Mack Stone answers “Question to the people who read this, like...”

Leah Stein asked this question about Demian:

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?

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'…more(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.(less)

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