Benjamin

Contrast with FD's Underground Man intro. "The author of the diary and the diary itself are, of course, imaginary." FD states in his introduction that he is not the UM but that such man must exist. He attempts to delve and understand the POV of a person who is anathema to him through a stark realism, while Hesse claims the story is his own, then by the end Sinclair has retreated to a walled garden to obsess lustfully after the mother of his friend, while taking no real action to obtain what he desires. The UM at least takes action in attempting to redress the slights that he feels have been done to him, however ineffectual that may be. Also consider DFW's 'Good Old Neon' where Wallace admits from the outset that his narrator is a life long fraud, but at least strives to escape from that state, however impossible it may be to actually do so. Sinclair evidences no desire to shed his self obsession until the very end, where he fantasizes that Demian has become a part of him. The irony here is striking. Hesse is inventing a story of unrealized potential, imagining an ideal avatar (a la Tyler Durden) in Demian who, when everything shakes out, may be entirely imaginary.