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Anything by Hermann Hesse. Not mind bending. No Twists. No roller coasters. Just a calm conversation with the author and yourself. And yet, it had a profound

Anything by Hermann Hesse. Not mind bending. No Twists. No roller coasters. Just a calm conversation with the author and yourself. And yet, it had a profound impact on me. One poem I revisit every once in a while: https://www.lieder.net/lieder/get_text.html?TextId=119749 https://www.lieder.net/lieder/get_text.html?TextId=119749 If you understand German, I do believe it needs to be read in its original tongue. The translations I found thus far were not entirely convincing.

Loughla 6y ago
Absolutely +1 to this. Although my German is terrible enough that I did have to read the English translations. I would add, in my opinion, start with Steppenwolf and then read Siddhartha. It blows my absolute mind that these books were written a hundred years ago. They're still so relevant to life. It's really, genuinely astounding.
- boredgamer2 6y ago
  > It blows my absolute mind that these books were written a hundred years ago. The more you read history, and the actual written words or written speeches of intellectuals and politicians, you'll continue to be amazed. Much of their language is poetic, and their prose seems more coherent than today's, but that's probably because they wrote a lot more letters to one another.
  - Vivtek 6y ago
    Also anything not memorable has been lost. There's a selection bias. Why are so many old houses built so well? It's not just because craftsmanship was better. It's because the ones not built so well didn't get old. (I owned a house built in 1884 for a few years. Most of it was excellent craftsmanship. Some ... not so much. Previous owners had been lucky the dining room floor had never been stressed too much.)
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
UnpossibleJim 6y ago
Loved his take on Siddhartha.
ludami 6y ago
The Glass Bead Game is one of the few works of fiction which has really had a lasting effect on me throughout my life. Amazing writer, amazing work.
syndacks 6y ago
I "saved up" for The Glass Bead Game - reading about 7 Hesse books before going for his magnum opus. I was severely let down by it. It's all over the place, sloppy. I thought perhaps it was because of the loss in German-->English, but a few German friends (including a few on HN) have suggested the original isn't much better. IMO Narcissus and Goldmund and Steppenwolf are his best.
- kossTKR 6y ago
  I agree. I loved Steppenwolf, and it had several absolutely sublime passages - very much like in the rest of his bibliography - but The Glass Bead Game was completely devoid of any of the magic or imaginal that Hesse can conjure up, no timeless cultural analysis mirroring our times and no razor sharp Kierkegaardian character portrayal. Instead it seemed like a was harrowingly long weird sci fi fanfic over some vaguely defined but stupidly complex future society imagined in the lamest and most naive almost pubescent mind. Simple in the sense that everyone from the politician to the ascetic guru seemed like complete one dimensional stereotypes. Also you don't stop reading because of esoteric complexity you might "get" later when you know more of the western cosmology like in fellow complex works like Ulysses (funfact both books are among the top 10 most abandoned), - you stop because it's boring imagined political history. There really doesn't seem to be a whole lot under the surface, and the schisms between "academic life" or a "life of devotion" versus "a mercantile city life", or "life of politics" was incredibly naive with no mythological, historical or even poetic context mirroring our world. I guess i must have missed something?
superfx 6y ago
The Glass Bead Game is one of the best books I've read, and I think palpably changed how I think about some things even though I read it as an adult. I even wrote a blog post about it: https://moalquraishi.wordpress.com/2013/05/05/the-glass-bead-game-by-hermann-hesse/ https://moalquraishi.wordpress.com/2013/05/05/the-glass-bead... Another book I'd recommend (in a very different category) is Godel, Escher, and Bach, by Douglas Hofstadter.
dkural 6y ago
I used to like Herman Hesse, and gradually realized the straight line from Hesse to Nazism. His distinct lack of human understanding is what bothers me at core. His female characters barely exist except as mirages in the eyes of men, and his male characters are little more than intellectualized brains. It's the type of book one likes as a teenager / young adult and realizes is BS later.
- libertine 6y ago
  I've only read Siddhartha, and it didn't paint the author like you've done it. Maybe I've completely misunderstood the book, but my key take away is that : true enlightenment (and by enlightenment you can say, true knowledge), only comes from life experience. And that takes quite some human understanding, specially when we've grown to value information and theory, to the point where we build a perceived complete understanding of matters, only to later realize it's an illusion. Things like talking about the concept of Love, Grief, Hate and any other complex emotions, end up falling short no matter how you read about them, either from a technical point of view, or simply from a character from a short story. You can't truly empathize until you've lived it. Like it's not your knowledge to own unless you've experienced it, no matter what shape or form, and maybe that deserves some sort of respect. Maybe that reflects on our lack of appreciation for a lot of things we take for granted. Is it wrong that he wrote it through the lens of a intellectualized male character that didn't give enough focus on women? I don't know. It's his narrative after all.
  - dkural 6y ago
    I respect your view. I enjoyed reading Hesse when I did; read 3 of his books; SteppenWolf, Glass Bead Game, Siddhartha. There are many nice ideas in them. I simply don't adore his writings the way many do, however. My views changed as I changed. Here's a quote from the New Yorker: "Many young men, in particular, see a glamorous reflection of themselves in the typical Hesse hero—a sensitive, brooding man who cannot find a place for himself in ordinary society. This figure might live in India in the age of the Buddha, like Siddhartha, or in Germany in the Jazz Age, like Harry Haller, or in the Middle Ages, like Goldmund in “Narcissus and Goldmund.” Whatever the setting, his path will generally feature the same landmarks. He will be plucked out of his childhood surroundings and sent to an élite school, where he will suffer deeply. He will rebel against conventional ideas of success and refuse to pursue any kind of career, combining downward mobility with spiritual striving." Siddhartha, while an enjoyable read, confuses/"borrows" eastern religious concepts to turn it into "follow the beat of your own drum, man!". This has real world consequences: Hesse justified his taking the "middle ground" between Nazism vs its opponents by his "politics of detachment".. you know, because he is above society, quoting from JewisPress.com: "Hesse’s failure to publicly condemn the Nazi Party and the fascist regime was due, in large part, to his “politics of detachment” – his policy of viewing the war fever infecting Germany from a distance and his general aloofness to the deadly struggle during the 1930s and 40s as he publicly sought to occupy the “middle ground” between the Nazis and exiled German writers. Early in the war, Hesse published an essay in which he clearly applied his “middle ground” standard, expressing and anticipating German victory but also insisting that humane values be protected. Even this bland caveat earned him everlasting hostility from the German public." I am not claiming Hesse was a Nazi, and privately he was more anti-Nazi than anything else. His wife was Jewish. Hesse's heroes are more Ubermensch that view regular society as cattle, than harmless Hippies. I also tend to think the US Hippie movement of the 60s as a philosophy of selfishness..(yes, I'm aware of anti-war origins etc.) so perhaps there's more to our disagreement. My politics lean left fwiw.. social democrat.
Havoc 6y ago
Good shout - my written German has been fading from lack of use so might just grab these.

Loughla 6y ago

Absolutely +1 to this. Although my German is terrible enough that I did have to read the English translations. I would add, in my opinion, start with Steppenwolf and then read Siddhartha. It blows my absolute mind that these books were written a hundred years ago. They're still so relevant to life. It's really, genuinely astounding.

boredgamer2 6y ago
> It blows my absolute mind that these books were written a hundred years ago. The more you read history, and the actual written words or written speeches of intellectuals and politicians, you'll continue to be amazed. Much of their language is poetic, and their prose seems more coherent than today's, but that's probably because they wrote a lot more letters to one another.
- Vivtek 6y ago
  Also anything not memorable has been lost. There's a selection bias. Why are so many old houses built so well? It's not just because craftsmanship was better. It's because the ones not built so well didn't get old. (I owned a house built in 1884 for a few years. Most of it was excellent craftsmanship. Some ... not so much. Previous owners had been lucky the dining room floor had never been stressed too much.)
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]

UnpossibleJim 6y ago

Loved his take on Siddhartha.

ludami 6y ago

The Glass Bead Game is one of the few works of fiction which has really had a lasting effect on me throughout my life. Amazing writer, amazing work.

syndacks 6y ago

I "saved up" for The Glass Bead Game - reading about 7 Hesse books before going for his magnum opus. I was severely let down by it. It's all over the place, sloppy. I thought perhaps it was because of the loss in German-->English, but a few German friends (including a few on HN) have suggested the original isn't much better. IMO Narcissus and Goldmund and Steppenwolf are his best.

kossTKR 6y ago
I agree. I loved Steppenwolf, and it had several absolutely sublime passages - very much like in the rest of his bibliography - but The Glass Bead Game was completely devoid of any of the magic or imaginal that Hesse can conjure up, no timeless cultural analysis mirroring our times and no razor sharp Kierkegaardian character portrayal. Instead it seemed like a was harrowingly long weird sci fi fanfic over some vaguely defined but stupidly complex future society imagined in the lamest and most naive almost pubescent mind. Simple in the sense that everyone from the politician to the ascetic guru seemed like complete one dimensional stereotypes. Also you don't stop reading because of esoteric complexity you might "get" later when you know more of the western cosmology like in fellow complex works like Ulysses (funfact both books are among the top 10 most abandoned), - you stop because it's boring imagined political history. There really doesn't seem to be a whole lot under the surface, and the schisms between "academic life" or a "life of devotion" versus "a mercantile city life", or "life of politics" was incredibly naive with no mythological, historical or even poetic context mirroring our world. I guess i must have missed something?

superfx 6y ago

The Glass Bead Game is one of the best books I've read, and I think palpably changed how I think about some things even though I read it as an adult. I even wrote a blog post about it: https://moalquraishi.wordpress.com/2013/05/05/the-glass-bead-game-by-hermann-hesse/ https://moalquraishi.wordpress.com/2013/05/05/the-glass-bead... Another book I'd recommend (in a very different category) is Godel, Escher, and Bach, by Douglas Hofstadter.

dkural 6y ago

I used to like Herman Hesse, and gradually realized the straight line from Hesse to Nazism. His distinct lack of human understanding is what bothers me at core. His female characters barely exist except as mirages in the eyes of men, and his male characters are little more than intellectualized brains. It's the type of book one likes as a teenager / young adult and realizes is BS later.

libertine 6y ago
I've only read Siddhartha, and it didn't paint the author like you've done it. Maybe I've completely misunderstood the book, but my key take away is that : true enlightenment (and by enlightenment you can say, true knowledge), only comes from life experience. And that takes quite some human understanding, specially when we've grown to value information and theory, to the point where we build a perceived complete understanding of matters, only to later realize it's an illusion. Things like talking about the concept of Love, Grief, Hate and any other complex emotions, end up falling short no matter how you read about them, either from a technical point of view, or simply from a character from a short story. You can't truly empathize until you've lived it. Like it's not your knowledge to own unless you've experienced it, no matter what shape or form, and maybe that deserves some sort of respect. Maybe that reflects on our lack of appreciation for a lot of things we take for granted. Is it wrong that he wrote it through the lens of a intellectualized male character that didn't give enough focus on women? I don't know. It's his narrative after all.
- dkural 6y ago
  I respect your view. I enjoyed reading Hesse when I did; read 3 of his books; SteppenWolf, Glass Bead Game, Siddhartha. There are many nice ideas in them. I simply don't adore his writings the way many do, however. My views changed as I changed. Here's a quote from the New Yorker: "Many young men, in particular, see a glamorous reflection of themselves in the typical Hesse hero—a sensitive, brooding man who cannot find a place for himself in ordinary society. This figure might live in India in the age of the Buddha, like Siddhartha, or in Germany in the Jazz Age, like Harry Haller, or in the Middle Ages, like Goldmund in “Narcissus and Goldmund.” Whatever the setting, his path will generally feature the same landmarks. He will be plucked out of his childhood surroundings and sent to an élite school, where he will suffer deeply. He will rebel against conventional ideas of success and refuse to pursue any kind of career, combining downward mobility with spiritual striving." Siddhartha, while an enjoyable read, confuses/"borrows" eastern religious concepts to turn it into "follow the beat of your own drum, man!". This has real world consequences: Hesse justified his taking the "middle ground" between Nazism vs its opponents by his "politics of detachment".. you know, because he is above society, quoting from JewisPress.com: "Hesse’s failure to publicly condemn the Nazi Party and the fascist regime was due, in large part, to his “politics of detachment” – his policy of viewing the war fever infecting Germany from a distance and his general aloofness to the deadly struggle during the 1930s and 40s as he publicly sought to occupy the “middle ground” between the Nazis and exiled German writers. Early in the war, Hesse published an essay in which he clearly applied his “middle ground” standard, expressing and anticipating German victory but also insisting that humane values be protected. Even this bland caveat earned him everlasting hostility from the German public." I am not claiming Hesse was a Nazi, and privately he was more anti-Nazi than anything else. His wife was Jewish. Hesse's heroes are more Ubermensch that view regular society as cattle, than harmless Hippies. I also tend to think the US Hippie movement of the 60s as a philosophy of selfishness..(yes, I'm aware of anti-war origins etc.) so perhaps there's more to our disagreement. My politics lean left fwiw.. social democrat.

Havoc 6y ago

Good shout - my written German has been fading from lack of use so might just grab these.