With all due respect, Adam Kirsch owes an apology to Hermann Hesse and at least one of his readers. His article Herman Hesse's Arrested Development was so critical it provoked this poorly written defense.
The opening quote from Gunnar Decker "It has to be said, there are no points to be won from liking Hesse nowadays" is appalling. Mr. Kirsch continues. "In America today, Hesse is usually regarded by highbrows as a writer for adolescents. Liking him is a good sign at age fifteen, a bad one by age twenty." More critics pile on. "A little man," according to the poet Gottfried Benn. "He displays the foibles of a greater writer than he actually is," the novelist Robert Musil said.
Was there not one good word to say about Hermann Hesse? And these people want to be my literary critics?
This bit left me incredulous.
"Siddhartha appears to be a kind of wisdom writing--a teaching. Yet the central message of the book is the impossibility of learning anything that matters from a guru or teacher. Siddhartha's revelation sounds very Buddhist, and Hesse borrowed the character's name from Siddhartha Gautama, the founder of Buddhism. But, in the book's most important scene, Siddhartha actually encounters the Buddha--and spurns him." Kirsch, A. Hermann Hesse's Arrested Development. The New Yorker. Nov 2018.
Mr. Kirsch attributes Siddartha's message to the inability of learning from a guru. Then he talks about Siddhartha's character, who is the Buddha, spurning the actual Buddha. Spurning Christianity condemns one to burn in hell forever. Spurning Islam can shorten one's lifespan. Spurning Judaism incurs excommunication from the 3000-year-old religion. Spurning Buddhism is a feature. Buddhists are free to spurn and accept as they search for self-improvement. Siddhartha's Buddha spurning the real Buddha was the Buddha spurning himself and practicing his own beliefs.
What is remarkable about Hesse and Siddhartha was simply his ability to transport the reader to the Nepalese district of Kapilavastu in 544 BCE. How could a German writer in 1922 know to write such an insightful story? How could the critics not acknowledge Hesse's beautiful literary imagery?
dave@worldsworstwriter.org 2024-10-26