My relation with Herman Hesse and his literature starting up 3 moths ago at the same time I break my relation with my girlfriend....I suppose this was the last issue to learn Shiddartha but the fact is that I am 26 years and I beleave that is the worse moment in my life. Im always thinking in my decisions, in my internal destiny and perhaps that is the route cause to read Herman Hesse.

My Life seems to be ok. I finished my university development and the postgrade studies and I began to work in a successful company of consultory....at this moment Im going to work change due to ofer in other Company...for to gain more money and...everything seems to be ok...but Im usually feel sadness and Shiddartha let me know the purpose of the human relatinos and emotional status in the whole human life.

As per your question, I tried to present this book to one pretty girl I knew her from this summer, but is true that the female Perspective is absolutly out of place...but Im not sure...

Is one of the unfairness of this life.

Thanks from Europe (Spain)

In the lives of many famous peoples (Jesus, ...) told by the ones near to them or, like in Buddha's case, the ones that have great respect for there teaching(Hesse), many of writer's caracteristics are put in the story. The basic story is the same but no Luka, no John, no Marko, no Matej tell it the Jesus's path the same. If there was a girl writeing down his life story, you can bet her way would be just as much different!
There is no universal way of looking back on things and the Hesse's way is just one of many!

The answer to the Danish student is - a female writer should provide the female perspective. Hesse wasn't incapable of building other characters, but every central character comes from only from inside - that is his strength and his weakness, and i don't think he should be faulted for it.

On the contrary, Hesse is working towards a very female perspective on life. I was delighted to see a man write the way he does.
The entire concept of reaching thought through feelings, instead of reaching feelings through thought is a very female way of operating. His books start from the traditional male way of thinking and gradually expand their way to the passive, expansive female way.
A woman may not be able to identify with the beginning but the end....the end makes you feel whole again - it achieves the perfect balance between male and female. I don't see why anyone should have any trouble identifying with that.

In fact, except for Kamala, there is no women in Hesses¹s Siddhartha. Even Kamala is a type of Siddhartha¹s sex-teacher and that¹s all: all she teaches him is about caress, orgasm, physical relations in general. We can also see someone similar to her in Saramago¹s Evangelho segundo Jesus Cristo, with the character Maria de Magdala, who iniciates Jesus de Nazarà in sex arts. Can¹t the women share anything else than sex with their partners? Sex is wonderful, but is not enough in a complete relationship.
Ana Flores - Rio de Janeiro - Brazil

Dear John,

Too many bright young women have an attitude about "the female perspective"! They need to read and experience, as a person.

I'm a 53 year old woman, who discovered Hesse in my 20's.

I'm an old hippie & feminist. Tell her to open her mind!

So nice for you to care!

Barbara

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

All, please go back and read Gertrude, Hesse's 3rd novel. What conclusions can you draw regarding Herman's attitudes towards women?

I am from India; I have known most traditional/philosophical literature to be written by men and oriented towards men. But 'Siddhartha' is fairly universal in its potrayal of human emotions and desires and infact brings out similarities between Kamala and Siddhartha, (' "Maybe"said Siddhartha wearily."I am like you. You cannot love either, otherwise how could you practise love as an art? perhaps people like us cannot love ...")

Your friend sees the world through feminist glasses I'm afraid. Her comments are nothing more than sexist claptrap. I'm sorry if the book Siddhartha is not potically correct enough to include "woman's issues." Any imbecile could tell that the book was about personal growth, self-realization, etc... Althought the protagonist happened to be a man in this case, there is nothing to prevent a woman from following a similar spritual path. The Buddha himself taught there is no difference between men and woman when it comes to enloightenment.