Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Stairway to Hesse ...

In comments appended to an earlier post, which I need not link to, Judith and Art Durkee and I make mention of Hermann Hesse. Art made note of the "attraction towards Hesse by many late teenagers. That search of identity, trying to figure out who one is, the difficulties of attaining adulthood, etc." Judith, however, in her usual reticent manner, says, "Ick! Cannae stan' Hesse, never could finish a book of his ..." Judith also has some harsh things to say about Led Zeppelin (though I happen to agree that "Stairway to Heaven" is overrated.)
Taking this in reverse order, I would suggest to Judith that she take a peek sometime at the Led Zeppelin film, The Song Remains the Same. You can watch it on YouTube and it is quite extraordinary, I think. True, I was always well-seasoned when I saw it, but I have not usually found my altered-state judgments terribly unsound.
As for Hesse, he may just be a guy's author (though Narziss und Goldmund has a rare scene in German literature that is genuinely erotic).
In college, I was a day-hop - I commuted to and from school. (Since I was pretty much left to my own devices at home, this meant I actually had more freedom and less supervision than would have been the case if I lived at school.) At any rate, one Friday night, when I was a sophomore, I left school late - I seem to recall I was working in the college newspaper office - and headed home (I was a hearty partier in college, but I did take some Friday nights off). It was a long trip. First, a bus into Center City, then the el to Frankford, and then another bus to where we lived. Plenty of time to read, though.
The first bus left me off at 15th and Market. Located there at the time was something called the Commercial Trust Building, which actually overhung 15th Street, providing a kind of canopy in stone. At the corner was the Arcade Bookstore. I often stopped in there and did so that night. They had all the Modern Library editions together right at the front of the store. And this night, among the new releases, was one with a combination of man and wolf on the cover called Steppenwolf. I knew a bit about the author, Hermann Hesse. His story "Der Wolf" and another I can't remember had been in one of my German textbooks. So I bought the book and started reading it on the el, and kept reading when I got home until about 2 a.m. when I finished it. Over the next few months I read all of Hesse's novels, many of which were imported from England (this was several years before the Hesse boom). The Arcade Bookstore seemed to get them all in eventually. Steppenwolf and Demian and The Journey to the East were my favorites. The first in particular seemed addressed just to me, as, apparently, it seemed to many other young people not long after. What is strange about this - and has been noted before - is that a book written by a 50-year-old man about a mid-life crisis should resonate so deeply with people hardly out of adolescence. I suspect women are immune to Hesse's magic - though reading him might provide them with valuable insights into the male psyche (though again, women probably don't need him or any other author to arrive at those).

3 comments:

  1. Anonymous8:44 PM

    Hesse was important to me too, when i was about 20 - i think i last re-read Steppenwolf in my late 20s and still enjoyed it, though it seemed less relevant than when i'd first read it.

    One of the templates of Sini liked Hesse!

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  2. Anonymous11:56 AM

    Hey Frank,

    I don't think I've ever heard any woman I ever knew even mention Hermann Hesse so I think you're right about his being a guy's author. Hesse sure had a firm grip on that whole adolescent anguish thing. And the sacred/profane thing too for that matter, as embodied in the 2 main characters in "Narcissus and Goldmund" which I re-read last year and still enjoyed even if it was probably better savored in my youth.

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  3. Heh, why don't you tell us how you really feel?

    The post to which you don't link is slugged "Contrarian Report"; and, my response issued from that point of reference.

    Bombast and bathos. You either get it or you don't, I guess. The EX-IT loved Led Zep; and, he collected everything. Know all the songs and variants too well to believe. He got everyone he knew to enter that lottery; but, thank Him he didn't get a winner since it would've bankrupted us.

    If I have a problem with LZ, it involves the material's origins and how the band borrowed liberally from some of the blues greats to deleterious effect (particularly financially for the families of some of the legends).

    I didn't say a word; I wrote a 'graph and that would be the obvious focus. I think LZ will survive the harsh assessment, somehow. Just a wild guess. There's an entire website devoted to Why Led Zeppelin Sucks; thus, in the grand scam of things, my sarcaustic screed's fairly mild (and, in context, motivated by the "Contrarian" in the title).

    But, the writing and its opinions are germane here, not the personality of their creator.

    Unless, of course, you did get it and were out-bombasticating yours T; but, if you didn't get it, that's a failure on my part to communicate the Contrarian position to full effect. Thought the little emoticon would seal the deal. Thought wrong, huh?

    Spring arrives @ 7:44 this morning; and, the birds are returning to the Highlands and the weather's been amazing; so, in honour of the Equinoxical transition, I say we get some 'shrooms and listen to Led Zep IV on repeat and marvel over its deep-structure meaning. Jes' don't bogart that jukebox.

    Party on! The world's experiencing the kind of upheaval McLuhan said accompanied every radical technological shift; but, that don't mean we all gots to have long faces and pass on the joy, Boy.

    'Sides, if I don't like Led Zep nor Hesse nor LOTR, no big thang. Not sure why you think I haven't seen "The Song Remains The Same"; but, I hope I never see it again, LOL.

    You shouldn't take it personally; after all, I can't imagine you warming up to every artist and commercial enterprise I admire and enjoy. Chacun à son goût, non?

    (But, I'd take Nirvana or Nico over Led Zep in a musical minute. Hell, even Nickelback does Lez Dep better than it does :).)

    Contrarily yers, Curmudgeonette (who just spent like, all these hours updating website and now feel virtuous as a virgin for being so industrious and productive and putting the worry-nerviss energy to work rather than allowing my fear for my BFF here in hospital to immobilise me; only have one major page left to go and Bingo! We're good to show :).)

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