HERMANN HESSE AND THE DIALECTICS OF TIME Salvatore C. P. ...

feindseliger Schar vor mein Gedachtnis. [...] Und nun wufite ich
plotzlich, dafi nichts mehr zu retten ware; freigelassen taumelte die
ganze untere Welt in mir hervor, zerbrach und verhohnte die weifien
Tempel und kiihlen Lieblingsbilder. Und dennoch fuhlte ich diese
verzweifelten Emporer und Bilderstiirmer mir verwandt, sie trugen
Ziige meiner liebsten Erinnerungen und Kindertage. (SW 1, 320)
In a similar vein, the image of a young girl, Haller's first juvenile love, erupts from
his memory in the 'Magisches Theater', reawakening an unresolved aspect of
Haller's past:
ich spiirte: mein ganzes vergangenes Leben und Lieben war falsch und
verworren und voll dummen Ungliicks gewesen von dem Augenblick an, wo
ich Rosa an jenem Sonntag hatte davonlaufen lassen'. (SW 4,187)
Vagrancy is a theme frequently associated with childhood in Hesse's works.
Goldmund parts from Narzifi, leaves the monastery and starts roaming; in this light,
his story is similar to Knulp's and, to some extent, to Peter Camenzind's. For
Goldmund, 'ein Vagabund [...] immer aber ist er im Herzen ein Kind, immer lebt er
am ersten Tage, vor Anfang aller Weltgeschichte' (SW 4, 430). A common feature of
these characters is their ability and inclination to whistle (see 3.5). This fondness
becomes a symbol of their freedom and light-heartedness, as opposed to the safe
routine of adults, who are settled but suffer the seriousness of their chores and goals.
In the autobiographical 'Kurzgefasster Lebenslauf, Hesse opposes the bliss of his
childhood singing and whistling to the goal-oriented and strictly predetermined
reality of adults: '[ich] konnte Lieder singen und durch die Zahne pfeifen, und sonst
noch manches, was furs Leben von Wert ist' (SW 12, 47).
'Chestnuts' and 'alder', often grouped in the phrase 'Kastanien und Erlen'
(HL, SW 1, 225), crop up several times, especially in Hesse's early works, and in each
case recall or are associated with the narrator's youth. 'Kastanien und Erlen'
encompasses all the positive attributes, such as sense of freedom from time,
protection and innocence, and direct contact with nature, which Hesse's characters
ascribe to childhood. This phrase can be regarded as an example of the 'objective
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