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

A more conspicuous similarity to Wagnerian leitmotifs can be found in one of
the main ideas underlying both Siddhartha and Der Steppenwolf. Siddhartha,
contemplating a river, discovers 'der Flufi des Geschehens' (SW 3, 461) embracing the
whole spectrum of human experience: joy and sorrow; desires and goals; good as
well as evil. The Voice' of this river teaches him what he terms 'die Musik des
Lebens' (ibid.). This idea of the 'music of life' evolves and reappears in Der
Steppenwolf. It is not an object but a character, Mozart, who urges the protagonist
Haller to listen to the 'Radiomusik des Lebens' (Ste, SW 4, 201) and, in doing so,
Mozart uses a metaphor tinged with an element foreign to Siddhartha: humour.36
With that metaphor, Mozart rebuffs and implicitly dismisses as childish Mailer's
attitude towards life and his approach to music. In Der Steppenwolf, the 'music of life'
therefore reappears in a different context and is 're-orchestrated', harmonised by
means of humour. Had this evolution occurred within the frame of one work, this
would have been a suitable example of a Wagnerian leitmotif in a literary context.
Instead, it reveals Hesse's frequent employment of intertextual elements and his
dealing with similar themes throughout his works.
As noted by Field (see note 114), the idea of 'Erwachen' in Siddhartha offers a
suitable example of a theme, the restatement of which throughout the work can be
viewed in the same light as Wagner's employment of leitmotifs. In the early stages of
the novel, when Siddhartha is about to embrace the asceticism of the Samanas,
'awakening' is a state that can be reached only through self-denial and the
annihilation of all basic needs:
Ein Ziel stand vor Siddhartha, ein einziges: leer werden, leer von Durst, leer
von Wunsch, leer von Traum, leer von Freude und Leid. Von sich selbst
wegsterben, nicht mehr Ich sein. [...] Wenn alles Ich iiberwunden und
gestorben war, wenn jede Sucht und jeder Trieb im Herzen schwieg, dann
mufite das Letzte erwachen, das Innerste im Wesen, das nicht mehr Ich ist, das
grofie Geheimnis. (SW 3, 380)
the two friends meet again at the time Sinclair has enrolled at university, pointing the latter towards his and
Demian's common origin.
36 For a discussion of humour' in Hesse see Chapter 6.
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