Authors: Eamon Kiernan (EK) Joshua McKenzie (JMcK) Peter Ceteli (PC). Copyright is asserted by the authors for their work.
After 1965, when a new English translation was published, Hermann Hesse’s ‘Demian’, together with ‘Siddartha’ and ‘Der Steppenwolf’, came to be associated with America’s burgeoning counterculture. There followed a surge of interest in Hesse which lasted well into the 1970s. In exploring this phenomenon, the Christian notion of ‘conscience’ is of great help.
Read MoreWhen Hesse’s ‘Demian’ comes to an end, European civilization has become a wasteland. A bird-of-prey circles on the edge of the reader’s mind. This is the Gnostic deity, Abraxas, who is looking for another Emil Sinclair foolish enough to give him bodily form. In the following, an attempt is made to examine the significance Hesse ascribes to Abraxas in his novel.
Read MoreAbraxas, the presiding deity of ‘Demian’, is not an invention of Hermann Hesse. Well known to antiquarians and students of Gnosticism, the name ‘Abraxas’ or ‘Abrasax’ can be found on decorated stones dating from the early Christian era which were used for magical purposes
Read MoreIn Demian, Hermann Hesse draws on a wide range of cultural allusions. One of the most recognizable is the figure of Beatrice, the heavenly beloved familiar from the works of Dante Alighieri. Less recognisable, because carefully hidden, is what Hesse, through his protagonist, makes of the beloved. Strange as it may seem, Emil Sinclair’s quest for himself, which is the theme and purpose of the novel, requires her murder.
Read MoreThe Swiss psychiatrist, Carl Gustav Jung, straddled an uneasy divide between science and mysticism. One of his most enigmatic texts carries the title ‘Septem Sermones ad Mortuos and Basilides’ (Seven Sermons to the Dead and Basilides). Jungians see in ‘Septem Sermones’ the prefiguration of all of the master’s later work. What strikes me most of all is its nihilism.
Read MoreGermany in the first half of 1919. Disgruntled soldiers trudge home from a war they cannot believe they have lost. The Kaiser is in exile. The reigning noble houses have vanished, swept into history by the so-called November Revolution. Coups d’etat are in open preparation. Violence is everywhere. In this volatile climate, Hermann Hesse’s ‘Demian’ found its first readers.
Read MoreFive hundred years ago, the German reformer, Martin Luther, confronted the awesome power of the Roman Church, and discovered that he was free. Not only that, he discovered that every Christian is free, because freedom is what is taught by the Gospel of Jesus Christ. His argument is presented in the Tract, ‘On the Freedom of a Christian’. The following is an attempt by an interested non-specialist, myself, to read this work and consider some of its meaning.
Read MoreThe disgraced Australian Cardinal, George Pell, may yet be rehabilitated. Now that the High Court of Australia has quashed his conviction for the sexual abuse of boys, he has returned to the Vatican. Whether a senior role will once more be assigned to him is not yet clear.
Read More“I wanted only to live the life that was struggling by itself to come out of me. Why was this so very hard?” Thus reads the motto prepended to Hermann Hesse’s coming-of-age novel, ‘Demian’, which was first published in 1919. More a cry than a question, these fervent words must have established for Hesse the central issue of the story. In fact, living that life wasn’t so very hard, at all.
Read MoreFr. Maurice Bellière was adopted by Saint Thérèse of Lisieux as her ‘little brother.’ She told him that she would return after her death to help him with his missionary vocation. Fr. Bellière ended up a dismal failure. In exploring his story, I ask whether Saint Thérèse kept her promises.
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