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

on 'responsibility7, as emerges from Das Glasperlenspiel where, as in Sartre, it is
inextricably bound to the idea of freedom: 'wer hoher steigt und grofiere Aufgaben
bekommt, wird nicht freier, er wird nur immer veranrwortlicher' (SW 5, 74).59
A certain Existentialist attitude is discernible in works such as Siddhartha and,
above all, Der Steppenwolf, as witnessed by the studies of Lange ('Daseinproblematik' in
Hermann Hesse's Steppenwolf: An existential interpretation, 1970) and Hollis (see the
chapter 'The existential aesthete', in 'Hermann Hesse's "Steppenwolf": A study in
humour and Humor', 1973). 60 Thematically, Lange identifies elements of Der
Steppenwolf which are typical of the existentialist perspective: the
'"Daseinproblematik" the problem of "how are we to live?"' (1970, 4); the theme
of the 'outsider' (ibid.); and 'man's relatedness to man - love, friendship, [...]
communication or lack of it7 (34).
Apart from these general features, there is a further aspect that is central to
our argument. As in Sartre, despite the absurdity of existence, the idea of
commitment to life and 'this' world resounds powerfully in this novel of Hesse, as
illustrated by Hermine's reprimand to Harry for his despondency:
Dein Leben wird auch dadurch nicht flach und dumm, wenn du weifit, dafi
dein Kampf erfolglos sein wird. Es ist viel flacher, Harry, wenn du fur etwas
Gutes und Ideales kampfst und nun meinst, du miissest es auch erreichen.
Sind denn Ideale zum Erreichen da?61 (SW 4,115)
As noted above, the antithesis of reality and the ideal, which is central to
Hesse's thought and, to a considerable degree, the blueprint for all his works, is
common to Romanticism and Existentialism. On the other hand, the stress on earthly
59 The concept is restated later in the novel (see SW 5, 323) and crops up in previous novels such as Der
Steppenwolf, where Mozart links it with original sin: 'Sie [Wagner und Brahms] konnen auch nichts dafur, daft
Adam den Apfel gefressen hat, und miissen es doch biiBen. [...] Das Leben ist immer furchtbar. Wir konnen
nichts dafur und sind doch verantwortlich' (SW 4, 193). In the context of Steppenwolf, Lange notes that 'Hesse,
like Sartre, underscores the need to take responsibility for one's own "Dasein", in contrast with the
irresponsibility of the Mass' (1970, 56).
60 Commenting on Siddhartha's quest for belonging ('Er aber, Siddhartha, wo war er zugehorigT'; SW 3, 399,
my emphasis), Moritz notes: 'Es handelt sich also um eine besondere, existentielle Einsamkeit' (306). Similarly,
Haller appears extraneous and lonely to the bougeois narrator: ' Unzugehorig, einsam und fremd saB er, mil
einem kiihlen, aber sorgenvollen Gesicht vor sich nieder blickend' (SW 4, 20, my emphasis). Tellingly, Lange
describes '[mjetaphysical alienation - the estrangement of the individual from the Universe and from meaning'
as 'basic to all existentialist thought' (1970, 60).
61 'Man's situation, as Sartre sees it, is absurd and tragic; but does that rule out integrity, nobility, or valor, or the
utmost effort?' (Kaufmann, 47).
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