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

from their own creation through an act of 'kritisch[e] Distanzierung' (Strohschneider-
Kohrs, 87), which, by implication, leads to a reflection on the work of art that is
ultimately incorporated in the work itself. 34 For Romantics, 'Die Ironie [...] 1st Mittel
der Selbstreprasentation von Kunst' (Strohschneider-Kohrs, 87). It is largely on
account of the 'critical detachment' Don Quixote expresses that Romantics greatly
admired Cervantes' work (see Furst, 33) which, not by chance, builds on the
discrepancy between the ideal vision of the protagonist and the reality portrayed by
the narrator.35 Moreover, both 'kritisch[e] Distanzierung' and 'Selbstreprasentation',
which also form the basis of T. Mann's concept of irony as 'Distanz, apollinische
Meisterschaft, Freiheit' (letter of 11 November 1939; 1937-1947,121), foster an act of
'transcendence and self-transcendence' (Furst, 34) in the artist.36 In the section
'Tagebuch 1900' of Hermann Lauscher (see above), one of Hesse's early works largely
influenced by the Romantic perspective, the act of self-transcendence implied by 'die
romantische Ironie' is couched in the narrator's wish to see his 'schwerbliitige Art'
dispelled by means of irony:
Ironie? Wir haben wenig davon. Und doch, sonderbar, liistet mich oft nach
ihr. Meine ganze schwerbliitige Art aufzulosen und als schmucke Seifenblase
ins Blaue zu blasen. Alles zur Oberflache machen, alles Ungesagte mit
raffinierter Bewusstheit sich selber als entdecktes Mysterium reservieren! (HL,
SW 1, 312)
The observations above show key aspects of Romantic irony which are certainly part
of Hesse's theoretical background. Moreover, like Romantic irony, Hesse's
'Galgenhumor' centres on the dualism of ideal and reality; however, the nature of
Romantic irony, as noted above, is essentially aesthetic, while Hesse's 'Humor'
combines elements of the reflection of Romantics with ethical stances that can be
traced back to Kierkegaard who, at a later stage than Romantics, elaborated on the
34 The Romantic stance, as Strohschneider-Kohrs underlines, entails that '[ein] Werk nicht nur etwas darstellt,
sondern zusatzlich auch von sich selber spricht - sich selber darstellt' (84).
35 The name of'Don Quixote' appears in Hesse's biographical account 'In den Felsen: Notizen eines
»Naturmenschen«' [1907]; SW 11, 314) and novels such as Der Steppenwolf (see SW 4: 71, 143) and Die
Morgenlandfahrt (SW 4, 545). In 'Eine Bibliothek der Weltliteratur' (1929), Hesse praises Cervantes' text as an
all-time classic: 'Aus Spanien holen wir uns vor allem andern den Don Quijote von Cervantes, eines der
grandiosesten und zugleich entzuckendsten Biicher aller Zeiten' (OS VII, 319).
*6 Thomas Mann's irony will be discussed in the context of Hesse's narrative irony in section 6.6.
178