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

After dealing with the rather problematic definition of humour in section 6.1,
where approaches and conclusions of scholars are examined and discussed with a
view to outlining the conceptual framework of our investigation in the rest of the
chapter, the question of an evolution in Hesse's humour throughout his career is
addressed in 6.2, while section 6.3 investigates humour as an expression of the
contrast between ideal and reality in Hesse's works. Mozart and Pablo in Der
Steppenwolf are the focus of section 6.4, the first part of which highlights the features
these characters share with the 'joker' and the 'fool', while the second part
concentrates on the similarities of their 'Humor' and on the implications of such
analogies. Finally, the modernity, or indeed, the a-temporal significance of Hesse's
contribution to twentieth-century literature will be discussed in connection with his
use of narrative irony (6.6).
6.1 Humour: In search of a definition
As noted in the Introduction to this thesis, one of humour's distinguishing features is
its elusiveness. 4 As with emotions, memories and, of course, music, the more we try
to understand mechanisms of humour and pin down its essence, the more we miss
the target or end with a partial view of the phenomenon. 5 Humour would seem to
validate Heisenberg's principle of uncertainty in that the act of observation, or the
presence of an observer, somehow affects the observed object; moreover, if we
concentrate on one aspect of humour and give a detailed account of it, we will fail to
be as accurate with another. As Miller observes, '[tjhis is a common feature of
theories about humour: practically none of them cover the whole topic' (10). This also
accounts for the fact that explaining a joke implies spoiling it, as Grotjahn points out:
'Laughter has a tendency to disappear when we focus our intellect on it and try to
understand it' (vii). Therefore, most scholars have restricted the scope of their
4 In his study on humour, Pirandello notes the curious shift in meaning the Latin word humor, or umor undergoes
throughout the centuries: from the materiality of a bodily fluid to the impalpable qualities of the modern
connotations (see especially 'La parola «umorismo»', 3-12 ).
5 Raskin adds: 'Other examples of undefined phenomena which have been evaluated in these terms include love,
happiness, faith, success, ddtente, and supply-side economy' (9).
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