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

crucial and antithetical point in Hesse: the main characters of his novels aspire to
such an intensification of their individuation which borders on its opposite, leading
to the dissolution of their personality. 31 As observed by Boulby in relation to
Siddhartha and Das Glasperlenspiel, Hesse's leading characters strike an unmistakeable
note of 'personality' in seeking to free themselves from their 'ego': 'we know since
Siddhartha that legend is the ultimate refuge of that utter paradox, the supreme
"impersonal individual," the artist-saint' (282). 32
In reality, a coherent set of ideas underlies these contradictions, and what
seems to strike a discordant note is, put into perspective, in perfect agreement with
the rest. Hesse stresses on several occasions that, for him, a truth is such only if its
opposite remains true too: taken together, opposite truths are twin components of an
underlying unity. 33 As with opposite proverbs, truths have to be contextualized: the
validity of 'he who hesitates is lost' does not undermine or contradict the veracity of
'act in haste, repent at leisure', as long as these are considered under appropriate
circumstances. 34 Hesse's statements on Romanticism can be seen to agree with each
other by means of a slight shift in emphasis. Hesse's defence of a significant period of
German literature and music does not conflict with his preference for Baroque and
Classic music rather than Romantic. Similarly, in line with his idea of
'Menschwerdung', Hesse stresses that individuals should follow their own path in
life and take their stands regardless of the authority or general trend in society. On
31 This is in analogy with Jung's idea of the 'self as a paradox: 'Jung charakterisiert das Selbst als »absolute
Paradoxie«, indem »es in jeder Beziehung Thesis und Antithesis und zugleich Synthesis darstellt«'
(Karalaschwili, 95).
32 Referring to Das Glasperlenspiel, Boulby comments: 'The biography of a Castalian by a Castalian for
Castalians should by definition be but a history of function, in a sense an exemplary, skeletal vita [...] but in
practice, of course, a strongly personalized impression of Joseph Knecht is conveyed, all the same. The apparent
avoidance of personal detail applies only to trivialities; at each vital point the function has personality, the
skeleton has flesh' (277).
33 '[V]on jeder Wahrheit ist das Gegenteil ebenso wahr!' (Sid, SW 3, 465).
34 The reference to proverbs and parables is not accidental, as these often contain teachings couched in
paradoxes. This is, for instance, the case of Hsiang-lin's pithy reply to a monk in 'Joseph Knecht an Carlo
Ferromonte' (1961), where Hesse, using the name of Knecht, relates an anecdote from the pre-Buddhist Chinese
tradition to Karl Isenberg (Carlo Ferromonte): 'Ein Monch fragte Hsiang-lin: Was ist der Sinn davon, daB fern
vom Westen her der Patriarch gekommen ist? Hsiang-lin erwiderte: Vom langen Sitzen miide' (SW 12, 687).
The humorous overtones of Hsiang-lin's response indirectly shed light onto the mechanism of humour, the
matrix of which is the juxtaposition of antithetical ideas (see 6.1). In the context of Hesse's camouflage of actual
names, see 1.6.
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