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

Chapter 5 Eternity
In seeking to understand Hesse's approach to time, we stressed the importance of the
juncture and historical context Hesse and other authors of his generation lived
through (see Introduction to this thesis). We also outlined the main events, especially
the two world wars, and developments in various fields, ranging from science to
philosophy, which contributed towards making the early twentieth century an
exceptionally rich and complex period of human history. On the one hand, the
political and military upheaval led people to fight for survival or for the elementary
needs of everyday life; on the other, the turmoil of the war years fostered new
attitudes and responses to the fundamental questions of life: faith, the afterlife, and
the idea of time. 1
As a prelude to the present discussion on eternity we would like to single out
and analyse two interrelated aspects of this complex epoch, steeped in the
atmosphere of the fin de siecle but also spanning the early decades of the twentieth
century: major implications of scientific advancement with regard to 'time', and the
attention to 'the fleeting 7 .
The scientific debate at the beginning of the twentieth century and its far-
reaching consequences are crucial for an understanding of the conception of time-
related issues in the human sciences as well. 2
Quantum mechanics challenges a tenet of classical (Newtonian) physics, the
principle of cause and effect and, by implication, the idea of (temporal)
'sequentially'.3 Einstein's contribution to a new understanding of time is threefold.4
1 We discussed the impact of the wars on the discourse on memory in Chapter 4 (see 'memory as trauma').
2 As Holland puts it in connection with the understanding of the nature of time in modern times: 'modern
philosophy has been obliged to merge with matters of physics, as well as broader questions of relativity and
cosmology' (126).
3 'Modern physics, as is well known, led to a radical revision of the fundamental concepts of classical physics,
such as the concepts of space, time, matter, energy, and causality. The foundations of modern physics are the
quantum theory and the theory of relativity, both of which originated in the early years of the twentieth century'
(Jammer, 1).
4 Boulby highlights resonances of Einstein's theory in Der Steppenwolf. 'So persistent is the imagery of the
cosmic dome, of eternity, time, and space in The Steppenwolf, that it is probably no accident that the novel
actually refers to the theory of relativity and to Einstein by name; the poet's imagination has been caught and
held by the scientific imagery of his own day' (202).
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