Hermann Hesse anyone

I thought narcissus and goldmund was a life changing book. It was given to me when I was 20 from an older woman who seduced me.

 

The Glassbead Game is my favourite.

 

I've read "Damien" and "Siddartha". Both were good, although being a Buddhist Siddartha didn't really teach me anything I didn't already know. Damien was a little hard to read, just because he seemed to have his main character obsessed with being different, and it got kind of annoying, especially when they brought in the whole "ancient god" thing...it all seemed kind of irrelevant. But, they were well written, and I agree that alot of things get lost in translation. I guess I'd have to learn German to find out .
-Kate

 

Steppenwolf is a very, very great book. Herman Hesse is an extraordinary writer, very extraordinary. It will appeal to anyone who feels as if they are alone, it's really reassuring for us 'free spirits'.

And KozmicBlue, damn, you're very attractive.

 

you know god i was just thinking the same about Mrs. Blue myself. wow

 

Yes, she looks very nice. I wish I knew someone like her (oh, but I do, and better)

 

Aww, thanks you two. :&

 

You should definitely pick up 'Demian' as well, it's an amazing book, one of my favorites. I also enjoyed 'Siddhartha' and am hoping to get ahold of 'Journey to the East' sometime soon too.

 

hey GOD are you talking about Willow?

 

you suave mother fucker.

oh and i my library doesnt have any more copies of any Hesse, bummer bummer, does any one know who Thomas Mann is? Specifically his book The Black Swan?

his name sounds familiar to me but i dont really know, do any of you. i checked it out and am gonna read it i guess.

 

Yea Sean, I am. And man, I finished Steppenwolf. My god, that was really trippy at the end, in the theater of the Mind. It's a damn good book, I reccomend it.

No, I don't know who Thomas Mann is. I found this book today called "When Nietzsche Wept" by Irvin Yalom, it's quite amazing as well.

 

Hey God, i just finished reading steppenwolf also. a beautiful book. its prob my fave all time book right now. i absolutly diddly doodly loved it

 

Hesse seems to be amazing, before you have read some works of C.G. Jung, that`s my opinion.

 

Yea, I'm gonna look into Jung soon too.

 

i know of his archetypes and thats about it
surprisingly he wasnt really introduced in my psych class too much, only tidbits on the collective consciousnesses. i tihnk that was him anyhow, tis been awayle.

sheeeee-ut.

 

I've read most of Hermann Hesse's works; I actually prefer the earlier works, before Damien, when he writes about youth and the pressures placed upon boys in the strictly patriarchal educational system of turn of the century Germany.

 

i have it and have yet to read it....so it is worth the read? i dig him alot.

 

absolutely Marie, its every bit as good as anything he wrote.

I also read a few of his very first books, Gertrude and Perter Camenzind...it was interesting to read the early foundation of his style.

 

Thomas Mann is another great German writer... i've only read one thing he wrote, a novella called "Death in Venice" and it is amazing but not easy, good for the intellectual and openminded.

Hesse is my favorite novelist. i have to say i'm partial to narcissus and goldmund also, but that has to do with my memories of first reading it and how it affected me. demian and siddhartha are also tops

 

So happy about this thread, have been reading his work for a few months now. I started with Demian which was so mind-blowing and so emotional because I could relate with a lot of stuff. After that, I read Siddharta, Peter Camenzind, Zwischen den Radern (in between wheels?), the adventures of Hermann Lauscher, Narziss und Goldmund, Journey to the East and Klingsor's last summer.
I like Demian and Narziss und Goldmund best although it kinda almost feels like betrayal to other books as Zwischen den Radern, Siddharta and Peter Camenzind. Journey to the East and Klingsor's last summer had some nice parts but were a bit too hard to graps I think, too much lyricism on nature and stuff (although he does it very well).
To anyone who has only read Siddharta so far and thinks his style isnt so easy to read, I'd definitely recommend other works (especially Demian, Narziss&Goldmund) which provide deep thoughts in simple phrases. I think Siddharta is written that way on purpose to get the 'Eastern feel'.
Oh, and if you're going to read a lot of books in a short time as I did, it's not a bad idea to read some other authors in between because I almost went crazy being completely in the Hesse mindstate. Also because some of his works are a bit depressing if you identify with em too much. Hesse definitely influenced me and opened a path to spirituality, which I feel I have carefully and slowly started walking recently. I wasnt really into any spiritual things before but I don't think there's a way back now. Not that I would want to go back.