the Faeulty of Grad.uate Studles and. llesearch University of ir ...

an instlnctlve search for a meaningful synthesis lvith i+h1ch
to re;olace the current western obsession lvith e laborate
analytical processe s and. mlnu.te classlf ications. I'loreov€r
the reali zalion has grown that the .duropean nincL can f lnd.
there ner¡¡ sources of lnspiration, both in meanlng and. in forrn
and. thus to malntain ltse1f a-sainst the intellectual chaos
and uncertainty that trouble European Ì,¡riters; especlally
does the oriental concept of unlty, above aII the Chinese r,^lay
of Life¡ âs it find.s expresslon in Tao, appeal to a d-is-
ordered. and. disorientated Western culture"
Amongst weste rn v¡r'iter=s of this century those of
Gernrany have perhaps been the most d.eeply affected.. The
work of i-íermann Kassack well lllustrates the Ïra,y in which
*Lrar¡ *rrr¡aà +) the East" He]:Inann Hesse stands 1n the foreur¿vJ
vq¡¡¡vs v\
front of tliose i^¡ho ha.ve been influenced. by Indlan and
Chlnese thought" He i.,¡as well prepared- for such influences,
for hls parents had spent scme tlme ln Ind.1a and his grand.-
fathe r Dr. vfllhelm Gund.e rt, rvho made a lastlng impression
upon the poet, had- spent many yeers ther"e anô i¡a.s a keen
student of Indian r^iays of life, He moreove r compllecì. a
i'lalayam-German d-ictionary. In 1911 Hesse himself travelled
to India and throughout hls tife, bI means of extensive
readlng of easter'n r,'¡ritings in translation, fostered his
early leanlngs in this d.irection; later on he d.eveloped an
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