I, even as a male, have questioned the subject you have brought up. My first experience with Hesse was "Narcissus and Goldmund" wich immediately won me over as an adolescent male, I was able to relate very clearly with many of the things he wrote. I have read several of his other works including sidhartha. I am currently in the middle of "The Glass Bead Game." All of the books I've read have been primarily about male characters, who have mostly male friends, with the exception of "Demian" and the significant role his mother plays. And in reading "The Glass Bead Game," a section of the book, covering the role of women in "Castalia," called to my attention perhaps what your student is talking about when she says "lack of female perspective," as being an ongoing theme in Hesse's novels.
I have always tried to understand why I could relate so well with Herman Hesse's writings, and one of the couclusions I came to, was that, He is writing about his personal experiences with human development, i believe he draws deep within himself for his inspiration. And he is a male, just like me. Unfortunately I think alot of the connection I feel to Hesse is a relsult of the feelings for, and perceptions of the world around us that are similar because we are men. I say this is unfortunate because I would love to share my enjoyment in reading his work with both males and females alike. And I think it would be unfair to judge Hesse as a bad author because He does not include in his works something that he could never be expected to truly understand, such as the experiences and feelings of a developing female person. He does an outstanding job at conveying the things he does understand, part of this involves developing an appropriate character in an appropriate setting, which, by using predominantly male characters, he does extremely well.
Perhaps an appropriate response to your student would be " You're right, there is not very much female perspective in his 'Sidhartha,' in fact, perhaps the predominantly male perspective is what enables me to connect with the author and enjoy the novel as much as I do." Perhaps John, if you could ask her some questions that would allow her to clarify to you why she feels as she does, you might gain even more insight into the similarities and differences between the male and female "perspective" and experiences in personal development.
I welcome responses to my argument, I am quite interested to find out if anybody agrees with me, and if not where my arguement falls short.
By the way I still do recommend Hesse to both male and female friends of mine equally, this way they can draw their own conclusions.
Pleasant reading,
Jason
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Re: Siddhartha and the Female Perspective
[re: John]
