VYTAUTO DIDŽIOJO UNIVERSITETAS ŠVIETIMO AKADEMIJA KALBINIO IR MENINIO UGDYMO PROGRAMŲ GRUPĖ Karina Kolesovaitė RELIGINIS SIMBOLIZMAS HERMANNO HESSĖS ROMANE „DEMIANAS“ Bakalauro baigiamasis darbas Vadovė: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Daina Miniotaitė Vilnius, 2020 VYTAUTAS MAGNUS UNIVERSITY EDUCATION ACADEMY LANGUAGE AND ART EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAMME GROUP Karina Kolesovaitė THE RELIGIOUS SYMBOLISM IN HERMANN HESSE’S NOVEL DEMIAN BA THESIS Academic advisor: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Daina Miniotaitė Vilnius, 2020 1 VYTAUTO DIDŽIOJO UNIVERSITETAS ŠVIETIMO AKADEMIJA KALBINIO IR MENINIO UGDYMO PROGRAMŲ GRUPĖ Karina Kolesovaitė RELIGINIS SIMBOLIZMAS HERMANNO HESSĖS ROMANE „DEMIANAS“ Bakalauro baigiamasis darbas Anglų filologijos ir kitos užsienio kalbos studijų programa, valstybinis kodas 612Q30007 Anglų filologijos studijų kryptis Vadovė Assoc. Prof. dr. Daina Miniotaitė ___________ _____________ (Moksl. laipsnis, vardas, pavardė) (Parašas) (Data) Apginta Doc. dr. Žydronė Kolevinskienė _____________ __________ (Programų grupės vadovas) (Parašas) (Data) Vilnius, 2020 2 Contents Abstract .............................................................................. 4 Introduction ....................................................................... 5 Hermann Hesse and his Novels ........................................ 7 Reviews of “Demian” Analyses ........................................ 9 Methodology .................................................................... 17 Contrasting of Symbols in “Demian” and the Bible .... 18 The Environment ................................................................................................................................. 18 The Two Realms .............................................................................................................................. 18 A Place of the First Sin and the Gates of Heaven ........................................................................... 24 The False Paradise ........................................................................................................................... 28 The Characters ..................................................................................................................................... 30 The Serpent ...................................................................................................................................... 30 The False Prophet ............................................................................................................................ 33 The Tree of Life and the Advisor .................................................................................................... 36 Babylon the Great ............................................................................................................................ 38 The Religion ..................................................................... 40 Ideas Expressed by the Novel “Demian”....................... 42 Conclusions ...................................................................... 45 Santrauka ......................................................................... 46 Sources ............................................................................. 47 References ........................................................................ 48 Appendix .......................................................................... 50 3 Abstract This thesis will analyze Hermann Hesse’s novel “Demian” with regards to the Biblical symbolism presented in the book. The research aims to discover the possible connection between the book and the Biblical myths through hermeneutics, moreover, to also find out the origin of the unnamed religion of the novel and the idea’s Hermann Hesse wishes to pass on to his readers. As observed, most symbols contain allusions to the Bible, with the exception of a few with a partial or a non-existent connection. Furthermore, the religion is based on an existing one and the lessons conveyed involve advice for self- improvement and growth. 4 Introduction In “Demian: The Story of Emil Sinclair's Youth”, Hermann Hesse, in addition to directly referencing various Biblical situations and characters, also uses symbols that seemingly have a hidden message to them and have no connection to Christianity. However, considering that the novel revolves around a character, Emil Sinclair, who gradually changes his religion, from Christianity to an unnamed belief, there is no reason to abandon the possibility that most of the symbols and metaphors are not referring to the Bible. The behavior and speech of certain characters, particularly Demian, resemble those of well-known figures depicted in the Bible, as well as descriptions of places and objects. Additionally, the character’s actions and thoughts during certain scenes in some way resemble parts of Hermann Hesse’s own life and his main character’s, from “Der Steppenwolf”, ideas. This possession of similar values gives it more possibility to the religion being created by Hermann Hesse. Finally, Emil Sinclair’s growth in the story mainly depends on his own strength as opposed to the character’s initial life of trusting a deity. This seemingly teaches readers to believe in their own strength in order to grow. Which raise a couple of questions, such as if the metaphors and symbols in fact have any connection to Biblical stories, if the unnamed religion is based on an existing belief or is, as speculated, created by Hermann Hesse himself and is it possible to uncover the ideas that Hermann Hesse wishes readers to understand, based on his life and his other novel “Der Steppenwolf”. Since the topic of the thesis is The religious symbolism in Hermann Hesse’s novel “Demian” this literary analysis will look over key concepts of symbolism, the Bible and Abraxas, the main Godly figure in the book. As mentioned above, the reasons for this analysis are to confirm if the analyzed symbols are based of off original Biblical stories and places, the unnamed religion’s origin being the usage Hermann Hesse’s own ideals, rather than representing and already existing one and that one of the points the author wants readers to learn, is to believe in themselves and not blindly follow a God. The possible answers will be searched in Hermann Hesse’s novels “Demian” and “Der Steppenwolf” as well as facts from his life up until the finishing of “Der Steppenwolf”. Such period is selected primarily because there is a possibility that the author had a change in his philosophies after the publication and scenarios described in the books that followed have different ideas expressed through his use of symbols. Additionally, since the type of data that is involved in this paper is religious symbolism, the Bible, alongside the novel in question “Demian”, will be used as a main source for material. Considering the amount of idioms, metaphors and words that may not be used every day; a dictionary might be consulted for better insight. Moreover, works and analyses of scholars will be reviewed to see 5 if there were any comparisons between the Bible and images offered by Hermann Hesse in the novel “Demian” and if there are answers to questions which this thesis is trying to solve. Some problems may arise in case of information tied in with Biblical symbols and phrases as there are many places that can offer untrustworthy information while claiming it as true. This, however, will be avoided by checking the internet sources and referring to the quotes offered, rather that information without them. Ideally, the aim of this research is to prove that Hermann Hesse’s symbols, which are analyzed in this paper, are references to figures and places of Christian religion, depicted in the Bible. As such, the objectives of this thesis are: 1. To analyze symbols, that reappear throughout the book multiple times, and either prove that they can, in fact be seen as references to Biblical myths or stories, or to dismiss the connection with Christianity. 2. To uncover the ideas behind the unnamed religion, which the main character ends up taking, and see if it was created by the author or is based on an existing belief. 3. By using Hermann Hesse’s life and similarities between characters of “Demian” and “Der Steppenwolf”, formulate the ideas that the author wants his readers to take from his novel “Demian: The Story of Emil Sinclair's Youth”. For completing the points mentioned above, a method of the qualitative perspective will be used. Therefore, the novel will be approached in terms of hermeneutics - meant for interpretation of the Biblical and general texts, in this case the story of “Demian”. Given that there is a vast amount of religions and their variations from which the analysis of the symbols could be done, this research will focus on the Biblical Christianity. However, there might be a need to encompass bits of information from other beliefs to better understand the initial image of the symbol. This thesis could grant a new outlook on the meaning of “Demian: The Story of Emil Sinclair's Youth”, considering that a bigger portion of analyses are made referring to Hermann Hesse’s life. Moreover, if the research outcome validates the hypothesis, the possibility of different than before thought messages could be discovered in other creations of Hermann Hesse. 6 Hermann Hesse and his Novels Hermann Hesse is a 20th century German novelist and poet mostly known for his works like “Demian”, “Der Steppenwolf”, “Siddhartha” and “The Glass Bead Game”. Hesse received the Nobel Prize in literature