he also represents the unique, the very special and always significant and remarkable point at which the world's phenomena intersect, only once in this way and never again. That is why every man's story is important, eternal, sacred; that is why every man, as long as he lives and fulfills the will of nature, is wondrous, and worthy of every consideration."

It's quite timely that I read this one so soon after reading Zweig's tale ( Burning Secret ) about a young boy leaving childhood. This book followed a similar thread, a boy named Emil goes through his personal journey of becoming, and it definitely goes into more depth. Unlike Zweig's book, our protagonist comes of age in the real world, not in an isolated setting, and he does so with a sort of spiritual guide, a curious boy named Demian.

I haven't read Hesse since I was a teenager and I think this book would have been even more impactful to me at that time, when I was trying to discover myself and choose my path. Even so, I really did enjoy this book and I found myself relating so much to this little German boy, something I never expected to be able to do.

Entering the mind of a child on the journey to find out who he or she is, something I hadn't thought of for a long time, was very interesting because it's so easy to forget that we all go through this phase, a time of pain or angst for many when we lose our innocence, learn new things, discover new philosophies, and struggle to find meaning.

I felt I could relate more to the younger Emil, which makes sense because he and I chose very different paths.

Hesse is very philosophical and I enjoyed the conversation on spirituality and dualism although I can’t necessarily say I agreed with them. I was left with several thought-provoking quotes, some I will include here:

"I have been and still am a seeker, but I have ceased to question stars and books; I have begun to listen to the teachings my blood whispers to me."

"Each man's life represents a road toward himself, an attempt at such a road, the intimation of a path."

"Examine a person closely enough and you know more about him than he does himself.'
"I wanted only to try to live in accord with the promptings which came from my true self. Why was that so very difficult?”
...more

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Sep 13, 2016 Alice rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

The things I do for BTS...

Joking, this was one of the few books that really had an impact on my way of thinking. It talked about religion, belief and growth in a very profound way, as if Hesse wasn't really writing but more conversing directly with my mind.

Sinclair and Demian, though being very peculiar and surreal characters, were one the mirror of the other, surrounded by a plot heavy with symbolism and magical elements.

The idea of the two worlds, one so close to the other that you could esily ...more

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Aug 10, 2018 Dave Schaafsma rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction-in-translation, fiction-20th-century

“Man knows how much powder it takes to kill a man, but doesn’t know how to be happy.”—Demian

Update, 7/3/19: I reread this with a small group of students reading Growing Up novels. We have read so far James Joyce's A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Jeffery Eugenides' The Virgin Suicides and now this. All three I realize deal with the struggle between spirituality and sensuality for young people "coming-of-age."

Original review, edited a little, 8/6/18:

Demian: The Story of Emil Sinclair’s Yo ...more

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Jun 08, 2017 Phoenix2 rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Recommends it for: classics, philosophy, allegory

Shelves: classics

“The bird fights its way out of the egg. The egg is the world. Who would be born must first destroy a world. The bird flies to God. That God's name is Abraxas.”

For a book full of philoshophical meanings, Demian was quite understandable. The author did a great job to present his character's thinking and feelings, and even the transition from a boy to a man. Okay, so Demian is a book about growing up, finding oneself and one's place and role in the society. The young boy of the book combines only ...more

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Jun 24, 2015 Susan Budd rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: german-literature

Hermann Hesse’s Demian has been my favorite book in the world since the day I first read it in my teens. I had recently discovered Siddhartha, whether by chance or fate, and I wanted more of Hesse’s books. Demian was simply the first one I found on the used paperback table at the Strand. More chance. Or fate.

I cannot describe the effect it had on me because at the time I did not fully understand it—neither the book nor the feeling the book inspired. But I knew I had the mark. Reading Demian was ...more

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Mar 11, 2016 Stela rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Recommended to Stela by: Carmen Irimia

Shelves: novel-of-ideas, reviews, romanticism, stream-of-consciousness

I will try not to be (too) emotional and write an “objective” review, even though Hermann Hesse’s Demian moved me beyond words and explanations. Maybe because its serene tone and unaggressive intellectualism have a mesmerizing quality, or maybe because, just like Siddhartha some years later, it does not try to challenge or convince you. Or maybe because of the open-minded way in which it sees the world, it tells its story, it reveals its truth. And last but not least, maybe because of the beaut ...more

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May 05, 2008 Maggie rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Ugh. I forced myself to finish this short book and, in the end, felt it wasn't worth the trouble. I picked it up because I loved Siddhartha so much (though it's been years since I read it and now I wonder if it it will hold up). I found Demian terribly melodramatic and over-wrought and I could never really begin to care much about Sinclair and all his angst-ridden inner turmoil. There were a few interesting and lovely passages -- only a couple of times did I feel a thrill of poetry in the langua ...more

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Jan 31, 2021 Trevor rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: literature

I had to explain this book to someone the other day and what I thought was the best way of doing that was to say that it is a bit like Holden Caulfield had read Nietzsche, rather than being interested in cocktails.

I’ve often thought that there was something very ‘young man’ about Nietzsche’s philosophy – or many interpretations of it. You know, the superman who knows and who wants to make the world bend to his will as a grand statement of art.

It is also hard to know if the main character is th I had to explain this book to someone the other day and what I thought was the best way of doing that was to say that it is a bit like Holden Caulfield had read Nietzsche, rather than being interested in cocktails.

I’ve often thought that there was something very ‘young man’ about Nietzsche’s philosophy – or many interpretations of it. You know, the superman who knows and who wants to make the world bend to his will as a grand statement of art.

It is also hard to know if the main character is the most interesting character in this book. Or rather, if the narrator is the most interesting character. This is obviously hinted at by the fact the title of the novel is the name of someone other than the narrator. But this isn’t quite like a Holmes novel where you need the narrator as audience member to allow for the proper oohs and ahhs that are meant to be part of the story. In many ways Emil is the person coming of age here, and so it is important we see the world through his eyes.

Nietzsche is only one influence here – Jung being the other. So, in part this is a game of follow the symbols and the interplay of oppositions. Some Gnostics used to believe (perhaps they still do) that Jehovah was a lesser God, and that the other Gods let him think he was the only one. And then, despite having made a bit of a botched job of creating the universe, He believed, and his creation believed, that he was the one, true God. I’ve always loved the idea of us being the creation of a second rate God. These Gnostics then believed that we needed to somehow bypass Jehovah, to speak with the real managers. All a bit Kafkaesque, if played on an even larger stage.

This could all sound like I really didn’t like the novel – and that wouldn’t be right – it has more to say than Catcher in the Rye, but it certainly reminded me of that. Perhaps it would make a better novel to give to a young person – it is hard to say. As I said before, I struggle with a lot of philosophy that references Nietzsche quite as fulsomely as this one does – but that really is just me.
...more

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May 20, 2018 Lyn rated it liked it · review of another edition

Herman Hesse’ classic 1919 bildungsroman about a young boy who, with the aid of a mysterious friend, and over the course of years comes to a self-realization and a kind of spiritual enlightenment is the kind of book fans of Hesse have enjoyed for generations.

On a good day I am able to walk across the room without dragging my knuckles and so Hesse’ ubiquitous themes of Jungian duality and psychoanalytical philosophy can be approached and appreciated. Actually, Demian may be more approachable than ...more

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Aug 07, 2017 Χαρά Ζ. rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

_Demian_

I read this on a whim, i've read steppenwolf last year and even though i believe it's a great book, i somehow felt distant to it. But with this one Hesse gave to me all the things that i was hoping for. Deep, beautiful and tender. The story is equal to the writing the the writing to the story, everything about this book feels amazing. It's summer and i am busy and too lazy to write a proper review, but i loved it and please give it a try.
Be well folks and have a great August <3 ...more

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Jun 01, 2012 sologdin rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: of-best-sentence-and-moost-solaas

Nutshell: dude goes to school, grover-dills around town with various people, and finally goes off to war, either WWI or a predicted WWII.

Along the way, some amusing readings of biblical events, delivered by Demian, the obscure object of desire in the story, regarding Golgotha (51) and Cain (23-24), the latter of which notes that "the first element of the story, its actual beginning, is the mark." The "Mark of Cain" is a metaphor that stays with the narrator the entire story, though it's not obv ...more

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Aug 28, 2019 Steven Godin rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, germany

Of the four Hesse novels I have now read, I have to say Demian, to the exasperation of those that think it's a work of genius turned out to be a book that I didn't think was that great, and it's for sure my least favourite Hesse. When I think of Steppenwolf I think wow. I simply can't say the same for this. For one thing, I'm not the biggest admirer of the coming of age novel, and for another, I can't stand reading about boarding schools, I just don't like them, the thought of them, in any way a ...more

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Sep 20, 2017 Magdalen rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: oppa-picks

So Hesse has the ability to capture your attention with an extremely captivating, interesting and promising start only to manage to lose you somewhere in the middle and as for the ending he'll either leave you mesmerized or disappointed I suppose...

The thing is that I couldn't relate after a certain point and trust me I had every kind intention to love this book since I loved Steppenwolf, but Demian was nothing like it. Neither in regards to the prose nor the theme or context. ...more

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Oct 15, 2014 Ivana - Diary of Difference rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: format-print

This book made such a progress in my brain, that at the moment I finished it, I literally threw it in the ground and couldn't speak for half an hour. It made me think of things I have never thought before. Amazing. :D ...more

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Jan 21, 2013 Fabian rated it liked it · review of another edition

There is something quite infuriating at the center of Hesse's "Demian"... & I bet the root of it is the repression of homosexuality. "Demian" is, in its simplest form, THE coming out story. All the imagery and the Biblical allegories all point toward the protagonist's big secret: he's is irresistibly gay. He is in hell trying to get to the point (the climax at the end is over-powerfully dull)--the reader must withstand true bicurious leanings and vanilla homoeroticism. The whole God-should-perso ...more

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Oct 02, 2007 Brooke rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Recommends it for: ..

Demian...............how lucky people are who are so inclined to constantly be searching as are the characters in this book! How much they discover, how many emotions they feel, how incredibly inspiring they are. I loved this book because I love passionate people.

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Sep 25, 2019 Eli Sarah rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

So brilliantly written It became one of my favorite books of all time.

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Mar 12, 2017 Chris_P rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: classics-and-modern-classics

Who is Max Demian? Is he deranged? Is he a God? An apostle? Maybe he is the rushing spirit that arrives in a person's life around puberty, swiping away the fears and doubts of childhood and helping the person in question to grow and progress. Or simply misguiding them towards doubtful paths.

Had I read it ten years ago, I would have connected with Demian. Something that didn't happen now. It's one of those books that I would seek to hold on to back then, while now, detached as I was, I found it i ...more

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Jan 22, 2018 John Farebrother rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

This is a fantastic book. I was given it as a present by a girlfriend many years ago, and I love it. I have read it several times over the years, and hopefully will do again. In the book the legendary Hesse applies all his mystical and fantastic story-telling skills to the subject of WWI, the Great War. Not to the action itself, as does All Quiet on the Western Front, but to the generation that bore the brunt of the cataclysm in the trenches and battlefields. Like Le Grand Meaulnes, it is an att ...more

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Oct 29, 2012 DeeDee rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Demian.. What a beautiful book!!!

...“If you hate a person, you hate something in him that is part of yourself. What isn't part of ourselves doesn't disturb us”... ...more

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Nov 15, 2019 Matthew rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: foreign-translated, read-2019, 20th-century, lit-writ-german

'All I wanted was to try and realise whatever was in me. Why was that so difficult?'

Demian is an odd one. It is about a boy named Emil Sinclair, who is caught between these two 'worlds', the world of his family and the world of 'danger and mystery'.

In essence it's like any novel where the protagonist meets a new and fantastic person, like Gatsby, or like Dean Moriarty in 'On the Road' or like Tyler Durden in 'Fight Club'. Demian is that character here: the philosophical, intelligent and bold De ...more

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Mar 21, 2009 Roxy rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: spirituality, school-reading, favorites, fiction, translated

I just completed the most incredible book I have ever read. At least right now, only minutes after finished pouring myself into its words for the past two days (in which I read it front to back), that is what I think... That this is the most special, enlightening, beautiful, peaceful, entrancing...almost holy books I have ever, ever read. Right now I feel this odd understanding and contentment in my stomach, heart, and mind. It might sound cheesy, but everything about this book was perfect. I re I just completed the most incredible book I have ever read. At least right now, only minutes after finished pouring myself into its words for the past two days (in which I read it front to back), that is what I think... That this is the most special, enlightening, beautiful, peaceful, entrancing...almost holy books I have ever, ever read. Right now I feel this odd understanding and contentment in my stomach, heart, and mind. It might sound cheesy, but everything about this book was perfect. I read it this weekend with my blinds stretched wide, letting the cool breeze of the onset of Spring enter my room along with its sunshine and optimism. I cleaned my room and sat on my made bed for hours straight listening to Andrew Bird's "Ballad of the Red Shoes" and Beirut's "Holland" on repeat as non-purposefully perfectly suitable background noise...or listened to the birds chirp in the courtyard. As you can see, I am writing more about my experience of reading this book than the content of it, perhaps because this story is truly more to be experienced rather than simply glazed over. You may be wondering what I have occuppied my eyes with since my most recently finished book, Trainspotting. Well...I have been reading stories by Thomas Mann, essays by Carl Jung, and in between it all reading The Bell Jar for pleasure (but that, at the moment, is unrelated. I might critique it in connection with these other pieces in its review later.) But about Mann and Jung...they were essential prerequisites to the book, or at least partners. I would say Torless is too, actually, even if it is more Freudian, the plotline is relatable. And all three of these, like Demian, are very German. But Demian is very German without being overbearing and maybe a bit too caught up in itself, like I found Mann to be (though I enjoyed the two stories I have read of his so far thoroughly). The language of Demian is as balanced and modest as everything the story suggests - the quest for one's true self. Hesse was seeing a Jungian psychoanalyst at the time of writing this book, which undoubtedly influenced its stress on symbolism, dreams, the collective unconscious, and mainly - the self. Hesse and Jung's interest in Eastern philosophy (as we see in Siddhartha, which had an extremely similar story as Demian but some very stark differences, which maybe I will discuss when I read it for the second time later this week). I do not know to sum up this book other than to swear that it was remarkable. I read it at a good time, when I have been wishing to spiritually cleanse and thrust myself into a positive, balanced new future, but I believe anyone would appreciate this novel. Perhaps a quote I underlined would do it some justice...

"Humanity - which they loved as we did - was for them something complete that must be maintained and protected. For us, humanity was a distant goal toward which all men were moving, whose image no one knew, whose laws were nowhere written down." (five stars.) ...more

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Apr 09, 2019 John rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: nobel-prize-literature-winners, hermann-hesse

A thought provoking novel. Once again Hesse writes of someone going through a journey of self discovery. Sinclair is born into a middle class family where he appears happy but from childhood to adulthood goes through a transformation. His mysterious friend Max Demian acts as the catalyst and his mentor from which he develops into a more self aware person.

His childhood is marred by a bully who blackmails him over a minor childhood incident. Max makes the bully go away. Then Sinclair goes through ...more

flag 15 likes · Like · see review

Sep 09, 2017 Emma rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I finished this a month ago and forgot to update!!! I'm so bad at goodreads ...more

flag 14 likes · Like · see review

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About Hermann Hesse

Hermann Hesse

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Hermann Hesse was a German-Swiss poet, novelist, and painter. In 1946, he received the Nobel Prize for Literature. His best known works include Steppenwolf, Siddhartha, and The Glass Bead Game (also known as Magister Ludi) which explore an individual's search for spirituality outside society.

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