Leah Stein
asked:
Question to the people who read this, like myself: Did you also find strong homosexual undertones? I found Sinclair infatuation and longing to Demian to not be necessarily worshiping, but a falling in love of sorts... And the book progresses, to the last moment, I read it as half a coming-out story. What do you think?
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I felt this as well, whenever he talked about or described Demian, there was always something that convinced me the story would take that approach towards the end. after I finished tho, it seemed more like just a small aspect of Sinclaire's spiritual and intellectual growth. Some people might disagree and say it's only because Demian isn't really a regular person and they both possess the mark which brings them together in a very peculiar relationship. Demian also works as one of the mentors that Sinclair encounter (Eve & Pistorius), and therefore there is admiration for him in some sort. I personally like to think that it's a mix of everything together, there is no particular major plot theme. Instead, it's all kinds of experiences and growth that Sinclair has to go through.
Joanna
I agree, the way Demian is described to have female-features, and Beatrice and Eve - the only other women Sinclair has an interest in - are described as masculine and boyish. Also, when he talks about taboos, he mentions how in ancient Greece, things that were commonly accepted are now viewed as being taboo, and the perception of things constantly changes. In ancient Greece it was perceived normal for boys to have sexual relationships, even Homer accounts for that in the Iliad. And I really do believe Eve was made up in order to cover for the relation between Sinclair and Demian, I mean the book itself is named after Demian, and he ends up submerging with Demian after their kiss. and after that he finally reaches self-realization. No one can convince me, that their relationship is simply symbolic.
It was from a time, where it was illegal to be homosexual in germany, so i sadly think the times influenced Hesse’s decision to make their relationship more apparent, nevertheless i believe that was the true meaning behind their relationship
It was from a time, where it was illegal to be homosexual in germany, so i sadly think the times influenced Hesse’s decision to make their relationship more apparent, nevertheless i believe that was the true meaning behind their relationship
Black Paint
No, not really. At least not in a sexual way. I think the idea of categorizing that relationship as a coming out story reduces it quite a lot, ignores the feelings he has for Demian's mother and furthers the idea that men can't have a deep love (brotherhood) to each other without them being looked at as secretly gay.
Is it so incredibly impossible that men can have a love to each other that even includes physical affection without them having a secret desire to sleep with each other or men in general?
There is deep admiration and love between them but there is nothing that implies it to be genuinely sexual, it's the same relationship two brothers have with the younger one seeing the older as a mentor figure and guide.
I understand some people want to read into any deep male connection a potential coming out story for representation but it undermines male relationships by assigning any male relationship that goes beyond a "bro" attitude as having a sexual tension that speaks to either person's sexual nature.
Is it so incredibly impossible that men can have a love to each other that even includes physical affection without them having a secret desire to sleep with each other or men in general?
There is deep admiration and love between them but there is nothing that implies it to be genuinely sexual, it's the same relationship two brothers have with the younger one seeing the older as a mentor figure and guide.
I understand some people want to read into any deep male connection a potential coming out story for representation but it undermines male relationships by assigning any male relationship that goes beyond a "bro" attitude as having a sexual tension that speaks to either person's sexual nature.
Sinclair
I do believe that I can understand sinclair. And I can say that the admiration towards Damien isn't a sexual one, although it can be easily mistaken as one. The concept of love doesn't always have to link with sexuality you know. The love we usually describe the feeling towards opposite sex is actually love added to one's sexual desire. If two minds are deepily joined and have admiration toward each other, it can be called love. In this case it is true that sinclair and Demian are in love, but it doesn't have to be a sexual one. Let me remind you that minds alone don't have sexes.
Jesus Ismael
I always felt that was certainly a possibility, but it's open to interpretation. Recently I heard an interview to Julio Cortazar, a well known Argentinian writer. Not only he developed strong criticism against the book, but also agreed with this idea. According to him, Hesse didn't have the courage to go in that direction and the scene we see in the end between the main two characters is what Sinclair had wanted all from the beginning.
Sol Valderrama
I believe Hesse was meaning to reflect something much more important than what one would usually think or perceive while reading those lines of confusion and attraction in the book. There's something beyond all this earthly human thoughts and desires, not that they don't matter but the book has its own transcendence and we should be looking for a higher message. But yeah, there's definitely a sexual thingy towards Demian.
b
it was gay enough to me <3
Kimia
No, not really. I think the love and kiss described between them is more of a spiritual concept.
Montserrat Domínguez
Yes, I did find their relationship so much stronger than a mentor-disciple one. I like to imagine that Hesse made Demian kiss Sinclair as a form of love and that he only included Eva in that paragraph so the book would seem more srtaight-ish? I know a lot of people are going to disagree saying that everything Hesse wrote was symbolic but this is just my opinion and interpretation + this is not the only book written by Hesse that has a homosexual undertone.
Rashed AlKhamaiseh
I felt that, but it love her doesn't necessary mean "emotional love", it could love with respect, a huge respect to Demian, Demian was very smart, and he has his charm when he talks, the one feels safe talking to him..
I guess this shows how much Herman was a genius, his language in the novel is mesmerizing..
I guess this shows how much Herman was a genius, his language in the novel is mesmerizing..
Carlos Castañeda Okamura
I don´t think so; in my opinion it´s more related to pure admiration and spirituality, of an asexual type.
Mack Stone
(Writing as a gay man here) Yes, there are definite homosexual undertones, along with all kinds of other undertones. Hesse was a complex man and that's reflected in his work, along with a classic search for authenticity and self-knowledge. Sinclair's feelings toward Demian are, amongst other things, what I would term protosexual, broadly speaking. Any gay man reading them would recognise those feelings, and the complexity of them. And, if you know how to spot gay coding in literature from less enlightened times, there's a little bit of that there too. That's not to suggest that Hesse was gay, by the way; just that there's clearly an element of reciprocal desire in Sinclair's relationship with Demian, however it's expressed. All the allegorical and symbolic aspects of the story are definitely there too, there's no taking them away. But they're not all there is - complexity is part of Hesse's signature, after all.
That's my sense of it, having read the book a couple of times. Your mileage may vary.
That's my sense of it, having read the book a couple of times. Your mileage may vary.
Sally Hope
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Dante
Yes and no. The focal point of the book isn't any feelings Sinclair has towards Demian - its the discovery of yourself, of which Demian acts as a mentor and catalyst for. But it would be wrong to suggest Sinclair had *no* feelings for Demian; he probably did (although its up to each reader to interpret it), its just not the key theme of the story.
Renata
This book is beautiful but complicated the entire book is influenced by Friedrich Nietzsche's work ( philosophy and psychology). If you would read a bit of his work you would understand the book better because this book is very charged and symbolic (and every character represents something more).
Fred Fomm
Gayest than a Pet Shop Boys concert!
🏳️🌈
🏳️🌈
Tom
Yeah, it's quite obvious that Sinclair loves Demian. A bit baffled at people who still deny that lol.
Adam
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Gemma
Yes! I totally though Emil was 200% too into Demian. I feel like there was a LOT of sexual innuendo when he talked about him
William Welch
To me it’s like he has these strong attractions to Demian’s soul but his praising of his “masculine body and broad shoulders” is pretty clearly sexual attraction. He is perhaps too young as a character to have acted upon his feelings but they are clear. He’s in love. As others have pointed out, homosexuality was not ok at that time in history, so Hesse would have needed to be careful in describing this invented character’s thoughts and actions in ways that, I think, might reveal his own emotions.
Hugolane
I recommended this to my daughter and she picked up on the homoeroticism, but then she very sensitive to such things, and may see it sometimes where it may not be. Reading it after many years, my sith gender hetero perspective didn't see it as any more homoerotic than when I read it as a naive young adult. I'm with Max Romano here. If you see it, that is fine, but Hesse did not write this as a coming out novel, but rather as a Jungian Bildungsroman.
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