DEMIAN: The Story of a Youth
Hermann Hesse
[Martino Fine Books (reprint), 224 pages]
I first read Hermann Hesse’s short novel Demian in my twenties, during a period when events in my own life seemed to actually mirror the miracle—as well as the ordeal—of Awakening that the book so lyrically and powerfully describes.
When I say that it became my “bible,” I mean that Hesse manages to convey not a “doctrine” or a creed, but rather, the actual ineffable opening of 内在生命!
This is something way, way beyond words, and for which every example is so unique that the word individuation was coined to describe it. Hesse, by his art, enables a reader to experience the process vicariously.
Dipping back in after 15 years
This week, I experienced the book for the fourth time in my life, through an Audible.com recording (one that’s on a list of books that are free to members), as part of an assignment in a course I’m taking in Applied Jungian Psychology. We were asked to each pick a book or movie that was special for us during our childhood or youth, and discuss how it might somehow express the myth that we’re living in our own life.
I had no idea how Demian might “play,” 15 years after I’d last perused it. The fact was, as I considered books and movies from my youth, I didn’t feel that 任何 of them really expressed my personal myth. I came away thinking that my awareness in those days was too scattered for me to tune in very deeply or personally to anything. But intuitively, I felt Demian might be my best choice.
I finished the book a little while ago. I feel now that it does, indeed, express the myth I’m living—the myth of Awakening that is the archetypal journey of the Soul.
Hermann Hesse was, at one point in his life, a therapy client of Dr. Carl Jung himself. Demian, while being far from formulaic in any way—every page comes 有活力的—nevertheless is the best, most vivid primer on the stages of growth and transformation Jung wrote about that I can imagine.
There is so much universality! So many priceless lines, paragraphs, pieces of dialogue and little “teaching stories” told by wisdom figures. Were I to publish an edition of the book, I might print these in bright gold letters.
A brief synopsis
But character and “story” are important, too. Hesse compellingly unfolds for us the tale of the narrator, Emil Sinclair, and his relationship with a mysterious mentor named Max Demian, who seems to come into his life quite by accident.
Sinclair—who in the first chapter of Demian, is a 10-year-old boy recently set upon by a bully whose threats of blackmail have traumatically upended his life—is rescued from that situation by Max Demian. Then, as the months and years go by, Sinclair is slowly initiated into mysteries. Demian comes and goes from his life, always showing up at opportune moments.
Other lesser mentor figures come into Sinclair’s life at times, too, as well as “natural” contributing elements such as the process of a painting Sinclair creates, which keeps changing and evoking various symbols and people as it develops.
There is a rhythm to events. Periods of revelation alternate with times during which a sense of separation and even minor forms of debauchery dominate. Then, when Sinclair is ripe, Demian appears again, or a sign of his presence shows itself. The journey is perfectly timed by what Demian calls “the One inside us who knows everything.”
Benefits for all
for Literature that Hesse was awarded
in 1946.
I see that returning to Demian for my course is turning out to be a profitable investment in my own continuing journey. In my youth, I received a great deal from the book, and yet there were so many details that I missed! It was a huge boon, this time, not only to have somewhat sharper attention, but also to be able to replay an audio passage as many times as I felt I needed to hear it.
I posted a photo on my Facebook page of the cover of the edition of the book that I first read—the one shown in the photo at the top of this article—accompanied by a note that I was exploring it yet again. Quite a few of my Baby Boomer friends commented that the book had played a large role in their development as well. A psychotherapist friend wrote that he still gives copies of Demian 到 young adult clients. Another friend wrote that he read the novel during our freshman year of college, with an informal cabal of friends, and the ambiance in the room was that of reading a sacred book.
I don’t know if this novel (or for that matter, Hesse’s other great novels) is popular with the generations that came after us Boomers. What I’m saying in this piece is: There is Treasure here! Anyone, at any age, who is serious about seeking and finding the depths of himself or herself, could do worse than to give Demian a look.
5 other great novels by Hesse
Siddhartha: A tale of seeking and finding in ancient India.
Steppenwolf: The crisis of a middle-aged man who sees himself as a “lone wolf of the steppes” until he happens finally upon a “Magic Theater.”
Narcissus and Goldmund: In medieval Europe, two souls, a monk and an artist (personifying two different types) encounter and deeply affect one another several times as the arc of their lives goes on.
The Journey to the East: A short jewel of a novel that is a kind of parable about spiritual wayfaring.
Magister Ludi 或 The Glass Bead Game: A kind of “magnum opus” for Hesse, of many parts and layers, including a long section about a kind of Gnostic meta-game.
图1： Wikimedia Commons；图2： Wikimedia Commons；图3： Wikimedia Commons
