i Sofia Bach 28 May 2020 Hermann Hesse’s Orient: Western Crisis and Eastern Redemption A thesis submitted to fulfil requirements for the degree of Master of Philosophy Under the supervision of: Professor Peter Morgan Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Department of European Studies School of Languages and Cultures The University of Sydney i Statement of originality This is to certify that to the best of my knowledge, the content of this thesis is my own work. This thesis has not been submitted for any degree or other purposes. I certify that the intellectual content of this thesis is the product of my own work and that all the assistance received in preparing this thesis and sources have been acknowledged. Translations by Sofia Bach unless otherwise indicated. ii Abstract The German-born Nobel-Laureate author Hermann Hesse enjoyed three major waves of popularity in the twentieth century. The first surge in reception took place in the Weimar Republic following the Great War. The second, arose mostly in Germany during the period of Nazi rule and just after the Second World War. Finally, the third surge happened in the 1960s and 1970s, when Hesse reached a large readership at the time of the American Counterculture movement. In all these receptions, Hesse’s novels were seen as guides to help navigate crises in western civilisation. The resolutions offered in Hesse’s novels, particularly Demian, Siddhartha, Steppenwolf and The Indian Life (the appendix to The Glass Bead Game) are either anchored in a narrative Orient, or influenced by Vendānta and Buddhist philosophies. Framing the research within reception theory (Jauss 1967), the study of crisis in the West (Spengler 1919; Graf and Föllmer 2012) and Orientalism (Said 1978; Sardar 1999), I argue that Hesse’s readers across each of these waves of reception share a sense of social and existential crisis, and that Hesse’s novels functioned as a means of resolving this sense of crisis in the diverse socio-cultural environments of the West. They did so through the invocation of various understandings of the East as the Oriental other. Further, by way of conclusion, I suggest that a new wave of Hesse reception is in the making, and that these earlier surges of popularity can help us understand what Hesse’s Orient might offer in today’s pervasive sense of global crisis in academic and socio-cultural spheres. i Acknowledgments I wish to express my immense gratitude to my supervisor, Professor Peter Morgan, Director of European Studies at The University of Sydney. Without his treasured support, encouragement, ideas and generous feedback, this study would not have been written. My thanks also go to Professor Paul Peters and Professor Tove Holmes at McGill University, whose excellent lectures inspired me to delve further into German history and literature. I am indebted to Cléo Mathieu from Université de Sherbrooke and Antoine Panaïoti from Ryerson University, whose advice and proofreading of my occasionally quirky English have helped shape this research. I would like to recognise the invaluable assistance provided by my loving partner Mason during my study. Your patience, support, generosity, and kindness are truly cherished. I am also grateful to my family, my mother, Elena; and my sister, Emma, who have always been supportive of my choice to follow an academic path. Great thanks go to my housemates, Melinda, Jessica, Boaz and Sarah, for tolerating and helping me go through the many stressful periods of the writing process; and to my great friends Charlotte, Nitasha and Marylène, whose projects and achievements are a constant inspiration. Finally, I would like to express my gratitude to The University of Sydney’s support of this study through their International Scholarship and Strategic Fund. ii Table of Contents Statement of originality ............................................................................................................ i Abstract .................................................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgments ..................................................................................................................... i Table of Contents .................................................................................................................... ii Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 1 Historical and Contextual Background ................................................................................. 3 The Four Receptions .......................................................................................................... 3 The Western Conceptions of Orient ................................................................................ 10 Theoretical Framework and Terminology ........................................................................... 12 Reception Theories .......................................................................................................... 12 Crisis and Decline of the West......................................................................................... 15 Research Questions and Organisation of Chapters............................................................. 20 What to Expect ................................................................................................................. 22 Literature Review .................................................................................................................. 24 Analyses of Hermann Hesse’s Works .................................................................................. 24 Orientalisms ......................................................................................................................... 26 The Counterculture Movement and the Hesse Phenomenon in America ............................ 34 Chapter 1: Hermann Hesse in The Weimar Republic ....................................................... 41 The First World War and Mid-Life Crisis ........................................................................... 44 Hermann Hesse’s Orient...................................................................................................... 52 Orient in The Weimar Republic and Hermann Hesse’s Reception...................................... 58 Demian ................................................................................................................................. 64 Chapter 2: The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich ............................................................... 72 Hermann Hesse and German Reception During the Nazi Era ............................................ 73 Hermann Hesse’s Recognition in the Aftermath of the War ................................................ 85 Chapter 3: The Hesse Phenomenon in The American Counterculture ............................ 90 The Growing Social Crisis in the United States .................................................................. 92 Political Unrest and The Cold War ..................................................................................... 95 The Formation of the American Counterculture ................................................................. 96 The Baby Boom and The Vietnam War .............................................................................. 100 The Phases of the American Counterculture ..................................................................... 102 iii Timothy Leary and Popularising LSD ............................................................................... 105 Religion and Orient in the American Counterculture........................................................ 107 Hesse’s Appeal to the Counterculture ............................................................................... 110 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................ 121 Works Cited .......................................................................................................................... 130 Appendix 1 ............................................................................................................................ 138 1 Introduction “I have no right to call myself one who knows. I was one who seeks, and I still am, but I no longer seek in the stars or in books; I am beginning to hear the teachings of my blood pulsing within me. My story is not pleasant, it is not sweet and harmonious like the invented stories; it tastes of folly and bewilderment, of madness and dream, like the life of all people who no longer want to lie to themselves.” -Hermann Hesse, Demian The novels of the German Nobel-Laureate Hermann Hesse (1877-1962) belong to the canon of modern western literature; however, they have not been uniformly received since they were first published in the early twentieth century, Germany. Indeed, their reception in the West can be understood in terms of four major waves defined by the context of the readers rather than by a continuing popularity of the literary content. The first two surges of popularity happened during Hesse’s lifetime in Germany, (1) after World War I, and (2) during and after World War II. Then, (3) in the 1960s, Hesse reached to large readership in the United States during the Counterculture movement. Finally, (4) in the last few years, multiple papers, books, and journal articles have been published dealing