Hesse’s two works of these crucial years—Journey to the East composed in 1930 andThe Glass Bead Game, written between 1931 and 1942—were deeply political books in a sense quite different from the previous novels. --Ralph Freedman, Hermann Hesse: Pilgrim of Crises: A Biography p. 339
There has been, gratefully so, a Phoenix-like resurrection in the last decade in the life and writings of Hermann Hesse. Hesse was, in many ways, a rite of passage must-read author in the counter-culture of the late 1950s-1960s-1970s. Sadly so, he was, mostly, misread by those who misunderstood his layered inward and outer journey as a writer steeped in the best of the European literary and cultural, religious and political ethos and tradition. As the counter-culture of the mid-20thcentury moved on, Hesse seemed to disappear with it, his fate and future too linked with such a period of history. But, a more mature, subtle and sophisticated read of Hesse is afoot these days, and as such a return to Hesse occurs, much gold is to be mined in Hesse’s perennial insights and wisdom.
I have been fortunate to spend time at Hesse’s home in Montagnola in southern Switzerland and have lingered long with his writings and sensitive and often troubled life journey. I posted an initial reflection on one of Hesse’s shorter novels, The Journey to the East, and this will be a companion to that article. The title of the book, in some ways, misrepresents the content of the book. Many who merely read the title falsely assume that the book is about a journey to the East in a spiritual way as a counterpoint to the decadent and unspiritual west. There is an unfortunate and somewhat superficial approach by many on a conscious contemplative journey to idealize and romanticize various types of Oriental religions and spirituality and caricature Western culture as secular, too beholden to science and religiously agnostic, atheistic or superficially religious (lacking a contemplative and meditative depth). This means that a journey to the east must be taken to recover or refind what is longed for at the centre and fount of the soul and spirit. But, Hesse, was much too bright and wise to slip into such a simplistic dualism and either-or approach to the religious crises of our age and ethos.
How might we read The Journey to the East in its context and for our troubled times? There are five points I want to briefly mention as pointers into understanding this superb classic of a book.
First,The Journey to the East was written and published in the early 1930s and, as such, nationalism was very much on the rise in Germany (Hesse had strong German connections but he consciously chose to live in neutral Switzerland). The rising nationalism in Germany in the late 1920s-1930s held the attention and hearts of many Germans. The notion of a people regaining and recovering their damaged reputation in the midst of both economic depression and the failure of capitalism and communism motivated many. It is in this context that significant leadership in the church (certainly not the best or all) linked the fate of the church with National Socialism—the state and religion had a symbiotic relationship. It is essential to note, though, many were the German Christians that opposed such a dysfunctional relationship of sorts. Hesse was acutely aware of such a reality and, in many ways, The Journey to the East, is a political rebuttal to such a notion, Hesse’s vision of “The League” upping the spiritual and political ideal to a higher and more demanding unity than nationhood or race, the “Great War” ever the backdrop to this novel.
Second, how did Hesse deal with the two types of communities that confronted him at the time? If the German race and nation was an option that held many and became an absolute centre of commitment, were there higher ideals that transcended such a questionable vision?
The League of spiritual searchers, as I mentioned above, brought together men and women (past and present) who acted as countervailing thinkers and activists, beacons of inspiring light and life that would not be taken captive by the blood and race ethos of the time. Most of those on such a quest in the League had a symbiotic relationship of sorts with those in the past who lived well and wisely—they were, in many ways, icons and mentors to the searchers, teachers who stood in opposition to Hitler and tribe. Most of the names and times Hesse mentions in The Journey to the East are unknown and foreign to most readers, but this speaks much about the literary and cultural illiteracy of our age and ethos, memoricide a dominant disease we live with. But, for Hesse (and others), such names and times offered an alternate vision to live by, a counter-culture to heed and live into. Who did Hesse point to as a model contra the wille zur macht of the 1930s?
Third, the narrator of the novel begins his journey and continues such a quest in a utopian community of sorts, the League consciously committed to living a deeper and more meaningful faith journey, heeding and hearing the best and wisest from history and diverse faith traditions, the “Great War” as mentioned above the ominous canvass on which this beauty of a text was painted. But, in time, the League fragments and dissipates. The main protagonist in the tale reflects back on such a significant phase in his journey and wonders why and how such a thing occurred, the best of intentions deteriorating into failed hopes and dreams, despair his growing companion. It seems, as the novel unfolds, the age of innocence now past, the age of experience pointing in two directions: cynicism and despair or the quest for deeper insight and wisdom the guiding light. It is significant to note that for Hesse the East is, in a deeper sense, the “Home of Light” and “towards home”. This is the challenge of the narrator--which internal and external voices will he listen to and why? Is there a commonwealth of spirituality and the virtues that transcend time, place, space, race and nation? Such a question is very much with us these days as peoples and borders are being drawn to keep foreigners out.
Fourth, the north star of sorts in the novel is Leo. The League was held together, for the most part, when Leo, the seemingly innocuous servant, was present. Most in the League ignored Leo even though they appreciated his quiet, consistent and servant-like commitment to those on the quest. The animals saw Leo for who he truly was but the irony of the tale was those who seemed to be the most conscious in their quest did not see the deeper meaning of their quest, Leo, servant-like, in their midst. Hesse had written, earlier in his life, a short biography of St. Francis and Francis figures prominently, in his first successful novel, Peter Camenzind. Hesse, being the poet and myth embodier that he was, tapped into the significance of Leo both as Francis’ dearest friend and supporter and the myth of Leo the Lion (passions and strength transformed into generous service and kindness). When Leo slipped away from the League, the deeper meaning of the League vanished and the spiritual questers lost their ability to both remain together and find their way. Obviously, in such insights, Hesse is speaking much about the deeper meaning of spirituality, politics and identity. The narrator of the novel discovers, as his journey matures that, in fact, Leo is the head of the League and, as such, clarifies the more significant meaning of the East (light, home, rising of the sun and day).
Fifth, if Hesse in The Journey to the East was questioning and undermining the political ethos of the time with a vastly different understanding of community and leadership (spiritual insights of the best of history and religious traditions an antidote to nationalism, blood and race-----such is very much with us again today), Hesse was also engaging, at a deeper level, probably, a thinker he had grappled with most of his life: Nietzsche. It is virtually impossible to read Hesse’s novels without Nietzsche appearing on front stage again and again. Leo, of course, can be the powerful lion whose will shapes and makes the world, who dominates and faces into the tragic and, again and again, wills an overcoming of sorts. It is significant to note that the lion is at the beginning of Thus Spoke Zarathustra in “On the Three Metamorphoses”. Hesse’s Leo as model and mentor of the new being is an alternate to Nietzsche’s Zarathustra. Hesse was, of course, not only dealing with the obvious political turmoil of the 1930s but he also saw beyond such a period of time the issue of ‘identity” and “human nature” in the West would become a contested issue----Leo or Zarathustra? Which and why? It is somewhat interesting that Nietzsche has held court for many a decade but Hesse has been ignored and yet Hesse is, probably, when understood aright, one of the best and finest dialogue partners of Nietzsche. Those who are seriously interested in a thoughtful engagement with Nietzsche do need to immerse themselves in Hesse’s life long dialogue and dance with Nietzsche.
The Journey to the East is, therefore, a counter political novel to both the overt nationalism of the 1930s in Germany and Europe (offering a higher ethic) in which identity is defined by political power (and who has it) and an emerging notion of personal power in which identity, Nietzsche style, is about making and willing into reality, in a creative and constructive manner, against much cultural opposition and odds, the self-creating new being. Hesse offered, in his many novels, from Peter Camenzindto Siddhartha to The Journey to the East and culminating in The Glass Bead Game the notion of the self as a kindly and thoughtful servant of civilization and culture as an antidote to both the political power mongering of the 1930s and the questionable Nietzschean notion of willing into being an ever making self. Hesse’s novel, Narcissus and Goldmund, in many ways, highlights how the faithful Narcissus (Hesse’s deeper probes into the meaning of the word) was the real builder and preserver of all this is good and beautiful in a cultural way that only the creative Goldmund understands at the end of his all too human journey---much the same theme is played out in a rawer and more graphic manner in Demian and Steppenwolf.
The Journey to the East does need to be set both within the context of Hesse’s larger literary vision and the historic times in which he lived—often neither is done, hence the book is misread. And, to conclude, there is a significant if indirect political dimension at the core and centre of The Journey to the East that is often missed also. Hopefully, this missive might correct some obvious omissions and oversights in a reading of this timely (than and new) beauty of a book.
Ron Dart
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