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

First'¡íorld l"íar and. its a,ftermath) ancl chose the East as a,
refuge, or whether the attr"a.ction of the East meant some-
thinE even nore positive a.nd fr.uitfuL
the treatment of the work of the mature liesse
organizes itself natur.atly under three headings - retters,
novers and poeros" rn alr thr.ee of them the East asserts
i tself and pr"oves its importance in crearrv rir s1-i ncrrlstrable
and indivldua,l ways.
ït ls fortunate that Her.mann Hesse r s rette rs are
avallabLe" Their pecur-1ar inte ¡est for the puï"poses of thls
thesis Lies not so much in the answers as in the questions
that er€ being raised in them. rn meny cases the poet wa,s
dearlng with Letter.s requestlng specific views and in
chooslng th.e reply he went beyond self-inposed. questloning.
Thus Fiennann Hessets retters revea'r- a r:.ûore expricit, more
coherent and more philosophica.l aspect tkran do the novers
and the po€mso
rn dealin¿ wrth the novers, thr.ee have been ser-ectec
for their immedlate rerevance - sidd.harthg, D1e l4orÊ:e$lanÊ_
fahrt and. Das Gra.sper'.1-ensplel. sidd_hartha is the onry novel
actually set irr rnd.ta or ln the East and rnarks a climax in
Fiesse I s acceptance of , and. irnmersion ln easter"n elements.
vi1
The t'¡¡o other novels mark a certain d.iminution of the €astern