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

Chapter 3, section 1) along with the three-phase evolution identified by Ziolkowski
(see above).
The imprint of Keller, Jean Paul, and E. T. A. Hoffman can hardly be
overstated in relation to Hesse's 'Humor', especially in his early career. Hollis deals
extensively with the legacy of the three authors and E. T. A. Hoffman in particular,
and Boulby too underlines their imprint. 22 'Robert Aghion' (1913), Boulby notes,
'contains farcical elements which indicate a long-continued groping after the elusive
key to Keller's masterly humor' (70).
In 'Uber Jean Paul' (1921), Hesse indirectly alludes to Jean Paul's influence by
underlining the emergence of self-irony in Jean Paul's works:
er [Jean Paul ist] zum grofien Humoristen geworden, und sein Humor beruht
nicht wenig mit auf einem heimlichen Selbsterkennen, auf einem stillen
Wissen von der eigenen Schwache des Dichters, der in seiner Schreibstube ein
Herrgott, im taglichen Leben aber ein armer, nervoser geplagter Mensch ist.
(GS VII, 264)
Interestingly, Hesse continues by associating Jean Paul's 'Humor' with the awareness
of the contrast between an eternal, ideal self and a temporal, real one: 'Die Erkenntnis
des Selbst im Ich, der iiberzeitlichen im zeitlichen Ich, [ist] als Ahnung vorhanden
[...] iiberall in seinen Werken' (ibid.).
A second aspect of Hesse's 'Humor' is the satire, light or caustic, directed
against his contemporary society and its new spiritual orientation, as indirectly
ironized in Peter Camenzind ('Sie [namenlose Dichter] hatten sich geschamt, sich vor
Gott zu beugen, aber sie lagen auf Knien vor dem Zeus von Otrikoli'; SW 2, 52), or of
its technological frenzy, as couched in the humorous title 'Gesprach mit dem Of en'
(1919; SW 8, 334-35) or in Haller's bias against the gramophone.23
As mentioned above, the 'smile' ('lacheln' and its derivatives) is a key symbol in
Hesse's poetics that is generally associated with positive connotations; yet Unterm
22 Hollis examines Hoffmann's legacy in Der Steppenwolf (The Return of Hoffman'; 1973, 35-37) as well as in
earlier works (The Influence of Hoffmann';1973, 15-18).
23 When Hermine offers to teach him how to dance, Haller observes: 'ich spiirte alles in mir Widerstand leisten,
was ich als alter verwohnter Musikkenner gegen Grammophone, Jazz und moderne Tanzmusiken einzuwenden
hatte' (SW 4, 113). Hesse's relation to technology was briefly mentioned in the context of the discussion on jazz
as 'Sprache der Maschinen', see note 84 in Chapter 3, section 4.
171