The radical appeal of Hermann Hesse's alternative community
1999; Penn State University Press; Volume: 10; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
2154-9648
Autores Tópico(s)Critical and Liberation Pedagogy
Resumounderstanding of the rhythm of life. Years later he applies that under standing to a criticism of the form of society which helped him to achieve it. Knecht's struggle to understand, defend and ultimately reject the Order in its existing form is depicted as a progression through contradictions, in true dialectical fashion. In his first meaningful dialogue with the Music Master prior to committing himself to the Glass Bead Game, he is told that 'our mission is to recognise contraries for what they are; first of all as contrar ies, but then as opposite poles of a unity' (81). Knecht's impatience to find a dogma through which all truth would be revealed is countered by the Music Master's reply that the truth exists not in perfect doctrine but within oneself, in the act of striving for self-perfection (83). From this moment on Knecht commits himself to refining and living out his most cherished values while struggling to relate them to the world at large. The nature of Hesse's dialec tic is intriguing. It is no accident that we are told that Hegel's dialectical philosophy exerted by far the strongest attraction on the young Knecht (91), and it is possible to see Castalia as an incarnation of Hegel's ideal of the ethical community (Sittlichkeit). But what is crucial here is that ultimately Hesse is not satisfied with the exclusive and ahistorical nature of this pris tine repository of aesthetic and intellectual perfection. What Hesse disliked in Hegel was his 'professorial assumption of superior wisdom' (MB 367). Hesse's dialectic is not closed, and Knecht's defection is an act of negation which insists on continuing to strive for humanist values in a wider world. At the end of the main narrative the poems of Knecht display this indomi natable disposition to see the positive in the negative, as in this final stanza from 'On Reading an Old Philosopher': Yet still above this vale of endless dying Man's spirit, struggling incorniptibly, Painfully raises beacons, death defying, And wins, by longing, immortality. (434) This remarkably optimistic view, along with similar sentiments in the other poems, suggests that there is room for embattled values to endure even in This content downloaded from 157.55.39.180 on Mon, 25 Apr 2016 06:05:54 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms Hermann Hesse's Alternative Community 95 inauspicious times. The development of Knecht's self-realisation combines the affirmation of principles such as service, steadfastness, honesty, toler ance and learning,5 with a determination to struggle for them against the odds as part of a social commitment. The Castalian Utopia is seriously undermined by the criticisms first of Plinio and finally of Knecht in his circular letter to the Board of Educators. The ideals of aesthetic and intellectual refinement in an atmosphere of serenity and understanding are lauded, but the path of isolation and exclu sivity is shunned. The certitude engendered in the closed community must give way to a more humble learning by re-engagement in the maelstrom that is everyday life in the world at large. This judgement presents the strongest answer to criticisms of Hesse which see his pursuit of 'wholeness' as neces sarily implying a totalitarian imposition of certain values (e.g. Sammons, 122-8). The open-endedness of Hesse's ideal of a better world is exempli fied in his brief message acknowledging his award of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1946. He denies that his ideal is one of cultural conformity, insisting that he is all in favour of 'diversity, differentiation, and gradation on our beloved earth.' He declares himself 'an enemy of the grands simpli ficateurs and a lover of equality, of organic form, of the inimitable' (ITWGO 141-2). Hesse's alternative community holds its values dear, but it seeks to promote them in a sympathetic and reciprocal relationship with the rest of long-suffering humanity.
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