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Hesse, Hermann (1877-1962)
Hesse, Hermann (1877-1962)
Novelist and poet, born in Calw, Germany. He was a bookseller and antiquarian in Basel (1895-1902), and published his first novel in 1904. His works include Rosshalde (1914), Siddhartha (1922), Steppenwolf (1927), and Das Glasperlenspiel (1945, The Glass Bead Game). He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1946. From 1911 he lived in Switzerland. His psycholgical and mystical concerns made him something of a cult figure after his death.
He was psychoanalyzed at one point by Carl Jung, and posthumously idolized by Ken Kesey and the merry pranksters, who felt that his Journey to the East epitomized their psychedelic quest to go "FURTHUR".
"Everywhere on earth there are people of our kind. That for a small part of them, I can be a focal point, the nodal point in the net, is the burden and the joy of my life." (private letter, 1955)
Entrance not for everybody...
...for madmen only!!!
Price of admission, your mind
Hermine is in hell, dare you save her?
"'Gentlemen, there stands before you Harry Haller, accused and found guilty of the wilful misuse of our magic theatre. Haller has not alone insulted the majesty of art in that he confounded our beautiful picture gallery with so-called reality and stabbed to death the reflection of a girl with the reflection of a knife; he has in addition displayed the intention of using our theatre as a mechanism of suicide and shown himself devoid of humour. Wherefore we condemn Haller to eternal life and we suspend for twelve hours his permit to enter our theatre. The penalty also of being laughed out court may not be remitted. Gentlemen, all together, one-two-three!'
"On the word 'three' all who were present broke into one simultaneous peal of laughter, a laughter in full chorus, a frightful laughter of the other world that is scarcely to be borne by the ears of men.
"When I came to myself again, Mozart was sitting beside me as before. He clapped me on the shoulder and said: 'You have heard your sentence. So, you see, you will have to learn to listen to more of the radio music of life. It'll do you good. You are uncommonly poor in gifts, a poor blockhead, but by degrees you will come to grasp what is required of you. You have got to learn to laugh. That will be required of you. You must apprehend the humour of life, its gallows-humour. But of course you are ready for everything in the world except what will be required of you. You are ready to stab girls to death. You are ready to be executed with all solemnity. You would be ready, no doubt, to mortify and scourge yourself for centuries together. Wouldn't you?'
"'Oh, yes, ready with all my heart,' I cried in my misery.
"'Of course! When it's a question of anything stupid and pathetic and devoid of humour or wit, you're the man, you tragedian. Well, I am not. I don't care a fig for all your romantics of atonement. You wanted to be executed and to have your head chopped off, you Berserker! For this imbecile ideal you would suffer death ten times over. You are willing to die, you coward, but not to live. The devil, but you shall live!'"
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