Hermann Hesse. "Narcissus and Goldmund": a summary

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

The novel "Narcissus and Goldmund" is a landmark work for the German writer Hermann Hesse. In it, the author expressed his idea of the human path, of the spirituality and skill of the artist, of love and the search for the meaning of life.

Interesting facts about the life of Hermann Hesse

The writer was born in the small town of Calw, which belongs to the German lands of Baden-Württemberg. Father and mother came from a Protestant family. Father's ancestors were engaged in missionary work, and the parents of the future writer, following the family tradition, went to preach the Gospel in India, but poor he alth forced them to return to Germany.

In his son, the father saw the successor of the missionary family, for this reason Hermann Hesse first studied at a missionary school, and then in a boarding house in the city of Basel. When Herman was sent to a theological seminary, he simply ran away from there and began to earn extra money in a printing house, and then at a watch factory.

The writer loved to read, there was a large library in his house, and young Hesse could spend hours reading books. He got a job in a bookstore, was engaged in self-education. For 4 years he studied philosophy, literature,art history and languages. Entered the University of Tübingen. Hesse became a free listener, and after some time he moved to work from a bookstore as a seller in a second-hand bookstore. When roy alties from books made it possible to provide for his family, Hesse said goodbye to his job as a bookstore salesman forever.

Herman was married three times, in 1946 he received the Nobel Prize in Literature. Died of leukemia near Lugano in August 1962.

A brief outline of the creative path of Hesse

The first serious work of Hermann Hesse was called "Peter Kamenzind". The novel received positive reviews, and its author received a good offer of cooperation from one of the major German publishers.

In subsequent years, the writer published the autobiographical story "Under the Wheel", the novel "Gertrude", a collection of stories and poems about a trip to India and an instructive parable "Siddhartha".

When the First World War began, Hermann Hesse spoke out against the militaristic policy of the Kaiser. But the people in Germany were infected with imaginary patriotism, and the writer's warnings were not taken seriously. German newspapers and literary critics shaped the people's image of Hess as a traitor. The writer emigrated to Switzerland and renounced German citizenship.

In Switzerland, Hermann Hesse writes novels that made him famous in literature:

• "Demian".
• "Narcissus and Goldmund".
• Steppenwolf.
• "Bead Game".

Next, we will look at one of them.

Summary of the novel "Narcissus and Goldmund"

Novel published in 1930. Consider the summary of "Narcissus and Goldmund" by Hermann Hesse.

At the beginning of the novel, the author introduces us to the real southern chestnut. This tree grows near the arch in front of the entrance to the Mariabronn monastery. Chestnut remembers the faces, light hairdos of all the students who studied at the monastery. Many left the walls of Mariabronn forever, but some remained and became novices, and then monks.

An elderly father brings his son, Goldmund, to the monastery. He is thoughtful and a little reserved. He has no friends, except for the novice Narcissus, who studies Greek with his students. They spend all their free time together, talking, walking around the monastery. Narcissus senses that Goldmund has certain problems and wants to understand what he keeps in his memory. Narcissus, in another conversation, creates in the boy's mind the memory of his mother, because of which the young man leaves the monastery and goes into the world.

Getting freedom, Goldmund enjoys it to the fullest. Wine, women, free sex - the joy of freedom overwhelms the young man.

Goldmund comes on his travels to the noble knight's castle. He spends a lot of time in the castle and falls in love with the knight's daughter Lydia. For objectionable relations with Lydia, the knight drives Goldmund out of the castle.

A young man meets a wanderer named Victor. They travel together, but one day Victor makes an unsuccessful attempt to rob a friend. Goldmund kills Victor and realizes that the life of a wanderer can provoke him to more serious crimes. He decides that it is necessary to tie with such a life.

Goldmund comes to the monastery and with admiration and respect for the master appreciates the work of the statue of the Virgin Mary. He goes to Niklaus, the man who created such beauty, to teach him how to make the same masterpieces. The master looks through the drawings and drawings of Goldmund, sees the potential in the young man and agrees to take him on as an apprentice. At the end of the training, Goldmund does an excellent job of the apostle John. Niklaus wants to leave his workshop to Goldmund and offers his daughter Lisbeth's hand in marriage. But the young man refuses and leaves Niklaus.

Plague struck Europe and killed many human lives. Goldmund encounters a plague on his travels. He meets Lena and falls in love with her. To save his beloved, Goldmund takes Lene away from the plague. They want to live in tranquility and peace, for this Goldmund builds a house in the rural wilderness. But Lene becomes infected with the plague and dies. Goldmund sets fire to the house and decides to return to Niklaus. When he comes to the city, he learns that the good wise master has died.

A young man is put in jail in the same city. Miraculously, Narcissus frees him and takes him back to the monastery. Now he became a rector and became a monk, taking the name John. In the monastery, Goldmund is busy making statues. He especially succeeded in the statue of the Virgin Mary.

At the end of Goldmund's bookgoes on another journey, but comes to the monastery already quite sick. He dies, and the good Narcissus is by his side until the very end.

Narcissus and Goldmund received the best reviews after its publication in print, and Thomas Mann named it the best novel of the year.

The image of Narcissus in the novel

We meet Narcissus on the first pages of the novel. This is a very gifted novice of the monastery, a great connoisseur of the Greek language. Narcissus does not see himself outside the walls of Mariabronn, because he loves science and God. He has no friends in the monastery, except for the abbot Daniel, many envy the novice's talents and slander him to the abbot.

Narcissus does not crave changes in life, he devotes all his free time to communicating with Goldmund and studying science. With fervor, Narcissus defends scientific observations in front of other teachers, we see that he values truth and justice above all else.

In the last chapters, Narcissus is not just a novice, but already the abbot of the monastery. He has power in society, because it is not just that Goldmund is released from prison. Narcissus negotiates with the Count to get his friend out of trouble.

Goldmund and his path

Goldmund is the central character of the novel. From the content of the book "Narcissus and Goldmund" it is clear that at the beginning of the work he is a kind, sentimental and lively young man. He does not want to become an ascetic, Goldmund loves the world and is looking for sensual relationships. I recall an episode from the novel: when the boy kissed the girl for the first time, he was shocked by this event. He wants that kiss againyearns to return to this girl again and again.

Goldmund leaves the monastery and wanders in search of a life purpose. He is looking for his own path, and how difficult it is for a master and an artist to find himself in this world. As a result, Goldmund becomes a student of Master Niklaus and becomes a wood carver. He has found what he was looking for, but the wanderlust that beckons him further and further does not leave Goldmund.

The way of the artist

In Narcissus and Goldmund, Hesse shows the reader two different paths that an artist and a creative person can follow.

Narcissus is a thinker and an ascetic monk. He personifies the mind, analytical abilities and a sober mind. The narcissist resembles a medieval psychotherapist, it is very important for him to have information about others in order to judge a person.

Goldmund is the exact opposite of Narcissus. He is a dreamer and a creator. Goldmund is an artist, and therefore the world of spirit and thought is not suitable for him. After going through certain trials, Goldmund finds his way into wood carving, he creates beautiful and unique pieces of art.

Mother's world in Hesse's novel

Goldmund vaguely remembers the image of a mother he has never seen. This happens during one of the conversations with Narcissus. At night, a company of guys escapes from the monastery to the girls, where Goldmund kissed the opposite sex for the first time. He tells Narcissus about his feelings and suddenly passes out. Goldmund has a dream about his mother, where a tall woman withblue eyes. She tells him that he does not remember his childhood. Goldmund wakes up and realizes that he needs to change his life.

He looks for the image of a mother in every woman, but he never finds her. Meeting many women on the path of life, the main character understands that the nature of mother and the nature of death go hand in hand (the murder of a stranger who wanted to rape Lena, and the murder of Victor, the plague epidemic).

At the end of the book, Goldmund realizes that the mother's world is life in the bosom of nature. Nature is the mother of man. People go through cycles: childhood, adulthood, death (life, fruit, and desolation of the fruit).

Philosophical context of the novel

The book "Narcissus and Goldmund" is close to the philosophy of Nietzsche and Jung. Consider a few important details of the philosophy in the novel.

Friedrich Nietzsche has a work "The Birth of Tragedy", where he singles out the Apollonian and Dionysian beginnings in a person.

Narcissus bears the signs of Apollo. He is restrained, very often shows calmness and stamina. Goldmund personifies Dionysus, he is often childish, fickle and very passionate. It is strange that such differences bring two people closer.

Jung believed that opposites connect and find each other. He developed typical archetypes of human nature. The world of the mother and the world of the father merge in the novel "Narcissus and Goldmund" by Hermann Hesse into unity, one whole. Goldmund is a typical representative of the art world, and Narcissus is a man of science, Christianity. According to Jung's concept, different principles, male and female,easier to combine than masculine and masculine or feminine and feminine.

The meaning of the novel

The novel can be interpreted in many ways. What is Hermann Hesse's book "Narcissus and Goldmund" about?

First of all, about the search for a life path and the meaning of life, about the problems of an artist, about the search for truth and motherhood.