I have to start by saying that I am not a specialist in litterature or anything that relates to it...I am just someone who enjoys reading fiction....I have just finished reading Herman Hesse's Demian which brought me back to another book by him I read few years ago "Narcisse and Goldmund". back then, the relationship between the two main characters intrigued me because of the lack of sensuality and I asked myself whether a platonic relationship between two men was not a protective shield for Hesse to avoid the issue of homosexual love....and after reading Demian I was even more intrigued of the fact that Hesse invented the character of the mother of Demian for sinclair to fall in love with....someone who resembles Demian in all his aspects but who is a female so someone who sinclaire could "legitimately" consider as a lover! but then the image of the mother prevails proving once more that Hesse has difficulty in making his male characters fall in love with real women ! the only woman that marked the life of sinclaire before he met Eve was more of an icon an unreachable Dantian goddess : Beatrice !

A number of scenes and relationships described in Hesse's books certainly seem to point in that direction. Hesse himself was not homosexual although he valued friendships among men very highly. Most of the leading figures in his books enjoy close friendships. Hesse's relationships with women, on the other hand, were somewhat problematic throughout his life. This may have originated psychologically in his early relationship with his mother, who at times seemed distant to him and who lacked appreciation for his art and its "secular" subject matter, and his sisters. He was somewhat awkward toward women and shied away from marriage if that was possible. Only the third of his marriages was successful. His books depict not so much figures as separate entities the way you would encounter them customarily in novels, but as aspects of the leading characters' own complex personality. Being projections of such aspects they often appear almost two-dimensional. The leading characters attempt to re-integrate these "aspect figures" in a process which is intended to illustrate the striving for a healthy, curative wholeness of human nature. This process often fails, particularly in the earlier books where Hesse himself struggled to find an answer. The relationships between the leading figures on the one hand, and men and women figures on the other, thertefore cannot be understood to be of a sexual nature. As a matter of fact, sex is a non-issue for Hesse, the author. The mother-image to him illustrates the wholeness of the human being at birth and again at death. His search of a divided personality for wholeness is therefore a "search for the mother." Frau Eva in DEMIAN came to represent the ideal of that great mother, not of a woman per se.

I hope this makes sense and is a valid interpretation. :-)

MY FIRST HESSEšS BOOK I READ WAS DEMIAN. WHEN I FINISHED IT I ALSO THOUGHT THAT SINCLAIR FAILED TO ACCOMPLISH A MORE SENSUAL RELATIONSHIP WITH A WOMAN. HOWEVER,IN MY OWN POINT OF VIEW, IT WAS CLEAR TO ME THAT HIS LOVE FOR EVE WAS INTENSE AND IF HE FAILED TO STABLISH SUCH A RELATIONSHIP WAS JUST A MATTER OF CIRCUNSTANCES (THE SUDEN WAR THAT APPEARS JUST AFTER SINCLAIR MANAGED TO KISS EVE).
REGARDING THE ISSUE OF HOMOSEXUALITY , IN MY OWN POINT OF VIEW, I THINK HESSE WAS JUST SIMPLY NOT INTERESTED ON IT AS HE WAS INTERESTED ABOUT HOW TO OFFER A BETTER RELIGION,PHILOSOPHY, ETC. THAT COULD HELP TO AVOID WAR,KILLING AND INJUSTICE AMONG NATIONS AND HUMAN BEINGS.
I HAVE READ "SIDDARTHA" AND THE "STEPPENWOLF", AND BOTH BOOKS HAVE MALE CHARACTERS WHICH STABLISH A DEEP SENSUAL RELATIONSHIP WITH A WOMAN. BUT WHAT I HAVE NOTICE ABOUT THESE 3 BOOKS (INCLUDING DEMIAN), IS THAT IN ALL OF THEM, THE MAIN CHARACTERS ARE LOOKING FOR A HIGHER UNDERSTANDING OF LIFE WHICH COULD ALLOW THEM TO SPREAD THEIR SOULS AND SKILLS JUST NATURALLY AND IN HARMONY WITH ALL OTHER HUMAN BEINGS.

OF COURSE, ALL OF THIS IS JUST MY OWN OPINION.
JUST HESSE HIMSELF COUL BE ABLE TO ANSWER YOU
PROPERLY.

BEST REGARDS.

I myself had similar impressions when I read Steppenwolf that the main character was very much stuggling with his sexuality. Just as he ridicules all the convertions of his society, he himself adheres to them; when propositioned for an orgy by another male who is obviously interested in warming Harry up to a homosexual encounter, it is apparent that Harry's moral sense and self-defeatism prohibit him from enjoying the pleasures he obviously wants to experence. The character of Hermine in itself is evidence: her resemblance to Harry's dearest childhood friend obviosly awakes some wild (wolfish) part of his nature which causes him to desire her sexually, but in addition project some moral dillema into the situation. Utimately, Hermine's costume for the ball is the utimate tipoff to this kind of interpretation but the outcome of the novel leaves much room for personall interpretation...

Hello. Never underestimate double HH is my motto... In my opinion, I think HH was a poet and a thinker and that in itself brought about the conflicts within him -the rational and the emotional. He was always trying to confront these forces, both in his life and in his art.

Warm regards,
Duke

If you consider several basic premises of Hesse's writing, the issue of sexuality, although interesting, is possibly beside the point. Hesse's quest was actually the peaceful re-integration of various conflicting aspects of human nature which - following a dualistic (Eastern) interpretation - was torn apart by opposing roles (or personae). These conflicts were initially not present in human nature (paradise), but were mostly the benefits (!) of expectations and social constraints which were placed on the individual by society, culture, parents, education, religion (expulsion from paradise => fall from grace => paradise lost) etc. etc. The dualistic nature of man - as well of practically that of all other beings and phenomena - required oppositions, such as light and dark, plus and minus, right and left, masculine and feminine, evil and good to be meaninful. Why talk about light, if you do not have dark to define it?) It was the effect of enlightenment (see "Siddhartha") to bring these natural oppositions - which may be quite useful for daily practical life as long as it lasts - into a healthy, sensible balance with each other, the fond ethical theory being that a balanced individual would be of less harm to the rest of society and the environment and the world in general than an unabalanced one. The edge would be taken off the extremes in such an individual (a socalled "Immortal" in Steppenwolf), the way one would balance a wheel to keep it from flying apart. If one honestly tries to come to terms with one's whole personality, that is with ALL of its components, not only the most convenient, uncontroversial and pleasant ones, a male male would recognize, for example, that there was a feminine aspect within himself, each of these aspects of maleness and femaleness being of equal value and importance for natural balance. Hesse's figures often extrapolated the internal constellation and made them outwardly into narrative "heroes" with separate names. Male figures for Hesse were the exemplification of maleness within him, and female figures that of the female aspects within him. "Hermine" in Steppenwolf is, of course, the feminine version of the name "Hermann" and the female counterpart of Harry Haller => HH => Hermann Hesse). She reminds Harry Haller of a boyhood acquaintance of him who is obviously he himself in the happy days of youth. If HH needs to come to terms with his own maleness and femaleness within himself, as it were: "embrace them," or "love them", the average reader would of course conclude that this means Goldmund's feminizing is for the birds and purposely designed to agonize feminists, and Emil Sinclair's ultimate kiss of Demian an expression of unfortunately unfulfilled homoeroticism. That's why in my private opinion and in contradiction to these latter interpretations, the issue of sexuality raised in the question is a non-issue. I stand to be corrected, as always. But as I said before, Hesse has more dimensions and is tougher to read than one thinks.
Gunther

I read Demian a long time ago and didnt get that idea until i read The Stephenwolf(i dont know how you write it in english, im mexican), whem Harry meets the woman he will fall in love with, he names her Fernanda , beacuse she looks like an old friend of him, and i think its in the novel Gertrude when he also falls in love with a woman who has masculine factions and so on, i dont know if its homosexuality or something less obvious, but theres something there.

I'm so glad I found someone else who has read Demian. A friend of a friend just gave me this book, as he thought it might appeal to my sensibilities after meeting me for only a day. He was right. Interestingly enough, the person who gave me the book lives in the apartment above my friend, though my friend tells me they do not have a sexual relationship. They travel the world together as a team.
He claims to have been celibate for the past ten years. When they visited recently, I put them in one bedroom with two twin beds - no complaints. As far as they are concerned, what ever they are doing, or aren't, is fine with me.
I did really like this book. I don't think the relationship described between Max and Sinclair is really a homosexual relationship, although, I don't think it is at all homophobic either.
It is a spiritual relationship, platonic in nature, much like I assume the relationship between my friends is extremely close, nonsexual. As a matter of fact, all of the relationships that Sinclair encountered were nonsexual, even if he wished the relationships were more physical in nature. Which is interesting, because at one point in the book, Max tells Demian that dreams don't count unless they are acted upon.
I can see why most people would think the characters in this book were homosexual. I, on the other hand, think it is something else all together. I'll make another post here in regards to this book, because this is not why I'm intrigued with Hesse, although I'll admit I also thought about the sexual preferences of the characters while reading.

He also gave me a copy of Narcissus and Goldmund, which I'll read next.

I should say, the part in the book where Max tells Sinclair that dreams are nothing without attainment.

Anyone who doubys Hesse's love and appreciation of women needs to re-read narcissus and goldmund. This is not "pie in the sky" intellectial love either!! It is the real thing with smells and tastes and "earthiness". These women are so real, and in a few short paragraphs are so much broght to life, that one can almost taste and feel them too. Truly an amazing work. I would rate this as one of the most sensual novel of all time, even higher than lolita!!! BTW, I love it.

I'd have to agree with you. Hesse's references of relationships between men in his works, such as Siddartha and Glasperlenspiel, are of a philosophic nature; that is, both have a love for wisdom - Erosophy, if you will. Both associate the highest good to coupling with the idea of the good, making close comparisons with the coupling of a man and woman. The highest summit to which philiosophers aspire is coupling with the idea of the good, to make love to wisdom. W can attribute this idea to the words of Socrates in PLato's Republic.

I tihnk that all Hesse characters were looking for their anime(probably Hesse himself). If someone don't know anima is wemale part of the male(opposite is animus). relationship with mother can much affect on how anima will be. For more information read Carl Gustav Yung: "man and his simbols"

Goldmund _loves_ Narcissus. Heterosexual sensuality serves as a screen for the unfulfillable, disembodied passion Narcissus, the austere savant, represents; and Goldmund's long journey, with its accumulation of amorous adventures, culminates with the return to the monastery with Narcissus, the creation of the statues, and death. In youth, Narcissus awakens Goldmund to his desires; Narcissus, like the Mother, awaits him at the end of his travels. Thus Narcissus is superimposed over Goldmund's ultimate, and tragically unattainable, love object. We could read this as a metaphor for the desire of the artist to realize his abstract, ideal vision which can only be fully grasped by the mind. Indeed, in their exchanges, Narcissus always keeps the intellectual upper hand over Goldmund, and Goldmund passionately wants to please Narcissus by learning Greek, the twists and turns of philosophical argumentation, etc. But he never gets there, Narcissus will always treat him like a charming but inadequate child. Narcissus himself, the brilliant logician, falls in love with his own image, not Goldmund--"your dreams are about girls, mine are about boys" he tells Goldmund, but then rejects Goldmund, sending him, sexual threat that he is, out into the wide world to seek his destiny. Narcissus, when we see him later, has become the pure embodiment of a cultural ideal; while Goldmund's seriatim of adventures are but an echo of his brief but emotionally intense period with Narcissus, so intense as to leave him one day "lying in the garden as if dead."

Delicious as it is, I think there is a tragic and unsatisfying dimension to Narcissus and Goldmund that comes through in Hesse's reworking of the Narcissus and Echo myth. Heterosexual encounters are embedded (excuse the pun) within a larger homosexual love affair that never actually happens and is so elusive we can forget it's there--were it not that it drives the whole novel. Heterosexual desire might be a metaphor for art, homosexual desire intellect; but the love story can't quite transcend being a love story and remains very much about sex, and yes, the unspeakable kind.

I believe Hesse's interaction between males is that of a higher level. In the novel Demian the caracters communicate on a 'higher level' of sorts - almost spiritual. The physical interaction and communication is nothing more than a charade or social excuse and their understanding is on another plain. Initally this is not so, as throughout this novel Demian's knowledge and sence of self is increasing and it is not until towards the end of the piece that the realisation becomes apparent and desire for knowledge and greater understanding is realised. This level of understanding allows communication beyond that of standard society and may appear at face value as homosexual or unconventional due to their lack on inhibition and their indepth understanding of each other. But my belief is that the bond goes deep than physical (homosexual) but is more spiritual. - The ability to communicate without words...
My two cents worth!

Nicely put. I have not read Demain; however, in both Siddartha and The Glass Bead Game, Hesse presents the same type of elevated relationship between males. The river boat man and Siddartha are a good example of that deep and profound spiritual bond. There is, undoubtedly, a strong sentiment bewteen the two but not what would be considered homosexual. Joseph Knecht and the music master share that relationship. It seems that Knecht connects with just about everyone in some spiritual sense. I agree that Hesse's work gravitates heavliy towards the spiritual and not the physical - to entertain thoughts about certain things that are niether demonstable nor probable - to entertain those things as existent.

All these postings are enlightening... It's been about three years since I've read the book and I think I might just pick it up again!

Lolita,

I agree that there is something forbidden about the love between Narcissus and Goldmund, it is the most powerful real love of Goldmund's life, the most enduring, and the least physical. The only dynamic individual love that Narcissus experiences is his relationship with Goldmund.


To perceive of a love beyond that of the physical may be difficult; yet, that is the true love that is expressed in Narcissus and Goldmund. Although Goldmund experiences his life in the arms of passionate women, he does not love any of these women whom he sleeps with in a possessive sense. He loves the passion, the women are each appreciated individually, but it is the elixir of the chase, the sweet release of conquest, and the dance of attraction that Goldmund really loves; not any particular woman that he can grasp. He holds dear to his idea of the universal mother, of which all women are part of but no one woman can rival. Consequently, his drive for adventure and travel is greater than his need to settle down. He exemplifies the intuitive nature. Interestingly, women seduce him, he is almost passive at times, always the gentleman and the lover, never the aggressor. He desires the soul of sensuality, and translates this transient quality into his successful works of art.

On the other hand, Narcissus denies his sexuality, and lives among boys and men. Narcissus loves the ascetic life, and though he may have feelings of lust as well, he denies them. His relationship with Goldmund is that of the teacher, he is the dominant personality, and the aggressive partner. If, at any time, Narcissus had approached Goldmund, a lesser love story would have been written.

You got it right in the head:what is sex when you are looking for what is trascendent and eternal?Sexuality in the long run it's nothing else than wasting time.

How naive to think that there is no under current theme of homosexuality in Hesse's stories. If he were writing today I have no doubt it would be addressed more openly and expanded upon, although personally I enjoy the "closeted" tone of his works.

I'm so sorry that i can't speak English enough to express everything about Hesse wich is overfeelin me everyday.
I'll try with one word,Hesse has to been a selfsexual,I mean there's no sex indication for him,he has to been both:a man and a woman in one spirit,the human spirit.

Part of the answer I think lies in Hesse's personal experiences with Freudian and Jungian psychology. One of the reasons I enjoy Hesse's writings is for its archetypal, mythic, timeless themes which are also found in a lot of Jungian symbolism.
One aspect of this would be the direct integration of male/female into a suprabeing, an uber-hero of transcendence, beyond something so earthbound as sexuallity and pro-creation that tether us to this plane. In some ways, those who are drawn to psychoanalysis, are also drawn to personal betterment, to getting to a higher, objective perspective of their own psyche. Much of Jungian psych. is based on an idea of transitioning, from one state to another (purification, coagulation, the integration of scientific terms into the process of human transcendence).
I just finished Beneath the Wheel, one of his earlier works, and it contains a scene where the main character, Hans, kisses a school age (13, 14 I'd estimate) male friend. It's couched in pre-pubscent innocence and based on friendship, but has overtures of something more, something almost bisexual (he later a has brief physical encounter with a woman). Some would argue that those individuals who have expended personal effort in transcendental practices would be attracted to both women and men as they integrated their animus and their anima and could enjoy expressing either aspect with another person of either gender. Interestingly, Hesse uses an interesting plot turn so that the main character doesn't have to make that choice (I'll leave it at that if you haven't read it) . Maybe that's a cop out so that he doesn't need to make an overt choice, or maybe it's just that Hesse skirts such banal issues.
One last point I'd like to make though regards Hesse repeated themes of cloisters, monasteries, boys' schools, etc. In our modern day, we know that such institutions have always been a haven for those have had to surpress/repress their same sex desires or have aided in creating an inner circle of homosexual behavior.

im not exactly sure but alot of cultures arent as definate as we are when it comes to sexuality, i know this wasnt a cover up for homosexuality because german writers are very open as hesse was, i think the relationship should not be viewed as homosexual or platonic because these terms are flawed in that they put your relationship into a definate spectrum where as in the reality of emotions and feelings there is no spectrum or box to prevent you from feeling. so we tend to feel and not act because we try to institute these boxes in our relations. hesse just simply took away these boxes of conformity (germany is pretty liberal so this is typical for german writers i would assume)

ps these are just my thoughts and may have no bearing on the reality of hesses reasons for diverse rfelationships in his writings

kiky,
sorry...i'll be out of subject...but please tell me...where are you from?

I don't think that there are any underlying homosexual themes in Narcissus and Goldmund or at least not of the kind that is being discusses on this thread. I think some people here just assume too much from the word "love". The love between Goldmund and Narcissus is as intense as it can be between two men without any gay undertones. Narcissus' love is clearly played out in the final chapter as he tells goldmund how he has always fealt about him. It's not like Narcissus is coming out of the closet and proclaiming his secret gay longings to him on his deathbed. That's rediculous.

Seems more likely that the people arguing the gay theme are in fact gay themselves and its just wishful thinking on their behalf that their favorite book contains homosexuality.

Was Herman Hesse a Buddhist? A Christian? A Hindu?

What was he? Does he write about new age stuff? I mean I dont read his books, nor do I want to- a friend of mine loves his books. And I am curious to know why. I wouldnt want to read anything that is misleading to the actual truth.