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

die Zeit fur mich hat, wie ich die Tage und Wochen, ja Monate vergeude, mit
welchen Spielereien ich mein Leben vertue. (SW 11,135)
Time is associated with fear and a sense of horror vacui in Taedium Vitae' (1908): 'Seit
Jahren war ich nicht mehr in dem scheufilichen und unwiirdigen Zustand gewesen,
dafi ich die Zeit fiirchtete und verlegen war, wie ich sie umbringe' (SW 7, 232).
Hesse's idea of time as an illusion is especially indebted to his contact with 'the
Orient', and this attitude, which can be traced back to Goethe and to Schopenhauer's
theories on and interest in Indian spirituality, emerges particularly in Klingsors letzter
Sommer (1919), Siddhartha (1922), and Der Steppenwolf. Time is described as the
'schlimmste Tauschung' (Kli, SW 8, 317) in the first story. As expressed in the
dialogue between Siddhartha and Vasudeva, the river suggests to Siddhartha that
time is an illusion: '»Hast du«, so fragte er [Siddhartha] ihn [Vasudeva] einst, »hast
auch du vom Flusse jenes Geheime gelernt: dafi es keine Zeit gibt?«' (SW 3, 443). As a
character in Der Steppenwolf, Goethe explicitly contrasts eternity with time, therefore
implying that the former is a dimension outside any temporality rather than an
endless succession of moments (see below).
Time' therefore assumes a crucial role in Hesse's reflection and artistry to
which secondary literature has certainly drawn attention, whether referring to
Hesse's relation with history and his time (e.g. biographies) or with regard to the
temporality in his works, as in Boulby's reflection on the inverse relation between
narrated and narrative time in Hesse's portrayal of moments of awakening (see
Chapter 4, section 6). Time', however, is not the overarching concern of any
published study on Hesse's works to date, with the exception of Shaw's article Time
and the Structure of Hermann Hesse's Siddhartha' (1957), Karalaschwili's chapter
'»Die Verwandlung von Zeit in Raum« Zeitgeriist der Erzahlung' (1986; 221-48),
and two sections of Moritz's 'Die musikalische Dimension der Sprachkunst' (2007). 17
This thesis seeks to fill this gap in knowledge by illustrating the centrality of 'time'
within the framework of Hesse's aesthetics; furthermore, in view of the elusiveness
17 Shaw's article is relevant in the context of Chapter 5, where the discussion on the interplay of time and space
in Hesse's imagery ('Time changes to space', section 4) also draws on the contributions of Karalaschwili and
Moritz. Exact reference to Moritz's sections will be given in note 65 of that chapter.