HESSE, HERMAN — Narziss and Goldmund

Penguin. 1973. Paperback with dust jacket, 19cm. Book, 301pp review >>> Having read all of Hesse works, I find them all fascinating and profound, but none more so than Narcissus and Goldmund. This masterpiece explores the balance between living for yourself and living for others. These two characters and how they relate and understand the other is just beyond words. I first read this book in High School and over the next 20 years have re-read it many times. It never grows old as it invokes our innermost desires and failures. Do miss out on this great read. overview Goldmund is obviously the possible, and Narziss the actual. Protagonist and intime are yet another variation of Hesse's customary double self-projection: Goldmund is the ingratiat-ing artist-voluptuary he would have liked to be, and Narziss is the re-tiring thinker-ascetic he knew himself to be. Contrary to the implications of the title, the novel is not a balanced recounting of the lives of two protagonists, nor was it ever intended to be. From its inception, the story was to be Goldmund's. A would-be monk & a monk for sure, one turns out to travel life's pleasurable roads, one sticks to his vocation. Good/None issued.