Hermann Hesse
Hermann Hesse was born in the city named Calw, Württemberg which is in Germany on July 2, 1877. He was brought up in the family of Pietist missionaries. He was expected to follow his Family’s Tradition. In 1891, at Maulbronn, he attended protestant seminary but expelled out from the school. He left his studies after some unhappy events at secular school. He worked as a book dealer, book shop clerk and mechanic in Tübingen.
In 1904, he became a freelance writer and published his first novel “Peter Camenzind”. His novel gained much success and he got married to Maria Bernoulli, she was a professional photographer with whom, he had three children. He was interested in Yoga, although he did not practice it but was used to its breathing techniques. Hesse said it once. Hesse also received a Nobel Prize in Literature in 1946 and Goethe Prize (Greiner).
In 1911, he visited India which gave start to his Eastern Religious studies and Siddhartha. He studied the life of Gautama Buddha; he who leaves his home in search of enlightenment ultimately finds peacefulness. His best works include Siddhartha, Steppenworld, Magister Ludi (also known as The Glass Bead Game) each of which it explores a solitary’s search for spirituality, self-knowledge and authenticity. He wrote around 50 poems and 32 reviews for Swiss. In 1912, Hesse and his family settled in Bern for eternal residence in Switzerland. In 1914, He served as a volunteer in German Army but then got rejected due to bad health. He was called a traitor by his countrymen. Hesse’s mind switched to painting and he mostly painted landscapes, mountains, houses, lakes gardens and trees. Hesse’s last major novel was The Glass Bead Game, which is a compulsory book in the schools of Germany. For six years, He had suffered from Leukemia. On August, 1962 Hesse died of Cerebral Hemorrhage at the age of 85 (Greiner).
Themes of the Novel
Hermann Hesse’s Siddhartha has a reflection of artistic and analytical history of Western Europe and Germany in the Twentieth Century during the first decades. After 1918, Europe were used as a site of experimentation and literary tumult, this revolution plucked out the peace from the Europe and the results of this disturb movement are evidenced in Siddhartha. Hesse had pledged to decline morality and traditional religion and lead a life of solitary and isolation. Siddhartha ultimately finds out that pure solitary holds the flag of unity. Siddhartha’s life reflects the life of historical Gautama Buddha and his friend Govinda accompanies in searching for peacefulness but later he decides to remain with Gautama Buddha.
Hesse portrayed Siddhartha by collecting various facts from the life of Gautama the Buddha; Buddha left his wife to find a life of solitude so as Siddhartha, Buddha meditated for several years on the riverbank under a tree, Siddhartha did the same in his final years by meditating beside a river and determines the enlightenment. Siddhartha’s concept about the world literally corresponds to Buddha’s vision. As the novelist Hermann Hesse was an admirer of peace and self-realization, he put all the ingredients in his character Siddhartha and made him the true follower of Buddha. The novel Siddhartha is the evidence of Hesse’s interest in the Eastern studies, his visit to India was quite disappointing but he describes Siddhartha “an Indian Literary work”. His mental journey towards East turns into his successful novel Siddhartha. Siddhartha turns out to be fine for both genres like Bildungromans, Erziehungsromane. The struggle of Siddhartha to find out self-realization became his forte and he seek enlightenment as just as Buddha (Hesse).
Contribution and Impact of Novel on Literature and Society
Knowledge is the key to success and knowledge is the thing one desires and strives for, this novel is based on how Siddhartha found himself lost and guided by being his own pupil. He learned ways of Buddha, he struggled for mind peacefulness; he left his house to live solitary. Siddhartha character in the modern world leads to the old culture of Eastern world, all the traditions of Hinduism and Buddhism reflect in the novel of Hesse, Siddhartha in the literary world is a piece of ancient philosophy of struggling for the real meaning of life. This enthusiastic and spiritual journey of Siddhartha led people to learn themselves, strive for knowledge, and give upon the worldly desires. Hesse’s Siddhartha is a great contribution to Literature, this analytic and intellectual piece of work nourishes the minds of the readers and it teaches them how to be an enthusiastic over your wills. Siddhartha and Buddha beliefs and wisdoms are actually can be justified when we see people practicing and following their footsteps. One can find numerous inspirations based upon the novel Siddhartha in the form of songs and films. For example, an adaption of the novel under the name Zachariah (directed by Don Johnson) in 1971 was based on the novel Siddhartha. Other than that, songs like All this time by Sting and The Ferryman by Ralph McTell have references to the novel (Butler).
Hesse’s Siddhartha shows the struggle of a young man against the society’s standards and projects the idea of sacrifice of the riches and luxuries of the material world for the spiritual well-being of a person. This is in line with the very teachings of Buddha who epitomized the concept by showing a practical way towards it. The lesson of Hesse’s accounts of the young boy Siddhartha offer a lot of wisdom to the society. It offers the concept that all the experiences of this life, even the pain and sufferings are a part of a greater scheme of things which connects everything in a euphoric fellowship of the utility cycle of the nature, just like Siddhartha’s pain of losing his son, when he went away from him, made him realize the same thing. Siddhartha’s story teaches us to be compassionate and kind towards others and not let the love of materialistic things in the way of showing compassion to the others.
Another important lesson offered by Siddhartha to the society is to be self sufficient and not rely on the others to guide your way through. As Siddhartha asks himself while walking:
"But what is this, what you have sought to learn from teachings and from teachers, and what they, who have taught you much, were still unable to teach you? It was the self, the purpose and essence of which I sought to learn. It was the self, I wanted to free myself from, which I sought to overcome. But I was not able to overcome it, could only deceive it, could only flee from it, only hide from it." (Hesse 30)
The teachings of self dependency, compassion, and remembering that pains and sufferings of this world have an affect in shaping us for who we are, are the important lessons offered to the society by Siddhartha.
References
Butler, Colin. 'Hermann Hesse's Siddhartha: Some Critical Objections'. Jstor 63.2 (1971): 117-124. Print.
Greiner, Siegfried. Hermann Hesse, Jugend In Calw. Sigmaringen: Thorbecke, 1981. Print.
Hesse, Hermann. Siddhartha. [New York]: New Directions, 1951. Print.
