(2nd reading, 10-9-24)

Finally giving this awesome work a re-read. Hesse's writing is absolutely incredible. After reading various fiction books over the last few months, returning to certain authors is like a breath of fresh air, like, "ohhhh, this is how it's done..."

(1st reading 7-22-22)

I have reread a few Hesse novels in the past year or so, but for some reason skipped this one, also published as Death and the Lover, in 1930, that many considered to be his literary triumph. Hesse was less respected by the literary establishment than his fellow German countryman Thomas Mann, but he was way more of an international popular sensation, especially in the romantic sixties, when I and many of my friends read him. I was talking to a student who is reading James Joyce’s A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man with me this summer about how Demian reminded me of Portrait, and he suggested I reread Narcissus, especially since he knew I had been reading plague-related novels (Camus’s The Plague, Daniel DeFoe’s A Journal of the Plague Year). Hesse’s novel is set in the middle ages, during the time of The Black Death, which figures in the story in an important way.t

There might be a spoiler here and there within my review.

The novel is, like his earlier Demian in many ways, about the struggle between two characters, two souls, two ways of life, that in many ways represented Hesse’s own struggles between the German religion and scholasticism with which he was brought up, and the sensual life, the life of passion, of art. A struggle between a life of the mind/spirit (faith) (represented by the monk Narcissus) and a life of the body (represented by Goldmund). The question might be put this way: Can you live a life of wine, women and song (or to put it another way, live a life of the body, of joy, and passion) and still get into Heaven, and if so, how? The novel is in part an answer to that question. But to be clear, the religion with which he was raised did not have a clear path to Heaven; the paths of the body and soul were separate. You renounce the body t make way for the soul.

Goldmund meets a girl and kisses her, and abruptly leaves monastery school (insert here Tom Waits singing, "I lost my Saint Christopher, now that I've kissed her" from "waltzing Matilda--we know what choice Waits made, to find his soul through his body! Or maybe it was to deliberately lose it?) where he has made deep and lasting connections with his young teacher Narcissus. This kiss might be described as an early epiphany and moment he knows he can't be a celibate monk! He then "wanders across Germany," which is code for the gorgeous Goldmund (also, Gold mouth) living a more physical life, and yes, having sex with women as he travels. Consensually, always. As much approached as approaching. And he falls in love with a couple of them. Women represent a kind of ideal for Hesse and Goldmund.

The book is a kind of allegory, as most of Hesse’s books are, a kind of Pilgrim's Progress of the way to life, somewhat updated from Bunyan's view. Since Hesse knows we do not want to read a novel about Narcissus in prayer, the book focuses on the multiple transformations of Goldmund, from abbey to road, something that connects women with his own mother, and also The Universal Mother, the great feminine spirit that he needs to get in touch with. And get in touch with them he does indeed. I haven’t read this book in decades, but I can clearly see again why Hesse was such a popular author during the sixties’ sexual revolution.

“On the Road to Find Out,” Cat Stevens:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHo_Y...

At one point, Goldmund is offered a wonderful artisan position by Nicholas, a mentor and teacher, based on his obvious artistic skills, but he responds as anyone might do in 1968; he turns down the job and says, no, nope, that’s too conventional, that's working for The Man, "I must be free.” Cue “Free Bird” or several other sixties romantic songs, and view here a meme from On The Road. The road of “self-discovery,” which initially is mainly wine, women and song. But lust, he finds, is only good for the short term. In the long term sex is like any drug, leading to a desert of want. And you already knew that, maybe, so are not surprised to find that the time of hot and heavy page-turning will have to come to an end. This is, after all, Hesse and not Peyton Place. In other words, if Woman is an ideal for Goldmund, he needs to see Heer as Spirit, as Soul, and not just Body, to learn that path for himself.

And right: This is, as I said, a novel about the middle ages, the time of The Plague; which of course has a sobering effect on the party, though Goldmund still seeks ways to sing and love and find joy.

“Because the world is so full of death and horror, I try again and again to console my heart and pick the flowers that grow in the midst of hell.”

But eventually, all this death (recall the original title) takes its toll on Goldmund's love fest, and he returns to Nicholas’s workshop to work, to art, reconnecting as well in the process with the monastery, and Narcissus, whom he teaches to do art even as Narcissus teaches Goldmund more about spiritual practice. The point here is that these two twin souls, these opposites attracted to each other, need to both be present in one person; Mind and Body, lover of God and lover of the world. It can happen, Hesse says, in principled (and clearly romantic) ways.

“We are sun and moon, dear friend; we are sea and land. It is not our purpose to become each other; it is to recognize each other, to learn to see the other and honor him for what he is: each the other's opposite and complement.”

Hesse does create binaries, between the Apollonian and Dionysian, the masculine and the feminine, a further development of the ideas I associate mostly with Demian, and they feel to me a bit out of date, but they are nevertheless interesting and useful for any young seeker. And, as with Joyce’s Stephen, Goldmund and Hesse choose Art as their spiritual vocation, their way to live a “unified” life. And love (body and soul) as part of this process, of course.

“We fear death, we shudder at life's instability, we grieve to see the flowers wilt again and again, and the leaves fall, and in our hearts we know that we, too, are transitory and will soon disappear. When artists create pictures and thinkers search for laws and formulate thoughts, it is in order to salvage something from the great dance of death, to make something last longer than we do.”

I really liked reading this book again and seeing in it some of my own early struggles, thanks TD. I read Thomas Merton’s Seven Story Mountain in my late teens/early twenties and loved it; it made me commit to some form of a spiritual life, which is always still evolving for me. I was in theater, I was a writer, too, but chose teaching as my vocation, and ultimately chose a more conventional family life over the road. This book and all Hesse’s works were part of my learning how to live in the world.

Oh, and you know the contemporary term “woke”? Here’s Hesse on the topic, in 1930:

“I call that man awake who, with conscious knowledge and understanding, can perceive the deep unreasoning powers in his soul, his whole innermost strength, desire and weakness, and knows how to reckon with himself.” Who wouldn't want to be "woke" in that way?

4.5

I see this book as a meditation on the beauty and the power of Art. Any flaws that appear in the narrative therefore I find to be irrelevant. I think that I don't even experience Narcissus and Goldmund as a novel. It's more philosophical in nature, more a novel of ideas, more like reading a religious text than anything else, and that is the beauty of it... or at least that is what I have found in it.

I loved the contrast between the two main characters, Narcissus and Goldmund and the true friendship that exist between them. I believe that such a friendship is a very rare thing. Perhaps what I liked most about this book is how it acknowledges the fundamental differences that can and often do exist between two people. So much more refreshing (and closer to truth) than saying we're all alike.

Observing that delicate friendships that oddly sometimes exist between the people who see the world in completely different way somehow feels enriching. Not all differences are differences and not all the similarities similarities, one could say. However, one might mean different things by saying this. The meaning of words is harder to pin down than we think. We're so used to thinking in a certain way, most of us anyway, that we fail to understand that there is always something more, something behind our words that we cannot explain.

From a worldly perspective, these two man have nothing in common and yet on some higher level they feel a deep connection, the kind that most people never experience...and yet the similarity between them is as important as the difference is. Perhaps I'm not making any sense...Anyway, I guess that generally it could be said that there was plenty to think about while reading this novel.

If I would cared to, I could find many illogical parts in this novel(unrealistic stories or plot developments, characterization of minor characters etc), many imperfections and weak points. However, the point is that I don't care to do so...and the reason why I don't care to is because this is a work of art...and because I really do feel that is perfect as it is. You don't dissect a work of art.

The book symbolizes to me two categories of people in the world. A narcissist symbolizes logical types who clearly understand what they want and are ready to sacrifice their lives to achieve their goals. A Goldilocks is someone who lets their heart beat their mind and is a dreamer. He wants to feel and experience everything that is beautiful in life and is a nomad at heart.

This is an extremely trite and obvious thing to say, but it must be said: Herman Hesse is a wonderful writer. His translator must also take some credit. I found 'Narcissus and Goldmund' utterly riveting. I haven't viscerally enjoyed the style and atmosphere of a novel so intensely since I read Summer. The measured and philosophical, yet tenderly emotional, tone is quite distinctive from other writers. I would find myself carried along by the lyrical prose espousing love and the natural world, then be absolutely floored by a paragraph like this:

Perhaps, he thought, the root of all art, and perhaps of all intellectual activity, is the fear of death. We fear it, we shudder at the ephemeral nature of things, we grieve to see the constant cycle of fading flowers and falling leaves and are aware in our own hearts of the certainty that we too are ephemeral and will soon fade away. So when as artists we create images, and as thinkers we search for laws and formulate ideas, we do so in order to salvage something from the great Dance of Death, to create something that will outlast our lifetime. The woman after whom the master fashioned his beautiful Madonna may have already faded or died, and soon he too will be dead: others will live in his house, others will eat at his table. But his work will remain. In the quiet monastery church it will continue to shine for another hundred years and much longer; it will always remain beautiful, always smile with that same mouth which is as full of life as it is of sadness.

Reading something like that, you have to sit down. If you are already sitting down, you might need to lie down. I don't really know how to respond to it in words, other than, "Ooof". Hesse's themes are so universal and examined so beautifully that it's hard to imagine 'Narcissus and Goldmund' losing its classic status. Life, death, love, art, freedom, and conflict are all examined with extraordinary astuteness and subtlety within a mere 250 pages.

I suppose I should mention the plot and characters, as they aren't mere flimsy props for philosophical abstractions. In medieval Germany, Goldmund is sent to a monastery school by his father as a teenager and makes friends with Narcissus, an older boy with such scholarly talents that he acts as a student teacher. The pair have an intense and romantic friendship that changes them both. Narcissus leads Goldmund to realise that the religious life of the mind is not suited to him, so Goldmund departs for an itinerant life of wandering through the world seducing women. Meanwhile Narcissus remains in the monastery and takes holy orders. The majority of the narrative follows Goldmund's progress. One of the most powerful sequences was his experience of the Black Death. This encounter with a Jewish girl whose father has been murdered in a pogrom will linger in my memory:

"Listen," he said, "don't you see that death is all around us, that in every house and every town people are dying, that there is misery and death everywhere? Even the rage of those stupid people who burned your father to death is nothing but anguish and despair, simply the result of unbearable suffering. Look, soon death will come for us too, and our bodies will decay somewhere under the sky, and moles will play dice with our bones. Until then, let us live and be kind to each other. Oh Rebekka, it would be such a waste of your white neck and your little foot! Dear, beautiful girl, come with me - all I want is to see you and look after you!"

He went on and on pleading until it suddenly became clear even to him that it was useless to woo her with words or reasons. He fell silent and looked at her sorrowfully. Her proud, regal face was rigid with rejection.

"That's how you are," she said at last, in a voice of hatred and contempt, "that's how you Christians are! First you help a daughter bury her father, whom your people have murdered and whose little fingernail is worth more than you, and hardly has that been done when the girl is supposed to fall into your arms and go to bed with you! That's how you are! At first I thought you might be a good person. But how could you be good? Oh, you're all pigs!"

There is so much to 'Narcissus and Goldmund' that deserves (and has undoubtedly received) vastly more detailed analysis than I could ever offer. It is rich in meanings. Instead, I will comment on the foreword by Graham Cox. This is brief and sincere. He states, 'It is a book that you can never grow out of because you grow into it.' That I can well understand. A quote on the back cover calls it, 'The quintessential book of adolescence', yet I don't think I would have appreciated it nearly as much in my teens. Hesse considers the dilemmas of later years just as insightfully as those of adolescence. I was also intrigued that Cox wrote, 'I think we can all see ourselves in Goldmund.' I can't, not one bit. Instead, I saw a little of myself in the aloof, intellectual, ascetic Narcissus. The relationship between the two has the particular intensity of love between people who accept and value their immense differences of personality, habits, and priorities. Like Narcissus, I greatly admire friends who can throw themselves into adventure, intense emotions, and artistic creativity, while not wishing to emulate them. Hesse focuses on Goldmund's journey, but does not take sides between the lives chosen by his two protagonists. Goldmund often doubts himself and Narcissus is clearly not without regret. Although I find Goldmund's choices much harder to understand than those of Narcissus, the writing gives such full account of why both make them that I am entirely sympathetic. Actually, I think it's more than that. The whole book invites intense empathy for all of those it depicts, in part by emphasising what all living beings share: life, death, and uncertainty.

رواية جميلة و عميقة أخرى من روائع هرمان هسه...
نرسيس أستاذ غولدموند و صديقه في الدير... نرسيس ينفذ لأعماق الروح و رأى أن تلميذه غولدموند ذا روح شاعر حرة و لا ينبغي أن يعيش حياة الرهبان مثله... و هكذا يحثه لينطلق و يبحث عن طريقه عبر الحياة، فينطلق و يعيش حياة متشرد فاسق منغمس بالمتع الدنيوية... بينما يتابع نرسيس في طريق الفكر المجرد و حياة الدير الصارمة...
ثم بعد سنوات طوال يلتقيان... على اختلاف طريقيهما و على اختلاف كل منهما ما يمثله يخلصان لنفس النتيجة تقريبا...
مع أن هسه رجح كفة غولدموند في النهاية في الحصول على المعنى... العودة للأم... أو بكلمة أدق _برأيي_ للمصدر...

سألت نفسي أيهما أحق؟ أيهما طريقه أولى و موصل للمعنى؟ أيهما أختار لو كان علي الاختيار؟
لم يعجبني طريق غولدموند، وجدته مفرطا جدا لدرجة شعرت معها بالغثيان و القرف...
و لم يعجبني طريق نرسيس فحياته باردة و جافة حد الملل القاتل...

سألت نفسي تارة أخرى؟ و لماذا أخيّر نفسي بين أقصى اليمين أو الشمال؟
طريقا وسطا بين هذا و ذاك هو ما سأختار...

أشعر بـ هسه و في كثير من جمله و كأنه يكاد يقبض على ما يتجلى من وراء كل ما في الكون... سواء فكرا صرفا أو حياة و جمالا و متعا...
اقتربت كثيرا يا هسه، شعرة واحدة فقط، لولا أن...

أسلوب هسه راق و مهذب و عميق...
الترجمة جميلة جدا...
قرأتها بترجمة أسامة منزلجي
عن دار حوران

Narcissus and Goldmund is a beautifully written story of two medieval men who search for the meaning of life. They meet each other in their early youth in a cloister and then undertake their separate journeys - Narcissus in the spiritual world and Goldmund in the worldly world. Gradually, both of them, in their separate and interlaced experiences, find the truth they seek.

Hermann Hesse is well known for his philosophical fiction. All of his novels thematically expose the search for "light", the "real" world, from an imaginery and illusionary world. They are brain-stimulating and can be enjoyed by those who have a soft spot for philosophy. I have read both his Demian and Steppenwolf, and while I enjoyed his theories and the writing, storywise, they missed the spark. In , not only has he mastered the art of storytelling, he has also become more elucidating in his philosophical theories. Simply put, the writing is clear, mature, masterful and firmly bind the reader to the story.

Narcissus and Goldmund is by far the best work I have read of Hermann Hesse. It is inspiring and beautifully written. There is so much discussion on art and life that I found to be thought-provoking and inspiring the writer in me. The story and the philosophical views he expresses so clearly through the story blend harmoniously. Moreover, Hesse's belief that the truth lies somewhere in the middle of spiritual and worldly worlds I found to be fascinating, for, I too believe that the "truth" is a blend of spiritual and material worlds where you develop your mind to see the truth behind the illusory world so glamorously presented. All these different aspects, co-existing in perfect harmony, made the reading experience extremely pleasurable for me. Recommending books is not something I normally do, but I make an exception for this beautiful work of Hesse. So dear readers, if you have an inclination for philosophical wonderings, check out this little gem by Hermann Hesse.

More of my reviews can be found at http://piyangiejay.com/

العيش متشرداً بلا هدف متبعاً صوت غرائزك الداخلية ومستسلماً لكل تجارب الحياة التي قد تصادفك ومتعاملاً معها بفطرة الإنسان الأول ، أم الحياة المنظمة الساكنة التي يحكمها العقل وتسود فيها القوانين وتمر أيامها بأسلوب محدد مسبقا ؟
الفكر أم الغريزة ؟
الحكمة أم الفطرة ؟
الاستقرار أم التجوال ؟
الأمان أم المغامرة ؟
اليقين أم الحيرة ؟
العقل أم الجنون ؟
العلم أم الفن ؟
نرسيس أم غولدموند ؟
كلاهما يبحث عن جوهر الحياة لكن كلّ بطريقته ..
هل من الممكن فصلهما في الواقع ؟! لا أعتقد ، لكن أحدهما سيغلب بالضرورة .

عن نفسي ، أراني في كليهما وأحب كليهما ❤
رائع هرمان هسه

..
شكرا لصديقتي إلي على القراءة المشتركة والاختيار الموفق

Cảm thấy bất lực khi diễn tả cảm nghĩ của mình với quyển sách này, vì nó quá choáng ngợp. Dường như bất kể lời kẽ ngợi khen nào dành cho nó đều nhỏ bé và thừa thãi. Mặc dù vậy, vẫn thử ghi lại những cảm nhận của kẻ hậu sanh hèn mọn này với bậc tiền bối có nhiều tác phẩm mà mình yêu quý.

Đây là một tác phẩm đồ sộ miêu tả về nghệ thuật, cuộc sống và thân phận con người. Hai nhân vật chính, hai lối sống trái ngược nhau, bổ sung nhau, chính là hai phần con người mà ta có thể nhìn thấy trong bản thân mình. Một bên nghiêm túc, kỷ luật, lý trí, bên còn lại bay bổng, lãng mạng, buông thả. Quyển sách còn đưa ra những nhận định, chiêm nghiệm sâu sắc của tác giả về công việc sáng tạo, về lối sống của người nghệ sĩ, về sự bất toàn của kiếp sống con người và khát khao vươn lên đến sự hoàn thiện. Là một người đang làm công việc sáng tạo, mình cảm nhận được sự đồng cảm sâu sắc với những tư tưởng của tác giả, đồng thời cũng ngẫm nghĩ suy xét lại con đường sáng tạo của mình, và tiếp cận nó với một góc nhìn mới mẻ và rộng hơn.

Vô tình, sách cực kỳ phù hợp để đọc trong thời hiện đại, khi lối sống xê dịch lang thang bắt đầu lên ngôi trong giới trẻ, vì nhân vật kẻ lang thang là đại diện tiêu biểu của những người lựa chọn sống kiểu này. Mình cho rằng, những người yêu thích phiêu lưu và mong muốn tự do có thể tìm thấy những gì chờ đợi mình phía trước khi đọc tác phẩm này của Hermann Hesse.

Wish I'd read this earlier.
(A potential life changer)!

A highlight of my reading year, this novel will linger long with me.

Here are my random thoughts which cannot do justice to the book.

It looks at Life in the world of medieval Germany c 1325 – 80 and monastic life then. The world of Science and Philosophy represented by Narziss and that of the artist by Goldmund – young teacher and pupil respectively. They are lovers in the Greek tradition of Plato: a love which transcends earthy lusts and passions – but these are essential to fire up the genius and imagination of the artist, represented here by Goldmund.

The world depicted here and mine are essentially the same – as far as choices and challenges go. Each world has its sceptics around religion and spirituality.

Having lived through a recent pandemic, how reassuring or otherwise was it to find that the medieval reaction to the Black Death and curbing its spread was very similar to our own in 2020/1 in relation to Covid?

Hermann Hess, com a mais absoluta mestria e destreza narrativa, aborda neste extraordinário romance, o tema da amizade, do amor, da redenção, dos paradoxos existencialistas mas, fundamentalmente, do encontro de duas almas gémeas na sua essência mas profundamente antagónicas na perceção conceptual da existência humana.

Narciso é um jovem monge que ensina grego no convento de Mariabronn, famoso instituto monástico medieval, onde eram formados os filhos das famílias mais ou menos poderosas, para que pudessem ser instruídos, dentro da tradição ancestral das primeiras escolas sediadas em conventos ou mosteiros dirigidos por abades e povoados por monges cultos, facilitadores e perpetuadores de uma educação própria das expectativas familiares coevas.

Goldmund é também ele muito jovem quando chega, na companhia de seu pai, ao afamado convento e, desde logo, se instala um sentimento profundo de recíproca afeição e amizade entre discente e docente. Rapidamente, o aluno torna-se no discípulo do mestre embora a natureza profundamente nómada, divagadora, rebelde nos seus intuitos se manifeste, cedo, no primeiro. Considerando que a sua alma em nada comungava com as expectativas criadas e formadas para o crescimento espiritual de raiz religiosa e filosófica, Goldmund rapidamente compreende que o seu mundo, o das perceções sensoriais, e o seu sentido de liberdade só encontrariam a felicidade fora dos muros monásticos. E assim, parte para uma vida de luxúria e indigência vagueando pelas florestas, mendigando pelas cidades, recebendo e dando prazer a mulheres, fossem jovens ou mais velhas, solteiras ou casadas, sem se demorar muito tempo no mesmo lugar ou permanecer na companhia de qualquer uma das amantes que conhecera, embora Lydia tivesse permanecido sempre na sua memória.

Numa das suas deambulações pelo Império Germânico, Goldmund chega a uma igreja onde ao visualizar uma imagem da Virgem, esta lhe toca profundamente na alma, pela sua beleza, pela conceção artística e expressiva que a obra encerra, decidindo partir à procura do seu autor. E, a partir desse momento, Goldmund descobre a sua vocação. Permanece no atelier de Nikkolas onde aprende a arte escultórica, chegando mesmo a esculpir uma imagem belíssima de S. João, cujo rosto foi inspirado no do seu amigo Narciso. Mas nem aí, após se ter apropriado do lado conceptual e prático da arte, o que muito lhe agradou, quis permanecer ou fixar-se, tanto era a sua natureza indomável e inconformada.

Tendo vivido o período da peste negra que abalou, naquela época, toda a Europa, tendo assistido à queima de judeus elevados a bodes expiatórios da calamidade, Goldmund começa a perder a sua natural inocência e a duvidar da existência divina, pois, no seu entendimento, Deus, na sua bondade, nunca permitiria tal flagelo que tanta mortandade trouxe ao mundo.
Muitos anos se passaram e o périplo de Goldmund, após vários incidentes e tropelias, terminaria, se bem que de forma não definitiva, de novo no convento de Mariabronn, já que fora o próprio Narciso, no tempo já abade, que salvara o seu discípulo de uma morte certa, decorrente de uma questão “de saias”.

Mas o que, na minha perspetiva, mais do que este interessante enredo condensa, é a centralidade da discussão entre formas de viver, de ser e de estar opostas, cada uma com o seu significado, com o seu interesse e, indubitavelmente, com o seu elemento pacificador. Embora no final do romance, Narciso tenha questionado se a sua vivência contemplativa teria sido inferior à do seu amigo que, pela sua natureza, teria sido, à luz dos nossos dias, mais interessante, fica-se com a ideia da plenitude de cada uma delas que, à sua maneira, encontraram a tão almejada paz. Sobre a diferença profunda entre as personalidades de Narciso e Goldmund, este trecho não poderia ser mais esclarecedor:

“Certamente – prosseguiu Narciso – naturezas como a tua, dotadas de uma sensibilidade forte e delicada, as pessoas dominadas pelos impulsos da alma, os sonhadores, poetas, amantes, são-nos quase sempre superiores, a nós intelectuais focados no espírito. A vossa origem é materna. Viveis na plenitude, a vós foi-vos dada a força do amor e da capacidade da vivência. Nós, os intelectuais, embora possa parecer que quase sempre vos guiamos e governamos, não conhecemos a plenitude, vivemos na carência. A vós, pertence-vos a pujança da vida, a seiva dos frutos, o jardim do amor, o belo território da arte. A vossa pátria é a terra, a nossa a ideia. O perigo para vós consiste em afogar-vos no mundo dos sentidos, para nós em sufocarmos num espaço rarefeito de ar. Tu és artista e eu sou pensador. Tu dormes no regaço da mãe, eu mantenho a minha vigília no deserto. Para mim, brilha o sol, para ti a lua; tu sonhas com raparigas e eu com rapazes … “.

E é nessa dualidade da alma, dos sentidos, do espírito e do pensamento condensados na dicotomia vida ativa/atitude contemplativa que reside toda a força desta belíssima narrativa.