HERMANN HESSE AND THE DIALECTICS OF TIME Salvatore C. P. ...
HERMANN HESSE AND THE DIALECTICS OF TIME Salvatore C. P. ... HERMANN HESSE AND THE DIALECTICS OF TIME Salvatore C. P. ...
This longing for a transcendental (eternal) harmony is indebted to the Romantic tradition and contrasts, on the part of Hesse's characters, with the need to catch a glimpse of that harmony in their lives, that is within the boundaries of time. Despite all their flirtation with death, most of Hesse's characters are driven by an unmistakable, although sometimes desperate, love for life and, in this respect, they express positions closer to Existentialists than to Romantics as we noted in relation to the finale of Der Steppenwolf in Chapter 3 (section 2). 19 For all Hesse's concern, as a man and artist, with spiritual matters and eternal values, and although the miseries and bitterness of the human condition are largely represented in his art, a fervent eulogy to the simplicity, sometimes naivety, of earthly life is the blueprint for the majority of his works, as emerges from this excerpt from Kurgast: Und wieder einmal war ich leidenschaftlich dem Gegenpol des Geistes zugetan, war innig und trunken verliebt in die dumme gesetzlose Welt des Zufalls, in das Spiel der Sonne- und Schattenflecke am hellrosigen Boden, in die vielen Melodien des stromenden Wassers. (SW 11,115) The tension and pendulations between time and timelessness are a thematic and structural element of Hesse's artistry as well as one of the antitheses on which his thought hinges. 20 As largely acknowledged by scholars, Hesse's characters are, at the end of their spiritual journey, often led to the realization that transcendence and immanence interlock (see Chapter 1, section 2) and that 'the roots of the timeless are embedded in the experiences acted out within the world of time' (Shaw, 210). 21 In what follows, our considerations on Hesse's idea of eternity will be based on the assumption that the category of the timeless springs from the interplay of two tendencies moving in opposite directions: towards time and towards its abolition. As we will note in the next section, three other major themes and key points of his poetic 19 The emphasis on the positive value of the here and now is also in line with Hesse's rejection of the Buddhist ambition to sever any individual tie to the material world. 'Siddhartha', Shaw points out, 'has learned that the timeless may not be found apart from the medium of that self which time is still in the process of making. Being does not reveal itself through the negation of Becoming' (209). 20 'Zwischen diesen beiden Punkten - der Zeit und der Ewigkeit - entfaltet sich die Handlung des Romans' (Karalaschwili, 228). 21 Shaw's statements echoe Karalaschwili's: 'Doch allein schon die Tatsache, daU die Welt durch die Zeit und in der Zeit wahrgenommen wird, wird jedes Mal unbestreitbar bleiben' (223). 141
(unity, memory, and music) merge into Hesse's idea of eternity as everlasting moment, eternal present, simultaneity. 5.2 Simultaneity In the introductory section to this chapter, we noted that Einstein's theory of relativity rules out the possibility of concurrent events that are spatially separated. The concept of simultaneity played such a crucial role in Einstein's theory that, for him, any pronouncement on time would entail a discourse on simultaneous events. To some extent, simultaneity implies a perturbation of the idea of time, since 'to say that things happen in time means in part that they happen in a certain order' (Van Fraassen, 3). 2* As an interesting epistemological paradox, simultaneity is a necessary precondition for our brain to picture and process events unfolding sequentially: 'If two events are to be represented as occurring in succession, then paradoxically they must also be thought of simultaneously' (Whitrow, 75). Despite Einstein's tenet, simultaneity is, for Hesse and other authors of his generation, a poetic necessity which entails the abolition of time and, by implication, eternity: if all events happened at the same time, there would be no past or future, but only present.23 'Pure present' is what Hesse identifies as the essence of music in a letter of c. 1940: das Wesen der Musik ist Zeit [...], und zwar reine Gegenwart, nichts andres: ich habe zu dieser Einsicht, obwohl ich seit den Kinder]ahren ein Musikfreund war, gegen 60 Jahre gebraucht. (Musik, 177) The suspension of time and the idea of 'pure present' find expression in the counterpoint technique where, while the melody of each voice unfolds sequentially (horizontally), each section of the counterpoint displays a similar combination of notes (vertically) in view of the staggered juxtaposition and partial overlapping of 22 The etymological root of simultaneity is, as noted by Jammer, 'the Latin "simul", which in turn derives from the Sanskrit "sem" (or "sema"), meaning "together", both in the sense "together in space" and "together in time' It still survives in the German words "ziisawmen", "Sammlung", as well as in the Nordic (Danish, Swedish, Norwegian) expressions "samtidig" ("simultaneous"), "sawtidighet" ("simultaneity"), and so on' (11; original emphasis). 23 As expressed by T. S. Eliot in the opening lines of Burnt Norton' (1936), the first section of his Four Quartets: 'Time present and time past | Are both perhaps present in time future, | And time future contained in time past. | If all time is eternally present | All time is unredeemable.' (Eliot 1944, 3) 142
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(unity, memory, and music) merge into Hesse's idea of eternity as everlasting<br />
moment, eternal present, simultaneity.<br />
5.2 Simultaneity<br />
In the introductory section to this chapter, we noted that Einstein's theory of<br />
relativity rules out the possibility of concurrent events that are spatially separated.<br />
The concept of simultaneity played such a crucial role in Einstein's theory that, for<br />
him, any pronouncement on time would entail a discourse on simultaneous events.<br />
To some extent, simultaneity implies a perturbation of the idea of time, since 'to say<br />
that things happen in time means in part that they happen in a certain order' (Van<br />
Fraassen, 3). 2* As an interesting epistemological paradox, simultaneity is a necessary<br />
precondition for our brain to picture and process events unfolding sequentially: 'If<br />
two events are to be represented as occurring in succession, then paradoxically<br />
they must also be thought of simultaneously' (Whitrow, 75). Despite Einstein's tenet,<br />
simultaneity is, for Hesse and other authors of his generation, a poetic necessity<br />
which entails the abolition of time and, by implication, eternity: if all events<br />
happened at the same time, there would be no past or future, but only present.23<br />
'Pure present' is what Hesse identifies as the essence of music in a letter of c. 1940:<br />
das Wesen der Musik ist Zeit [...], und zwar reine Gegenwart, nichts andres:<br />
ich habe zu dieser Einsicht, obwohl ich seit den Kinder]ahren ein Musikfreund<br />
war, gegen 60 Jahre gebraucht. (Musik, 177)<br />
The suspension of time and the idea of 'pure present' find expression in the<br />
counterpoint technique where, while the melody of each voice unfolds sequentially<br />
(horizontally), each section of the counterpoint displays a similar combination of<br />
notes (vertically) in view of the staggered juxtaposition and partial overlapping of<br />
22 The etymological root of simultaneity is, as noted by Jammer, 'the Latin "simul", which in turn derives from<br />
the Sanskrit "sem" (or "sema"), meaning "together", both in the sense "together in space" and "together in time'<br />
It still survives in the German words "ziisawmen", "Sammlung", as well as in the Nordic (Danish, Swedish,<br />
Norwegian) expressions "samtidig" ("simultaneous"), "sawtidighet" ("simultaneity"), and so on' (11; original<br />
emphasis).<br />
23 As expressed by T. S. Eliot in the opening lines of Burnt Norton' (1936), the first section of his Four<br />
Quartets: 'Time present and time past | Are both perhaps present in time future, | And time future contained in<br />
time past. | If all time is eternally present | All time is unredeemable.' (Eliot 1944, 3)<br />
142