Book 20

Demian by Herman Hesse
1965: Harper & Row
158 pages
Recommended by Janne Piehl
Began: 3 April 2006
Finished: 13 April 2006

My day to day obligations and life got in the way of reading this small little book cover to cover in any sort of normal fashion. I have never read any Hesse and as I am currently teaching World War II to my students, I was especially curious about him and his relation to Germany and the two world wars. This book, slim in pages but heavy with content of one man's coming-of-age and dissolution with societal norms, fit aptly with what I was trying to understand and teach but it was difficult. Hesse's style, or at this translation, was clunkier than what I have been reading otherwise, and I found myself taking it seriously but not sure when and where to read it. It was also hard because the character of Emil Sinclair's coming of age in no way related to my own that I felt even more foreign to the story and the events that were happening in it. I can say that I walk away from this book with the utmost respect for Hesse but also a fear for myself in completing this project in a timely manner. Now off to read...

Quote: "The end begins."  ¶ 12:29