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Another novel about unrequited love. The book shows the influence of Nietzsche and the split between Dionysian passion and the intellectual and cerebral virtues of the Apollonian aspect. This duality reminded me a little of Death In Venice by Thomas Mann, which I have also read this month.
The main protagonist Kuhn, is a fairly successful composer who is looking back. Kuhn reminded me a little of Philip Carey in Maugham's Of Human Bondage (which I have also read recently), because of his physical disability which he feels comes between him and those who he would potentially love. Kuhn falls in love with Gertrude, but she falls in love with his friend Muoth. We know the marraige is doomed (Hesse pretty much tells the reader the whole plot early in the book), partly because of the way Muoth has treated women in the past and partly because of the characters of the two people involved.
The novel is beautifully written and the minor characters play their parts well. There is a mirror of Kuhn's love for Gertrude in Brigitte's love for Kuhn.
The whole is a little slight, but rather pleasing. I'm not sure I'm at all convinced by the Dionysius/Apollo split and tend to believe that the distinction has been overplayed.
A poetic and rather beautiful novel about the vicissitudes of life.
The main protagonist Kuhn, is a fairly successful composer who is looking back. Kuhn reminded me a little of Philip Carey in Maugham's Of Human Bondage (which I have also read recently), because of his physical disability which he feels comes between him and those who he would potentially love. Kuhn falls in love with Gertrude, but she falls in love with his friend Muoth. We know the marraige is doomed (Hesse pretty much tells the reader the whole plot early in the book), partly because of the way Muoth has treated women in the past and partly because of the characters of the two people involved.
The novel is beautifully written and the minor characters play their parts well. There is a mirror of Kuhn's love for Gertrude in Brigitte's love for Kuhn.
The whole is a little slight, but rather pleasing. I'm not sure I'm at all convinced by the Dionysius/Apollo split and tend to believe that the distinction has been overplayed.
A poetic and rather beautiful novel about the vicissitudes of life.