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In Demian, one of the great writers of the twentieth century tells the dramatic story of young, docile Emil Sinclair's descent — led by precocious shoolmate Max Demian — into a secret and dangerous world of petty crime and revolt against convention and eventual awakening to selfhood.
Review:
"The electrifying influence exercised on a whole generation just after the First World War by Demian...is unforgettable. With uncanny accuracy this poetic work struck the nerve of the times and called forth grateful rapture from a whole youthful generation who believed that an interpreter of their innermost life had risen from their own midst." From the Introduction by Thomas Mann
Review:
"The last half of the book suffers a sea change into something rich and strange — too rich and too strange for what has gone before. Symbolic dreams and painting, cryptic messages and meetings, transcendental relationships, culminating in a cult of self and of 'Fate,' replace the solution through rational experience that the earlier development seemed to promise. The luminosity of the story grows vaporish with only spasmodic flashes of the earlier intensity and light." New York Times Book Review
Synopsis:
In Demian, one of the great writers of the twentieth century tells the dramatic story of young, docile Emil Sinclair's descent--led by precocious shoolmate Max Demian--into a secret and dangerous world of petty crime and revolt against convention and eventual awakening to selfhood.
"The electrifying influence exercised on a whole generation just after the First World War by Demian...is unforgettable. With uncanny accuracy this poetic work struck the nerve of the times and called forth grateful rapture from a whole youthful generation who believed that an interpreter of their innermost life had risen from their own midst."
-- From the Introduction by Thomas Mann
Synopsis:
Known for engaging prose rich in human sympathy and imagination, Nobel Prize-winning German novelist Hermann Hesse (1877-1962) incorporated two themes in most of his works: the isolation of the artist and the fundamental duality of existence. The second of these is particularly evident in Demian, Hesse's first major novel. In it, the youthful Emil Sinclair recognizes that life consists of opposing forces; however, his older friend Max Demian manages to both clarify and complicate Sinclair's confused thoughts about life's conflicting values. Popular with young adults since it was first published in 1919, this brilliant psychological portrait of a troubled young man's exploration of the duality of human nature has retained its remarkable power as a poignant statement of the terrors and torments of adolescence. It is reprinted here with an informative introduction by Stanley Appelbaum, who has also provided excellent literal English translations on pages facing the German original.
CoyoteNW, January 14, 2010 (view all comments by CoyoteNW)
A brilliant argument on why the world should not be viewed as black/white or good/evil. I was floored that this 1917 coming-of-age story holds up so well...
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"Review"
by From the Introduction by Thomas Mann,
"The electrifying influence exercised on a whole generation just after the First World War by Demian...is unforgettable. With uncanny accuracy this poetic work struck the nerve of the times and called forth grateful rapture from a whole youthful generation who believed that an interpreter of their innermost life had risen from their own midst."
"Review"
by New York Times Book Review,
"The last half of the book suffers a sea change into something rich and strange — too rich and too strange for what has gone before. Symbolic dreams and painting, cryptic messages and meetings, transcendental relationships, culminating in a cult of self and of 'Fate,' replace the solution through rational experience that the earlier development seemed to promise. The luminosity of the story grows vaporish with only spasmodic flashes of the earlier intensity and light."
"Synopsis"
by Harper Collins,
In Demian, one of the great writers of the twentieth century tells the dramatic story of young, docile Emil Sinclair's descent--led by precocious shoolmate Max Demian--into a secret and dangerous world of petty crime and revolt against convention and eventual awakening to selfhood.
"The electrifying influence exercised on a whole generation just after the First World War by Demian...is unforgettable. With uncanny accuracy this poetic work struck the nerve of the times and called forth grateful rapture from a whole youthful generation who believed that an interpreter of their innermost life had risen from their own midst."
-- From the Introduction by Thomas Mann
"Synopsis"
by Ingram,
Known for engaging prose rich in human sympathy and imagination, Nobel Prize-winning German novelist Hermann Hesse (1877-1962) incorporated two themes in most of his works: the isolation of the artist and the fundamental duality of existence. The second of these is particularly evident in Demian, Hesse's first major novel. In it, the youthful Emil Sinclair recognizes that life consists of opposing forces; however, his older friend Max Demian manages to both clarify and complicate Sinclair's confused thoughts about life's conflicting values. Popular with young adults since it was first published in 1919, this brilliant psychological portrait of a troubled young man's exploration of the duality of human nature has retained its remarkable power as a poignant statement of the terrors and torments of adolescence. It is reprinted here with an informative introduction by Stanley Appelbaum, who has also provided excellent literal English translations on pages facing the German original.
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