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

Abstract
This thesis explores Hermann Hesse's relation with temporality, as both a spiritual
and historical category, and examines his pendulation between time and the timeless
as an expression of his all-pervading dialectics. The topic is approached through a
preliminary discussion of Hesse's dialectical framework (Chapter 1), followed by the
examination of five interrelated themes which have time, or the timeless, as a
common denominator. Music is the point of departure of the investigation (Chapters
2 and 3), which leads into a discussion on the temporality of memory and
metamorphosis (Chapter 4), before focusing on eternity (Chapter 5) and its links with
Hesse's 'Humor' and narrative irony (Chapter 6).
Concentrating primarily on Hesse's prose fiction, this study rests on the
assumption, discussed in the first chapter, that his novels and short stories are
characterised by a pronounced biographical imprint. The traditionally literary
background and approach of this dissertation are complemented with different
perspectives from other fields such as neuroscience (memory), linguistics (humour),
musicology and music theory. In discussing the various strands, attention has been
drawn to underlying temporal patterns that highlight an evolution in Hesse's
thought or artistry.
This work, which seeks to extend knowledge in an area of research where only
few scholars (e.g. Shaw, Karalaschwili, Moritz) have engaged directly or primarily
with the question of temporality in Hesse, underlines the coalescence of the spatial
and the temporal, the visual and the auditory in Hesse's poetics and aesthetics, and
concludes that time and the timeless interlock, as a consequence of Hesse's dialectical
framework, and as experienced by his characters in exceptional moments of
revelation.
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