Demian

The title of this article is ambiguous. Further meanings are listed under Demian (disambiguation) .

Demian. The story of a youth is a story by Hermann Hesse , which, as a supposed autobiography, tells the youth and life story of the protagonist Emil Sinclair from his perspective. Hesse published the novel in 1919 under this pseudonym , which he had first used in 1917 for a political essay. Hesse chose "Sinclair" in reference to Isaac von Sinclair . His friendship with Friedrich Hölderlin can be seen as a model for the novel, in which the relationship between Emil Sinclair and the eponymous Max Demian is described.

First edition 1919

Started

“ Some people never become human, stay a frog, stay a lizard, stay an ant. Some are human above and fish below. But everyone is a throw of nature towards man. And the origins are common to all, the mothers, we all come from the same mouth; but each strives, an attempt and throw from the depths, to his own goal. We can understand each other; but everyone can only interpret himself . "

content

Hesse's story Demian depicts Emil Sinclair's childhood and youth from the perspective of the main character. The protagonist's development from a ten-year-old child to a mature, self-reflective adult is presented in stages . With every stage he gains self-confidence and his own character, with every step Sinclair finds more to himself. At the same time, however, the novel contains a radical criticism of the dualistic Christian morality and dogmatics with the aim of creating a different, bipolar and non-patriarchal culture. The symbol of this cultural change is the great Eve mother, from whom a new humanity will ultimately emerge.

Two worlds

In his earliest childhood, Sinclair senses the existence of two worlds in his life: One is the warm, light, secure, clean and dear father and mother world. Opposite it stands the other, the forbidden, dark, evil, generally opposite world; Sinclair makes the latter all the more exciting and tempting. With the invention of a little heroic story, he comes under the bondage of the extortionate Franz Kromer, who threatens to denounce him for the untrue but untrue robber story conjured up by Sinclair. At first he asked the naive Emil to keep silent. But when he can't muster it - Sinclair doesn't get any pocket money - Kromer lets him do other humiliating things. The young Sinclair feels more and more drawn into the dark world because he steals money at home and does not dare to confess the truth to his parents. In the coming weeks he will be plagued by nightmares and anxiety, and he is increasingly closed to his parents. He is fearful of the destruction of his intact, intact world.

Cain and Der Schaecher

Finally Max Demian comes to his school. This arouses the interest of many classmates and also gives Sinclair the impression of being very intelligent and grown up. During a walk, Demian tells him his own interpretation of the story of Cain and Abel , according to which the Cain's mark is not an openly visible, i.e. physical, mark of his guilt, but a sign of superiority and strength of character. When the two of them meet for a second time, Demian suggests trying out the art of “ mind reading ” on Sinclair. He sees through that Sinclair is suffering from Kromer's power. When Sinclair's problems suddenly vanish with Demian's help, Sinclair falls into euphoria. But he is unable to feel gratitude towards Demian. Instead, Sinclair withdraws back into the ideal world of his parents' home and distances himself from Demian.

Having reached puberty, Sinclair feels urges germinate, which he traces back to the dark world. He finally realizes that these are also in him and that he cannot simply forget or suppress them. In confirmation class, Sinclair meets Demian again. The two get closer again and a friendship develops. Sinclair increasingly sees Demian as a soul brother. Among other things, this shows him how people can be controlled by their own strong will. Above all, however, Demian influenced him with his views that were critical of religion and the church. He welcomes the downfall of morally rotten European culture and sees himself and his friend as role models for a different way of life. He considers the biblical God to be imperfect, since he only represents the good half, while the other half is ascribed to the devil. In this view, Sinclair recognizes his own contradiction between the two worlds and realizes that this is not a personal, but a culturally determined conflict. Demian also explains that the thoughts of the other half must also be lived. Everyone has to decide for themselves what is allowed and what is forbidden, since rules as well as social conventions change over time and prohibitions only apply in their respective period of time. Shortly before the confirmation, Demian seems to distance himself from Sinclair. Emil sees Max in a state of meditation for the first time.

Beatrice

At the age of 16, Sinclair went to boarding school. Far from Demian, his mental problems are increasing again. He becomes a drinker through Alfons Beck, the oldest of his pension, and experiences his first excessive alcohol, so that over time he becomes known as a famous bar-goer and shows an increasingly self-destructive behavior. Meanwhile, there is an ambivalent emotional chaos in his core: While he sees himself slipped to the devil and the dark world, Sinclair longs for a new love and for his friend Demian. Sinclair also appears to other people as a mental wreck, especially his parents, who hardly recognize him when they visit. His inner conflict begins to resolve when he meets a young woman whom he secretly adores. He calls her Beatrice , based on an English painting which he always carries with him and which shows Dante's childhood sweetheart Beatrice Portinari . He transfigured it into a sanctuary and suddenly turned his back on the evil world. Sometimes living entirely in a dream world, he begins to make drawings of his Beatrice. In these he recognizes features and facial features of Demian and later also of himself. Through an inner connection with the images he develops a new ideal that guides him. Finally he draws the dream image of a bird emerging from a globe and sends it to Demian.

The bird fights its way out of the egg and Jacob's fight

Soon afterwards, Sinclair found a small piece of paper in his portfolio with Demian's words on it: “The bird is fighting its way out of the egg. The egg is the world. Whoever wants to be born has to destroy a world. The bird flies to God. The god is called Abraxas . ” In the next lesson, Sinclair learns that Abraxas is the name of a deity who unites the divine and the diabolical. His interest in this mysterious god figure is instantly aroused. After an unsuccessful search in the library, Emil, guided by his request, arrives at an organist named Pistorius. He tells Sinclair on the one hand about Abraxas as the end of the two opposing worlds, on the other hand about the "great possession of humanity" that every person carries with him. Everything that has ever lived in a human soul is also in every single individual. Whoever is aware of this is actually human. Pistorius encourages Sinclair to rely more on his own voice than on the opinion of others. As a theologian, he too has doubts about the Christian faith and refers to the deity Abraxas.

Meanwhile, his charisma attracts the spiritually seeking classmate Knauer, who tries to learn from him. Sinclair succeeds, being drawn to the scene of the accident by an inner power, in preventing Knauer's suicide. Emil separates from his guide Pistorius after he involuntarily criticizes and injures him. As he repentantly reflects on this process, he realizes that it is important for awakened people to follow the path of one's own by listening to oneself. For everyone there is a separate "office" that fate assigns to them and which everyone must pursue.

Mrs. Eva and the beginning of the end

When Sinclair finally goes to university, he meets Demian again - guided by his inner desire. He now looks at the pub goers from a completely different perspective and no longer feels a part of this world. After a visit to Demian's mother, called "Frau Eva " by her confidants , Sinclair realizes that she of all people is hiding behind the often drawn dream face. It becomes his new model, is for him demon and mother, fate and lover, beautiful and tempting, and gives him the strength to be able to trust himself without fear and uncertainty. Ms. Eva, Sinclair and Demian will form a close, harmonious community in the coming months, who feel connected by the sign of Cain. Together they are preparing for the collapse and rebirth of Europe, which they feel and consider necessary. Frau Eva senses Sinclair's love for her and explains to him that she does not want to give herself away to him, but wants to be won by him, because his love pulls her strong enough. But he thinks about it too late. When Sinclair finally summarizes his whole consciousness in order to draw the beloved to him, she can no longer follow, because now the turning point begins: The world seems to collapse, the First World War has broken out. The friends separate from each other and follow their fate; they have to go to war. During an explosion that seriously injures him, Sinclair has the vision of Mrs. Eva as a powerful mother goddess who takes in humanity in order to give birth again. Sinclair is also a newborn now. As a sign of this, he receives the kiss of Frau Eva from Demian. The next day Demian disappeared; Sinclair doesn't need him anymore. He now finds his friend in himself, has become one with him.

interpretation

construction

The book is divided into a foreword and eight chapters , each with a title. The function of the preface is to suggest the person Emil Sinclair to the reader as a real, existing one. In addition, it is stated that Demian is an autobiography , apart from any poetic fiction. Even here it becomes clear that the novel is told from the first-person perspective, which anticipates the central position of the concept of indivium in the work. Furthermore, the reader is asked to learn from the story of Emil Sinclair how to find his way and his destiny and implement it despite difficulties.

In addition to this formal structure of the work, it can be seen that the narrative takes place on two parallel levels of action: While one is limited to external events, the other depicts Sinclair's emotions and psychological development. The outer, overall linear and chronological storyline describes the storyline of the narrator, whereas the inner thread describes the permanent conflict between Sinclair's self and his environment, the clash of two values ​​(namely Demian's and his parents') and ultimately Sinclair's inner growth. In terms of content and quantity, it can be determined that the inner area of ​​experience is treated preferentially: Sinclair's family members have no names, external scenes and location information are briefly outlined or interchangeable, the time information remains vague and thus leads to a certain timelessness of the narrative. Instead, the central event takes place in Sinclair's psyche. Its changes are apparently reactions to external impulses; In fact, the impulses arise from the forces within, which to pursue causes an external action to arise. Sinclair himself puts his motto in front of the opening credits: "I didn't want to try anything but what I wanted out of my own accord." Hesse's narrative style keeps both storylines intertwined, but can be viewed both as an external life story and an internal process . This corresponds to Hesse's point of view, which he formulates in his writing Inside and Outside as follows: "Nothing is outside, nothing is inside, because what is outside is inside."

Features of a development novel and a cultural analysis

The form of the novel can be described as typical of the development novel . The first characteristic of a work, also known as the Bildungsroman , is the often three-part structure. So can Demian divided into the following three stages of life: the first involves the confrontation with evil, implemented by the acquaintance with Kromer. The second involves leaving the parental home and thus the environment of the first world; Sinclair first thinks about the meaning of life and begins the intensive search for himself. The last and third stages of life include the encounter with Demian's mother and the coming change through the First World War.

At the same time, the novel contains an extremely critical cultural analysis and the draft of a non-dualistic alternative. Sinclair reaches maturity by absorbing the new worldview embodied in Demian and in the mother figure of Frau Eva. Devotion to the supra-personal cultural ideal also solves his personal problems.

A final feature are retrospectives and references in the text to earlier stages of development. They give the text a formal structure and help the reader to recognize the various levels and to reflect on them. The following text example illustrates that Sinclair can feel the second, repressed world catching up with him again:

“The important thing was: the dark world, the other world was there again. What had once been Franz Kromer was now in me. And so the other world regained power over me from outside. "

Psychoanalytic interpretation

Hesse's primary intention is to describe Emil Sinclair's inner development as precisely as possible. Accordingly, he tries not to incorporate any larger action or tension-promoting elements; everything that happens comes from Sinclair himself. Often the action takes a back seat to the psychological consideration. If you want to go further with the interpretation, all situations that occur in the book can be traced back to Emil alone. For example, the encounter with Franz Kromer is a general confrontation with the evil that exists in Emil and immediately overwhelms him. On the other hand, Demian is Sinclair's savior, the omniscient adult and mature guy who helps Sinclair deal with his problems several times. Although Demian is portrayed as a real person in the novel, he can also be seen as an integral part of Sinclair. The following passage: “That was Demian's view. Or it was the one inside of me. The one who knows everything. "

Individuation as a key concept

Central to the work is the aspired and over time increasing individuation of the protagonist with the aim of getting closer and closer to himself and becoming an independent individual. Hesse described this as the main motif of the novel: “Demian is about a very specific task and need of youth, which of course does not end with youth, but which concerns them most. It is the struggle for individualization, for the emergence of a personality. ”In Demian, this individuation appears as the steady growth of one's own personality, which is the only, often difficult, path to a higher, more valuable life. The great enemy of this process is convention, indolence and escaping into society. "With this work, Hesse emphasizes how much more sensible it is to fight with all devils and demons than to accept the god of conventions."

References to Jung

CG Jung in a graphic from 1912

If one compares Hesse's Demian with the psychology of Carl Gustav Jung , some similarities can be determined, which are mainly due to Hesse's contact with Jungianism during his psychotherapy with the Jung student and later friend Joseph Bernhard Lang . The parallels to Jung's interpretation of dreams and the theory of the individuation process are initially striking : When analyzing a dream, events recognized by the dreamer as significant details are taken up and the nuances of meaning understood by him are stated as the meaning of the dream. If you then look at a series of dreams, it becomes clear that the individual dreams are in a common relationship, are heading together towards a goal and thus represent a development process or, according to Jung, an individuation process. Sinclair now dreams that Demian orders him to eat the house crest, whereupon the heraldic bird eats him from the inside. The decisive detail that Sinclair sends to Demian in the form of a picture, namely as a sparrowhawk stuck in a globe, is interpreted by Demian using the bird-egg-world comparison. This symbol is also associated with Frau Eva in the further course of the dream and expanded through conversations with Pistorius, later with Frau Eva herself, and finally even raised to the point of fate. Analogous to Jung, this symbolizes the process of self-development.

Another aspect includes the collective unconscious and the archetypes within it . Jung describes the archetypes, states and mythologems that exist in every human being in every culture at all times . This collective unconscious is differentiated from the personal unconscious, which is different in each person, and is also at a certain distance from consciousness , so that these archetypes come to light primarily in meaningful and particularly extraordinary dreams. Hesse refers to this when he lets Pistorius explain to Sinclair: “We draw the boundaries of our personality far too narrow! We always only count in our person what we recognize as individually differentiated, as different. But we consist of the whole of the world, each of us, and just as our body bears the family tables of development up to the fish and much further back, so we have in the soul everything that has ever lived in human souls. "

Ultimately, according to Jung, the whole person comes to fruition as soon as the respective person no longer moves away from the collective unconscious as usual, but instead gradually and gradually integrates it into consciousness, i.e., in short, the concept of personality is expanded. This happens again and again through individual moments in which the generally applicable laws of human fate break through the intentions, expectations and views of personal consciousness , and which finally bring about a constant correction and compensation on the part of the general human being in us . Such moments, which sometimes bring Sinclair into inner distress, can be found e.g. B. in his dreams of parricide, the sparrowhawk and Abraxas, or express themselves in his various self-painted pictures that seem to flow from his unconscious. In addition, Pistorius explicitly refers to the importance of being clear about your unconscious: “It makes a big difference whether you just carry the world within you or whether you also know it! […] [Everyone] is a tree or a stone, at best an animal, as long as they don't know it. But then, when the first spark of this knowledge dawns, then he becomes human. Surely you will not take all the two-legged people walking on the street for people just because they walk upright and carry their cubs for nine months? "

Demian as a drive for individuation

Demian is a perfect individual right from the start , having united his consciousness with the unconscious. According to Freud , he would be referred to as an I-strong person. He is the great role model of Sinclair and at first appears to be called when he gets stuck with his thoughts. In between, this pioneering function is taken over by Pistorius. The initially childish and ill-considered young Sinclair goes through a series of levels of reflection until he can finally break away from Demian or unite with him and see himself as his own guide. This agreement with Demian is also shown by the conclusion of the book:

“But when I sometimes find the key and step down into myself, there where the images of fate slumber in the dark mirror, then I only need to lean over the black mirror and see my own image, which is now completely like him, him, mine Friend and guide. "

Autobiographical traits

In Demian , Hesse processes various, selectively selected experiences from his youth, 1887–1897, as well as from the time of the World War, and processes them anew , particularly with the aid of psychoanalysis . The course of Sinclair's youth shows many similarities with that of his author: Both have a strict father and a gentle mother, an older and a younger sister. Hermann Hesse was often described as sensitive and irrepressible, and that is exactly how young Emil's character is. Both felt that the sheltered childhood world was being displaced by the “dark world”. The early years of the novel can be compared to Hesse growing up in Calw ; the figure of Franz Kromer can presumably be traced back to a brutal representative of his acquaintance there. Hesse's time on the Cannstatter school is reflected in the novel: They also will attend the high school years Sinclair in St . Emil lives exactly like Hesse with his teacher, both feel a deep inner abandonment here, both begin - prompted by an acquaintance - to drink and develop into a pub-goer with bad manners. Other analogies are Hesse's thoughts of suicide, stealing from his parents for money, the deep rift with his father and his threat to send him to a reformatory. Emil's love for Beatrice is reminiscent of Hesse's relationship with Eugenie Kolb; Sinclair's living conditions during his student days at the University of H. are similar to those of Hesse at the Tübingen Academy. The conversations with Pistorius can also be linked to the treatment of Hesse with his Lucerne psychotherapist Lang. Just like his “prototype”, Pistorius has a great interest in mythology, Abraxas and ancient scripts.

The model for Demian in the second part is the Transylvanian painter, poet and cultural philosopher Gusto Gräser (1879–1958), who had been his friend and teacher in Ascona as early as 1907. After his mental breakdown in 1916, Hesse took refuge with him on Monte Verità . The conscientious objector Gräser, who had just escaped being shot, was able to provide moral support to the politically attacked person. At the beginning of September, after years of estrangement, they meet in the house of the grass friend Albine Neugeboren in Locarno-Monti. This marked the beginning of Hesse's “most burning epoch”, the time of his great change. The former volunteer turns into a determined opponent and defender of the objectors. He feels accepted into the covenant and order of "those with the mark". When Hesse said goodbye to his rediscovered friend after a three-week stay, he asked for one of his drawings, which Gräser sent him on September 26, 1916: the image of the sparrowhawk, which would then become a symbol of the Demian novel. Demian and Sinclair live in a circle of plant eaters, theosophists, Tolstoians and “caretakers of Indian exercises”, who are easy to recognize as the inhabitants of Monte Verità. At that time, Hesse briefly fell in love with his 24-year-old hostess in Monti, Hilde Neugeboren, a member of the abstinent wandering bird. She becomes Beatrice of the novel. Another figure in the novel, the theosophist Knauer, goes back to the painter, poet and musician Gustav Gamper , who was stationed as a soldier in Locarno and who became Hesse's drawing teacher. Gamper was an avid supporter of the theosophists and anthroposophists of Monte Verità. The young philosopher Ernst Bloch can also be recognized as a marginal figure , who provides the friars with books on the history of religion and who is of the opinion that religions are ideal images in which mankind anticipates its future possibilities. Bloch lived, as did Hesse for a time, in the Neugeboren house in Monti in 1917, where he finished his first work, Geist der Utopie . Even a Chinese is mentioned in the novel, a circus performer who was planning a world tour in Ascona at the time. Not to be forgotten is the main female character of the novel, Mrs. Eva, an afterimage of Gräser's partner Elisabeth Dörr. The young-at-heart mother of eight children must have appeared to the emotionally and sexually starved writer like a happy Madonna. She is elevated to the great Eve mother, from whom the young generation of a new humanity emerges.

In the spring of 1917 Hesse wrote the poem Bei Arcegno , in which he remembers his hermitage from 1907 in the forest of Arcegno, the "Eremitensteig" in his "holy land", which he has called his "Thebaĩs desert" since then: a place the contemplation. Then in June, after a visit to Monte Verità, he painted the watercolor temple-cave , which shows him and his friend dancing around a fire altar in the rock grotto. Hesse collected donations for Gusto Gräser after he was expelled from Zurich and Bern and financed his leaflets. He tried to break with his home, job and family, and was released from his hated service at the German embassy. But there was no leap from bourgeoisie. Instead, Hesse wrote a novel about his experiences with his friend, Demian .

It was fortunate that at the same time he came into contact with CG Jung (Dr. Follen in the novel) and received treatment from his student Josef Bernhard Lang (in the novel Pistorius). For Jung had long been infected by the anti-patriarchal ideas of Monte Verità, through his colleague and patient, the psychiatrist Otto Gross from Graz. Jung was thus able to provide a theoretical interpretation of what Hesse had experienced on and with grasses in a lively exchange. The main part of the second half of the novel thus depicts Hesse's experiences and conversations in Ascona from 1916 and 1917, the final image symbolizes Gräser's struggle for a new, non-patriarchal, maternal culture.

The fact that Demian in the novel is portrayed as a German officer and participant in the war certainly meant that Hesse had betrayed his own convictions and those of Gräser's. Hence the author's persistent insistence on his pseudonym. The alias Emil Sinclair indicates, however, that he, like Isaak Sinclair once, saw himself as a friend and protector of a poor "Holderlin". He continued to receive grasses in his house and expressed his appreciation for poems by his friend in letters to him in the autumn of 1918. Gräser's Tao poem, sent to Bern in January 1919, was comprehensively implemented in his own words in Zarathustra's return . He avoided making a public commitment to his friend because it would have destroyed his civil and literary existence.

With all these comparisons it must be noted that Hesse's figures are similar to their true role models in some aspects, but do not correspond to them. On the contrary, Hesse reversed some of the characteristics: For example, Lang was a lifelong friend of the author and, contrary to Pistorius, a Catholic. The bottom line is that in Demian a mythization of Hesse's earlier and closer life experiences can be ascertained, which is additionally colored by a close occupation with psychoanalysis.

Language and rhetorical stylistic devices

What is striking about Demian's sentence structure is the general accumulation of parataxes , which on the one hand are intended to ensure quick, logical comprehensibility, and on the other originate from Sinclair's narrative style, which seems to be similar to his flow of speech. For example, after Emil's reception of Demian's message, it says: After reading these lines several times, I sank into deep reflection. There was no doubt about it, it was Demian's answer. Nobody could know about the bird but him and me. He got my picture. He understood and helped me interpret. Often excursions are inserted or time leaps are inserted. They, too, illustrate Sinclair's leaps in thought.

Antithesis

The opposite ( antithesis ) is an important leitmotif . This begins with the introduction of the two worlds and is often found as a rhetorical figure . A text example:

"She was both, both and much more, she was the image of an angel and Satan, man and woman in one, man and animal, highest good and extreme evil."

Listings / repetitions

In contrast to the antithesis, words with a similar meaning are often strung together. This reinforces the impression on the reader. A text example for this:

"This world included mild shine, clarity and cleanliness, there were gentle, friendly speeches, washed hands, clean clothes, good morals at home."

Symbols and motifs

Heraldic bird

The image of the heraldic bird, namely a sparrow , is mentioned for the first time by Demian and is carved in stone on Sinclair's parents' house. Emil later draws the heraldic bird based on what happened in his dreams and sends a painting to Demian. In the course of the action, this becomes a dream bird for Sinclair and stands as a leitmotif symbol for protection and knowledge. Ultimately, it becomes the image of a heraldic bird fighting its way out of its egg, symbolizing Sinclair's development: Emil also has to break the protective shells that are around him in order to pursue his destiny.

Sign of cain

The biblical sign of Cain appears several times in the work and stands as a symbol for a high degree of individuation. Furthermore, it signifies the path to maturity that can only be tread when accompanied by sin and guilt . With reference to the story of Cain and Abel, the following text passage is explanatory: "We are drawn for this - as Cain was drawn to arouse fear and hatred and to drive mankind from a narrow idyll into dangerous expanses." The background is very probably the pentagram that Gusto Gräser puts on all his letters and poems as his house sign. Hesse calls it a sign of Cain because he feels politically and socially stigmatized by his friendship with grasses, and even more by his will to overthrow religious and cultural. In the end, the motif can be found in the real world. The awakening ones who bear the mark and worship Abraxas have ideas and visions that aim to shake and renew the world. Hesse hopes that these will become a reality with the demise of the existing society.

The reading hero

His portrayal as a reader is characteristic of Sinclair's development. For example, at a hinge point in the story - apparently en passant - the reference to the reading of Nietzsche books is encountered : "[...] I had my whole day to myself, lived quietly and beautifully in the old walls in front of the city and had it on my table a few volumes of Nietzsche are lying " . In fact, it is a topical motif in German literary history that has a function that indicates the path of development of the protagonist.

Literary borrowings

Like many other writers, Hesse had a large reading workload and it is obvious that similarities with other authors can also be found in Hesse's work. Jahnke points to numerous parallels and modifications to Friedrich Hölderlin , various representatives of Romanticism such as Wilhelm Heinrich Wackenroder , Novalis and Joseph von Eichendorff , as well as to Gottfried Keller and Walter Flex . For example, Wackenroder's depiction of the creative process of the Italian painter Raffael in the pouring out of the heart of an art-loving monastery brother , which Hesse knew and reviewed, is similar to Sinclair's attempts to draw the picture of Beatrice. The same applies to Wackenroder's descriptions of Joseph Berglinger and the encounter between Sinclair and Pistorius. Hesse's picture of the mother goddess giving birth to humanity at the end of the novel goes back to the sun woman in the Revelation of John .

Holderlin

Probably the most obvious is the reference to Hölderlin, who was very much appreciated by Hesse, which can already be seen in the choice of the pseudonym Emil Sinclair: Isaac von Sinclair and Hölderlin were linked by a deep friendship, which can be seen in the poem An Eduard . There Holderlin describes his submissive relationship, characterized by loyalty to the end , whose perfection he sees in the death of a soldier on the battlefield. Both can also be found in Demian. Emil Sinclair is so dependent on Demian that he later even calls him a leader and goes to war with him towards the end of the novel. The loyalty beyond death is indicated on the last pages in Demian's statement that if Sinclair ever needed him again, he had to listen to himself. The way in which Sinclair and even more Demian see the impending war, namely as a kind of upheaval in the world, corresponds to the historical Isaac von Sinclair, who strongly advocated the French Revolution at the time . In both writings, the thunderstorm metaphor is taken up as a sign of the approaching upheaval. What is remarkable, however, is the reversal of the person constellation in Hesse's novel: Hölderlin becomes Emil Sinclair, and Isaac von Sinclair becomes Demian.

basement, cellar

Jahnke also points out some references to Keller. This applies in particular to the sonnet Vier Jugendfreunde. IV. , Which serves as a model for a scene in which Sinclair completes his picture of Beatrice and remembers Demian again after many years. The parallels to Keller's novel The Green Heinrich are even clearer . The rift with the parental home, its course and end are clearly similar in both stories. Comparable positions can be found e.g. B. Sinclair's approach to confirmation classes and religion in general. The spider web motif as a symbol of reflection on what is thought and experienced is also represented in both novels.

Position on the First World War

Hesse's relationship to the First World War can definitely be described as ambivalent. Although he abhorred all atrocities of war, criticized the exaggerated nationalism of both parties and called for peace, he nevertheless considered wars to be an inevitable fate, the possibility of renewal for a declining society. It was precisely this “change in atmosphere” and the shock in the “normal life of the herd people” that Hesse appreciated about the war, which made many returnees want a better way of life.

Accordingly, Sinclair and Demian deal with the subject of war in a calm manner. They see it as their given fate, which must be given in to create something new. Shortly before the end of the novel, Sinclair realizes: “In the depths something was becoming. Something like a new humanity. […] The primal feelings, even the wildest ones, were not aimed at the enemy, their bloody work was only emanation from within, the split soul, which wanted to race and kill, destroy and die in order to be able to be reborn. "And in Based on the bird motif, Emil draws his conclusion: "A giant bird fought its way out of the egg, and the egg was the world, and the world had to go into ruins."

History of origin

Hermann Hesse in 1925

The emergence of Demian must also be understood with regard to Hesse's life crisis during the First World War: Hesse was psychologically injured by the polemic attacks in the press, which was very dissatisfied with his statements about the war. His exhaustive work in POW welfare from 1915 and the death of his father in March 1916 bothered him just as much as the physical suffering that he had been feeling again since the beginning of the same year. After a nervous crisis, Hesse underwent psychotherapy from May 1916 , which lasted until November 1917. During this time, Hesse came into contact with psychoanalysis through his therapist Joseph Bernhard Lang , a colleague and student of Carl Gustav Jung , who left a lasting impression on him and stimulated an internal reorientation.

In the months of September and October 1917, Hesse wrote down the Demian. In the same autumn he contacted the publisher Samuel Fischer . In his letter, Hesse claimed that Demian was the work of a terminally ill young author who wanted to remain anonymous and therefore called "Emil Sinclair". After the novel was liked by the editor Oskar Loerke , Fischer accepted. In 1919 a preprint appeared in the Neue Rundschau , soon afterwards also an edition as a printed book. Later that year, Hesse won the Fontane Prize on behalf of Sinclair for his impressive first work.

In mid-1920 Otto Flake and Eduard Korrodi identified Hesse as the author of Demian in articles based on style analyzes . (Flake's wife Toni Flake had already recognized Hesse earlier and was friends with Hedwig Fischer, the wife of Hesse's publisher Samuel Fischer, who asked Hesse several times to trust Toni Flake with his secret; it is unknown whether she did it against his will. ) In June Korrodi asked him in the Neue Zürcher Zeitung to confess himself to it. After Hesse had already privately told some of his friends about it, including his publisher Fischer and his therapist Lang, he made his authorship public in July 1920 in the magazine Vivos voco and returned the Fontane Prize. As a result, the fourth edition (17th to 26th thousand) of the novel also appeared under a different title.

Hesse had already used the pseudonym "Emil Sinclair" during the First World War for some of his critical articles. In 1918 his sketch Eigensinn appeared under the same name. Hesse generally justified the renewed use of the pseudonym with the fact that the younger generation would hardly have taken the stories of an "old uncle" (then forty years old) seriously and ignored them. Another reason for him was his own artistic upheaval: “The role of the popular entertainment writer that I got into, God knows how, is certainly the last one that suits me. My attempt with Demian to evade this stupid role and to remain unknown has failed. ”He also confesses to his therapist Lang:“ I would like to publish each new work under a new pseudonym. I'm not Hesse, I was Sinclair, was Klingsor, was Klein, etc. and I will be some more. "

Regarding his choice of the name for the title character, Hesse wrote in a letter: “The name Demian was not invented or chosen by me, but I met him in a dream, and he spoke to me so strongly that I put it on the title of my book . "

reception

Lulu von Strauss and Torney, a reviewer for Demian

As with Hesse in general, the history of the reception of Demian was wave-like, and is primarily related to the swelling and waning of times of crisis. Its appearance coincides with the time when young people - just again, sometimes traumatized, returned from the war - were looking for orientation and meaning in life. In 1922 Lulu von Strauss and Torney described the psychological situation of the adolescents, which is characterized by deep disagreement with themselves, in a newspaper article as follows:

“Was it a miracle that the severe shock of the war experience destroyed the last rooted conditions in these souls, who had already wavered, and initially created complete chaos? Not only was one's own being shaken to the core and questionable, both externally and internally, but also the entire existence of society, the supporting culture itself. […] And in the end these young people also only saw clearly what they did not want: the deep inner mendacity, this old, doomed social culture [...] that says yes and does no, that does not have the courage to be itself.
This yes and no, which a traditional usage of language and thought calls good and bad, admittedly the youth carried within themselves and painfully felt their conflict. [...] And she dreamed of redeeming the yes and no in herself to a final daring and holy unity [...] She dreamed of this unity, this self-justification of full humanity, but she couldn't find the word for it. She pounded her head with problems, she pounded and talked to life before she began to live it. And so she too, this youth of unconditional demand, fell into an inactive sterility, came to a dead end [...] "

- Lulu von Strauss and Torney : Hermann Hesse in: The act . Monthly magazine for the future of German literature 14 (1922) H.9.

Thomas Mann, a friend of Hesse, was enthusiastic about Demian

This identity problem has largely been aired for many readers by Demian . Accordingly, the number of copies sold was high and the response downright frenetic. Among other things, the critics of the time praised the deep psychological knowledge of human nature and the intimate empathy, especially that of the main character of Sinclair. Thomas Mann , who was very enthusiastic soon after the Demian came out , summed up in the foreword to the American edition in 1948:

“Unforgettable is the electrifying effect which the“ Demian ”of a certain mysterious Sinclair produced immediately after the First World War, a poem that hit the nerve of the time with uncanny accuracy and a whole youth who thought that they were heralds from among them of her deepest life (while it was already a forty-two year old who gave her what she needed), carried away to grateful delight. "

- Thomas Mann

During the Second World War Demian belonged to the literature frowned upon in the Third Reich . In 1942 the Reich Ministry for Public Enlightenment and Propaganda imposed a ban on publishing Hesse's books on Fischer Verlag. In post-war Germany there was another boom in Hesse - among other things through the 1946 Nobel Prize for Literature , but also through the renewed self-search of desolate war returnees. However, this renewed period of success only lasted for a short time; With the time of the economic miracle , self-doubts were increasingly suppressed and Hesse devalued as a kitschy "author of the individual fuss". In 1950 , Gottfried Benn described Hesse as an “average novelist of development, marriage and inwardness”, while Karlheinz Deschner called his works “sugary-romantic, silly-sensitive, close to the shred of pangs”.

While the German literary world no longer knew what to do with Hesse, Hesse's popularity abroad rose rapidly from the 1960s, and reached its peak in the 1970s, especially in the United States . In view of the burgeoning capitalism , the Vietnam War and racial discrimination , many young people there began to yearn for other values ​​and ways of life. In addition to Der Steppenwolf and Siddharta , Demian helped them , which was sold here around 1.5 million times in the course of the general Hesse wave by 1976. Due to the enthusiastic reception in the USA, German readers were again encouraged to pick up Demian .

Today Hesse's novel is one of the classics of reading in German lessons . The Demian has now been translated into at least 27 languages.

Others

A large part of Hermann Hesse's estate is in the German Literature Archive in Marbach . The typescript of Demian is there in the Museum of Modern Literature seen in Marbach in the permanent exhibition.

Book editions

The first edition appeared in 1919 under the pseudonym Emil Sinclair in Hesse's "house publisher", the S. Fischer Verlag . Only from the 4th edition (17th to 26th thousand) in 1920, with a correspondingly changed title, was Hesse's authorship mentioned. In 1946 Demian appeared in the Gutenberg Book Guild , from 1949 in the Suhrkamp Verlag , in 1966 for the first time in the Suhrkamp library , in 1974 as a Suhrkamp paperback and in 2000 in the Suhrkamp base library.

In 2008 the text was published as an audio book , read by Ulrich Noethen . There is also a radio play produced by SWR in 2002 , directed by Oliver Sturm and Kirstin Petri , with speakers including Ulrich Matthes , Valentin Stroh , Ingo Huelsmann , Karin Schröder , Wolfgang Höper , Uta Hallant , Hans Diehl , Martin Engler and Sven Plate .

• Emil Sinclair: Demian. The story of a youth. Fischer, Berlin 1919.
• Demian. The story of Emil Sinclair's youth. Fischer, Berlin 1920.
• Demian. The story of Emil Sinclair's youth. Suhrkamp, ​​Frankfurt am Main 1966; 26th edition 2004, ISBN 3-518-01095-6 (= Library Suhrkamp. Volume 95).
• Demian. The story of Emil Sinclair's youth. Suhrkamp, ​​Frankfurt am Main 1974; 34th edition 1996, ISBN 3-518-36706-4 (= Suhrkamp-Taschenbuch. Volume 206).
• Demian. Text and commentary by Heribert Kuhn. Suhrkamp, ​​Frankfurt am Main 2000, ISBN 3-518-18816-X (= Suhrkamp-BasisBibliothek. Volume 16).
• Demian. Complete reading by Ulrich Noethen. 5 audio CDs. DHV, Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-86717-095-6 .

literature

• Gusto Gräser: Letters to Hermann Hesse . In the German Literature Archive Marbach and in the Swiss National Library in Bern.
• Helga Esselborn-Krumbiegel: Hermann Hesse: Demian. Explanations and documents . Reclam, Stuttgart 1991, ISBN 3-15-008190-4 (= Reclam's Universal Library , Volume 8190).
• Ralph Freedman: Hermann Hesse. Pilgrim of Crisis. A biography . London 1979. ISBN 0-224-01675-X .
• Hermann Müller: The poet and his guru. Hermann Hesse - Gusto Gräser, a friendship . Wetzlar 1978. ISBN 3-921764-01-7 .
• Bernhard Gajek: The Prophet and the Poet. Gusto Gräser, Hermann Hesse and Monte Verità . In: Schweizer Monatshefte, Vol. 59, 1979, Issue 7, pp. 639–643.
• Bernhard Gajek: Hermann Müller, The Poet and His Guru . In: Germanistik, 1979, issue 1, p. 245.
• Martin Green: Mountain of Truth. The Counterculture begins, Ascona, 1900-1920 . Hanover and London, 1986. ISBN 0-87451-365-0 .
• Hermann Müller: Gusto grasses. From life and work . Knittlingen 1987 and Recklinghausen 2012. ISBN 978-3-937726-07-6 .
• Volker Michels (Ed.): Hermann Hesse in eyewitness reports . Frankfurt am Main 1987.
• Hermann Hesse: dream gift . Edited by Volker Michels. Frankfurt am Main 1996
• Volker Michels (Ed.): Materials for Hermann Hesse's 'Demian' . First volume. Frankfurt am Main 1993.
• Hermann Hesse: "The dark and wild side of the soul". Correspondence with his psychoanalyst Josef Bernhard Lang . Ed. by Thomas Feitknecht. Frankfurt am Main 2006. ISBN 3-518-41757-6 .
• Maria-Felicitas Herforth: Hermann Hesse: Demian . Bange, Hollfeld 2011, ISBN 978-3-8044-1912-4 (= King's Explanations and Materials, Volume 464).
• Bärbel Reetz: Hesse's women . Berlin 2012. ISBN 978-3-458-35824-4 .
• Gusto grasses: Earth star time. A selection from his late work . 3rd edition, Recklinghausen 2011. ISBN 978-3-937726-02-1 .
• Volker Wehdeking: Hermann Hesse . Marburg 2014. ISBN 978-3-8288-3119-3 .

Individual evidence

1. ^ Siegfried Unseld : Hermann Hesse. Work and impact history . Insel, Frankfurt am Main 1987, ISBN 3-458-32812-2 , p. 71.
2. ↑ ^{a b} Jahnke, Paderborn 1984, p. 14 ff.
3. ↑ Hermann Hesse: Demian. The story of Emil Sinclair's youth . Suhrkamp, ​​Frankfurt am Main 1974, p. 10.
4. ↑ ^{a b c} Maria-Felicitas Herforth: Hermann Hesse: Demian - Siddhartha - Der Steppenwolf (=  King's explanations and materials . Volume 138 ). 3. Edition. Bange, Hollfeld 2004, ISBN 3-8044-1699-3 , pp. 16-17 .
5. ↑ Esselborn-Krumbiegel, Munich 1998, p. 14 ff.
6. ↑ Herforth, Hollfeld 2004, p. 24 f.
7. ↑ ^{a b} Esselborn-Krumbiegel, Munich 1998, pp. 43–46
8. ^ Demian , Frankfurt am Main 1974, p. 7
9. ^ Demian , Frankfurt am Main 1974, p. 53.
10. ^ Demian , Frankfurt am Main 1974, p. 93.
11. ↑ from a letter from Hesse from February 1929, quoted from: Siegfried Unseld: Hermann Hesse. A work history. P.56
12. ↑ Literature work (see under “Weblinks”), p. 11.
13. ↑ CG Jung: On the nature of dreams . In: Franz Alt (ed.): The C.-G.-Jung reading book . Ullstein, Frankfurt am Main 1986, ISBN 3-548-34346-5 , pp. 57-58 and 62-63 .
14. ↑ ^{a b} Esselborn-Krumbiegel, Munich 1998, pp. 47–51
15. ↑ ^{a b} Alt, Frankfurt am Main 1986, pp. 64–66
16. ↑ ^{a b} Demian, Frankfurt am Main 1974, pp. 124–125
17. ^ Demian , Frankfurt am Main 1974, p. 169.
18. ↑ ^{a b c} Joseph Mileck: Hermann Hesse. Poet, seeker, confessor. A biography . Suhrkamp, ​​Frankfurt am Main 1987, ISBN 3-518-37857-0 , pp. 94-97 .
19. ↑ Demian , Frankfurt am Main 1974, p. 107.
20. ↑ Demian - Siddharta - Steppenwolf . Hollfeld 2000, pp. 41-42.
21. ↑ Demian , Frankfurt am Main 1974, p. 99.
22. ^ Demian , Frankfurt am Main 1974, p. 11.
23. ^ Demian , Frankfurt am Main 1974, p. 150.
24. ↑ Herforth, Hollfeld 2001, p. 28.
25. ^ Demian , Frankfurt am Main 1974, p. 155.
26. ^ Walter Jahnke: Hermann Hesse Demian. An exquisite novel. (= Model analyzes literature . Vol. 11). Schöningh, Paderborn 1984, ISBN 3-506-75051-8 .
27. ↑ Jahnke, Paderborn 1984, p. 39 ff.
28. ^ Demian, Explanations and Documents. Stuttgart 2005, pp. 86-90.
29. ^ Demian, Frankfurt am Main 1974, p. 190.
30. ↑ Demian, Frankfurt am Main 1974, pp. 190–191.
31. ↑ ^{a b} Demian. Text and comment. Frankfurt am Main 2000, pp. 173ff.
32. ↑ ^{a b c} Helga Esselborn-Krumbiegel: Hermann Hesse: Demian / Unterm Rad. Interpretation. (=  Oldenbourg interpretations . Volume 39 ). 2nd Edition. Oldenbourg, Munich 1998, ISBN 3-486-88638-X , p. 7th ff .
33. ↑ ^{a b c d} Klaus Walther: Hermann Hesse (=  dtv portrait ). dtv, Munich 2002, ISBN 3-423-31062-6 , p. 70-76 .
34. ↑ ^{a b c} Helga Esselborn-Krumbiegel (Ed.): Hermann Hesse. Demian. (=  Explanations and documents ). Reclam, Stuttgart 2005, ISBN 3-15-008190-4 , p. 48-52 .
35. ↑ Hermann Hesse. Poet, seeker, confessor. A biography. Frankfurt am Main, 1987, pp. 93f.
36. ↑ Selected letters , Frankfurt 1974, p. 456.
37. ^ ^{A b} Franz Baumer: Hermann Hesse (=  heads of the 20th century . Volume 10 ). 7th edition. Edition Colloquium, Berlin 2002, ISBN 3-89166-154-1 , p. 98-103 .
38. ↑ quoted from: Adrian Hsia (Ed.): Hermann Hesse in the mirror of contemporary criticism . Francke, Bern, Munich 1975, ISBN 3-7720-1085-7 .
39. ↑ ^{a b c} Demian. Text and comment. Frankfurt am Main 2000, pp. 179-180.
40. ↑ ^{a b} Demian, Explanations and Documents. Stuttgart 2005, p. 53ff.
41. ↑ Walther: Hermann Hesse. Munich 2002, p. 153.
42. ↑ Radio play: Demian. The story of Emil Sinclair's youth . Brief information about the radio play on Deutschlandfunk Kultur