Genre: Coming of Age, Fiction, Philosophy, Bildungsroman, Classic
Goodreads Blurb (roughly translated from German by Google Translate):
Like all of Hermann Hesse’s main works, Demian, which the then 40-year-old author wrote in the middle of the First World War, had a story that was both unusual and exciting. The fact that this book, completed in autumn 1917, was not published until June 1919, six months after the end of the war, was due to the unknown nature of the author. Hesse had recommended the manuscript to the publisher as the first work of a sick young poet, the time-critical poet Emil Sinclair, who had previously only attracted attention in newspapers and magazines through pacifist warnings and stories (which also came from Hesse). But despite the incognito, the book enjoyed a stormy reception and was awarded the Fontane Prize for the best first work by a young author in the year of publication. Thomas Mann compared the electrifying effect of the book with that of Goethe’s Werther, since it “hit the nerve of the time with uncanny accuracy and carried away a whole youth who thought they had heralded their deepest life to grateful rapture.” Until the pseudonym was discovered in May 1920, three editions were published, which were followed by 93 more under Hesse’s own name during his lifetime.
Rating: 4/5 stars
Demian by Hermann Hesse was my third read for the #readlikeRM readathon (the things I do for you, Namjoon) and I’ve been meaning to write a review but it killed so many of my brain cells, I doubt I have the ability to review anything anymore at this point. But it’s Namjoon’s birthday today and I wanted to post something from our ongoing readathon so, here are some of my jumbled up thoughts, a non-review of sorts, on the book:
The book talked about religion, belief, and growth in a very profound way as if Hesse wasn’t really writing but more conversing directly with my mind. The backdrop of the novel is such that the world must die before it is reborn into a better thing:
“The bird struggles out of the egg. The egg is the world. Who would be born must first destroy a world. The bird then flies to God. That God’s name is Abraxas.”
Emil Sinclair, the novel’s narrator, is a German teenager transitioning from the warm, safe glow of his childhood world into much scarier adulthood. He meets Max Demian, who saves him from the bully Kromer and teaches him the different views of the world. Demian is almost a doppelganger, a shadow self, in Sinclair’s Jungian struggle between the shadow and the light. Sinclair, through Demian, learns of the individuals with the “Mark of Cain.” These people are special; they can’t feel fulfilled within the normal societal context and must look elsewhere for meaning. As philosophical as the book was, Demian was quite understandable.
Entering the mind of a child on the journey to find out who he or she is, something we don’t think of normally, was very interesting because it’s so easy to forget that we all go through this phase, a time of pain or angst for many when we lose our innocence, learn new things, discover new philosophies, and struggle to find meaning. It’s also evident that the book portrays and explores bisexuality, incest, and the Oedipal complex. As with most modernist works, Demian is an absolute treasure trove of psychoanalytical theory.
Demian, with its idol-like stillness and ageless quality and androgyne appearance, is not a character but a symbol, a reference point in the narrator’s life, an archetypal hero with a thousand faces who takes by turn the role of a guardian angel, a brother, a mentor, and a friend. The author did a great job to present his character’s thinking and feelings, and even the transition from a boy to a man.
I got to know that BTS’ Blood Sweat & Tears music video was inspired by this book. In all honesty, I was lost at first after I was done reading and needed analysis videos in understanding the symbolism and imagery in those MVs, and it made the lyrics and the concept so much more impactful after reading Demian.
I have also come across many other celebrities and famous people, namely Korean actors and idols who are fond of this book, and as a kind of assimilator of the East Asian cultures, mostly the k-industry, I was obviously even more intrigued.
This tiny book, which manages to be at the same time a psychological novel, a bildungsroman, and a novel of ideas (and brilliantly so), Demian is a book about growing up, finding oneself, and one’s place and role in the society. It is certainly beautifully written, and I found it had a menacing psychological edge to it, which I did like, but I struggled to truly relate to the two central characters. It has the ability to capture your attention with an extremely captivating, interesting, and promising start only to manage to lose you somewhere in the middle and as for the ending, it’ll either leave you mesmerized or disappointed. I for one was impressed and would give it a solid 4/5 stars.
Mist Ghost 