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. ...
the process of recollection, which bridges the distance between present and past (see sections 4.6 on epiphany and 5.2 on simultaneity). 21 Polarities are not hierarchically structured, and boundaries between opposites are fluid. 22 None of the contrasts (life-death, transience-eternity, masculine-feminine, ideal-reality, or good-evil) in Hesse's work appear to be of prime significance; in some cases, they seem to be interlinked as in a long semantic chain: the contrast between 'light' and 'dark' stands as a metaphor for 'life' and 'death', or for 'good' and 'evil'; 'ideal' and 'reality' reflect the contrast between 'immanence' and 'transcendence'. 'Freedom' and 'order' resonate in the polarisation of 'feminine' and 'masculine', as well as the related 'maternal' and 'paternal'. Polarities are not fixed either. Different terms can be juxtaposed and brought into comparison with each other: 'Geist' and its connotations (e.g. masculine, spiritual, rational) are often contrasted with 'Seele' (feminine, sensual, irrational); yet 'Gesetz' is the main term of comparison for 'Geist' in Unterm Rad (see Stolte, 48). Im Bezug auf die Konstituenten des Gesamtwerks Hesses handelt es sich um dynamische Polaritaten. So lassen sich Lyrik und Prosa gegeniiberstellen, beide zusammen konnen jedoch auch einen Gegenpol zu Hesses nichtfiktionalem Schaffen bilden, alle drei einen Gegenpol zur Malerei. (Gommen, 48) Finally, as with the works of Goethe, a number of Hesse's characters, drawn in couples, embody opposite tendencies: was im eigenen Inneren als spannungsvoller Widerspruch, als Polaritat eines und desselben Charakters empfunden wird, zerlegt sich im gestalteten Werk in zwei polarisch einander zugleich widersprechende und erganzende Personen. Hier sind es Hans Giebenrath und Hermann Heilner, spater werden es Klein und Wagner, Narzifi und Goldmund und manche andere Personifizierungen sein. 23 (Stolte, 44) 21 In Goethe too polarities unfold chronologically, as emerges from An Schwager Kronos, which hinges on images of ascent and descent, and Gesang der Geister tiber den Wassern, with its central theme and metaphor of the water cycle. 22 'Polarita't [ist] kein starres Konstrukt, sondern ein Perpetuum mobile' (Gommen, 35). 23 In the context of Das Glasperlenspiel, Diirr observes 'in den beiden [Knecht und Plinio] verkb'rpern sich zwei verschiedene Welten' (96). Referring to those narrative figures in Goethe's oeuvre who are the incarnation of opposite inclinations (e.g. Clavigo and Carlos, Tasso and Antonio, Werther and Albert), Gores similarly points out: 'Einzelne Gestalten sind in sich polaren Gegensatzen ausgeliefert [...] Goethe selber [fuhlte] zwei Seelen in sich [...], aber solches »Doppelwesen« in den meisten Fallen seiner dramatischen und epischen Dichtung in zwei Figuren auffa'cherte' (107). 21
As Boulby perceptively notes, characters may also provide a comparison in terms of more than one quality, as if multiple opposite inclinations and appetites were infused into them: In the figures of Narziss and Goldmund are caught many contrasts, that between the priest and thinker, and the artist and Don Juan; that between the homosexual and the heterosexual; the hermetic opposition between animus and anima. (234) 1.3 Paradoxes The fluidity and flexibility of polarities in Hesse, as suggested in the previous section, create ambivalent positions and statements which, in certain cases, verge on paradox and apparent contradictions. 'Gesetz', not 'Seele', is the main term of comparison of 'Geist' in the context of Unterm Rad, where 'law' is imbued with negative connotations (e.g. narrow-minded views and stifling rigour). However, 'law' has diametrically opposed connotations, especially in Hesse's later works, where it is associated with 'order' and, ironically, with 'Geist' too. '[Ljaw', for Hesse, is always an ambiguous term, it may refer to the sublime patterns of the Glass Bead Game, the epitome of 'spirit' and of form, but it may also be weighted with the dross of the common world, of society which constantly strives, through the mechanism of convention, to give itself the appearance of truth and permanence. (Boulby, 59) Similar ambiguities can sporadically be detected in Hesse's private documents. The influence that Romanticism exerted on his artistic development is well documented, and Hesse acknowledged this debt, defending Romanticism against its detractors, as he does, for example, in 'Eine Arbeitsnacht' (1928): Warum denn ist Romantik etwas Minderwertiges? War Romantik nicht das, was die besten Geister Deutschlands getrieben haben, die Novalis, Holderlin, Brentano, Morike, und alle deutschen Musiker von Beethoven iiber Schubert bis Hugo Wolf. 24 (SW 12,125) 24 Aspects of the Romantic legacy in connection with music will be discussed in Chapter 3, especially section 3. 22
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As Boulby perceptively notes, characters may also provide a comparison in terms of<br />
more than one quality, as if multiple opposite inclinations and appetites were infused<br />
into them:<br />
In the figures of Narziss and Goldmund are caught many contrasts, that<br />
between the priest and thinker, and the artist and Don Juan; that between the<br />
homosexual and the heterosexual; the hermetic opposition between animus<br />
and anima. (234)<br />
1.3 Paradoxes<br />
The fluidity and flexibility of polarities in Hesse, as suggested in the previous<br />
section, create ambivalent positions and statements which, in certain cases, verge on<br />
paradox and apparent contradictions. 'Gesetz', not 'Seele', is the main term of<br />
comparison of 'Geist' in the context of Unterm Rad, where 'law' is imbued with<br />
negative connotations (e.g. narrow-minded views and stifling rigour). However,<br />
'law' has diametrically opposed connotations, especially in Hesse's later works,<br />
where it is associated with 'order' and, ironically, with 'Geist' too.<br />
'[Ljaw', for Hesse, is always an ambiguous term, it may refer to the sublime<br />
patterns of the Glass Bead Game, the epitome of 'spirit' and of form, but it<br />
may also be weighted with the dross of the common world, of society which<br />
constantly strives, through the mechanism of convention, to give itself the<br />
appearance of truth and permanence. (Boulby, 59)<br />
Similar ambiguities can sporadically be detected in Hesse's private documents. The<br />
influence that Romanticism exerted on his artistic development is well documented,<br />
and Hesse acknowledged this debt, defending Romanticism against its detractors, as<br />
he does, for example, in 'Eine Arbeitsnacht' (1928):<br />
Warum denn ist Romantik etwas Minderwertiges? War Romantik nicht das,<br />
was die besten Geister Deutschlands getrieben haben, die Novalis, Holderlin,<br />
Brentano, Morike, und alle deutschen Musiker von Beethoven iiber Schubert<br />
bis Hugo Wolf. 24 (SW 12,125)<br />
24 Aspects of the Romantic legacy in connection with music will be discussed in Chapter 3, especially section 3.<br />
22
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