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

Rad (1905-1906) is a noticeable exception among Hesse's major narrative fiction. In
this novel, 'lacheln' is ambivalent, in that the smile on the faces of the pupils7 mothers
('Die Mutter schauten sinnend und lachelnd auf ihre Sohne'; SW 2,185) is the foil for
Hans' 'hilflose Lacheln' (228).
The First World War, which is a watershed in Hesse's life (see Chapter 3,
section 1), represents a turning point in his 'Humor' too. As Hollis notes, 'it was
mainly after the First World War that Hesse's satire acquired the sharp edge to it that
had been largely lacking before the war' (1973, 23). Among the major works Hesse
published after the end of the war, the three short novels published in 1919,
particularly Klingsors letzter Sommer, are harbingers of the themes, atmosphere, and
the caustic bitterness of Der Steppenwolf.24 Demian (1919), the composition of which
dates back to 1917, along with Siddhartha (1921) are, for Ziolkowski, the works of
Hesse which had least to do with humour: 'Hesse was far too greatly preoccupied
with the construction of an ideal as an escape from his emotional crisis of the war
years' (1965, 65; see also note 20 in this chapter). 25
In Hesse's second phase, as identified in Chapter 3 (section 1) and
approximately coinciding with the period marked by the 'rousing laughter of the
Immortals' (see above in this section), Hollis underlines the break with the past
represented by Der Steppenwolf and the unsympathetic tone assumed by the narrative
voice (in the Tractat' and in Haller's own ' Aufzeichnungen'), which is now overtly
critical towards the main character (Haller): 'gone are the days of Peter Camenzind
and Hermann Lauscher, individuals whose lives we were asked to follow with
sympathy' (1973, 70). Furthermore, Hesse's theoretical speculation on 'Humor'
comes more to the fore in his three major works of the second period of his career:
Kurgast (1925), Die Nurnberger Reise (1927), and Der Steppenwolf (1927). 26 Moreover,
while 'laughter' ('Lachen'), another recurrent symbol in Hesse, is a noisy nuisance in
24 The other two short novels of the same year are Kinderseele and Klein und Wagner.
25 Like 'Humor', 'lacheln' and its derivatives are not to be found in Demian.
26 Section 6.3 provides examples of Hesse's elaboration on 'Humor' in these three works.
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