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

memory, as in the case of Haller's realisation that Hermine resembles Hermann (see
previous section).49 Goldmund, Harry Haller, Klingsor, as well as certain other main
characters in his short stories and novels, experience a sudden 'awakening7 in
looking at themselves in the mirror; their own reflection startles them as they
suddenly realise their features have undergone changes they had failed to notice
previously. Affecting the 'duration', one of the three components through which
Genette describes the 'time-category' in the narrative discourse (Genette, 25),
epiphanies can also be 'a valuable instrument for drama, presenting in a scene or
event what might otherwise have to be explained or summarized' (Beja, 23). This
pertains to the juxtaposition of the characters of Mozart and Pablo in Der Steppenwolf.
By means of this 'revelation', Hesse brings together, condenses, and develops two
main threads in the novel: the discussion on the aesthetic value of 'jazz' and, on a
more spiritual plane, the question of immortality (See 3.4 and 6.5). Another such
moment can be found in Peter Camenzind, when the protagonist's father vents his
sorrow for the death of his spouse on Peter. The loss of his mother and the
conversation with his father unleash an uncontrolled flow of memories in Peter.50
Boulby observes that Hesse expands the narrative of these memories in order to gain
dramatic intensity.
Though it lacks the sensuous immediacy which came to be a feature of the
typical moment of 'awakening' (Erwachen), it makes conspicuous use of the
relativity of time, by an expansion of Erzahlzeit (narrating time) and a
maximal contraction of erzahlte Zeit (narrated time). There is a gradation of
such moments in Hesse's novels. Though this particular example is rather
abstract and unreal, at their most intense and lyrical they have a vital contact
with sensuous reality. While by their very nature they are not violent
outbursts, they usually exhibit something of the emotional force, and often the
poignant strength of memory. (35-36)
Karalaschwili strikes a similar note in relation to the finale of Klein und Wagner,
where the recounting of Klein's final thoughts and moments of life far exceeds the
short span in which they are actually experienced by the character: 'Die
49 A subjective moment of revelation is expressed in terms of a change in the observed object.
50 'In diesem Augenblick [...] geschah mir etwas Merkwurdiges. Es erschien mir plotzlich, in einer einzigen
Sekunde, alles das, was ich von klein auf gedacht und erwiinscht und sehnlich erhofft hatte, zusammengedra'ngt
vor einem plotzlich aufgetanen innerlichen Auge' (PC, SW 2, 33).
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