I think the Nobel Prize was great for him, at least he was recognized somewhat. However, he is not understood in academic circles, at least not anywhere that he needs to be or deserves to be and that is a big loss for humanity as a whole. The problem with this neglect is ultimately the advancement of human thinking, both present and future. He is dead, he doesn't care and when he was a live he didn't care. Well, when reading his Nobel Prize letter, one could tell that he appreciated the attention. However, I personally believe that academia needs to examine Hesse's ideas and works more closely, because he alone pioneered a new paradigm of human thinking: the synthesis of emotions, rationality, art and existence. He absolutely answered Sartre's stunning thesis of being as nothingness, and I might add before Sartre even said it.

Why academia and Hesse? I hate to admit it, but academia is the NFL of football leagues. It is the best collection of continuous and rigorous thinking on Earth. Collectively, academia (globally, not regionally) represents a meshing of the important ideas that drives humanity. Case in point, the Dark Ages were dark because people were just 'out of ideas'.
Sure, Hesse's thoughts can be enjoyed by the individual, as it has been since he wrote them, but that's no comparison to academia's incessant and collective minds.

Where would I put Hermann Hesse? I think he belongs in philosophy. It wouldn't take much to do it. How many novels does he have? Heck, The Glass Beads Game alone could be a course of study. Hesse is our new Plato, our new Aristotle, if only academia would open its eyes. Knock! Knock! Anyone in the Ivory Tower listening?

Maybe some of us should start a Hesse society of some kind, an independent magazine, electronic or otherwise, for the sole purpose of writing rigorous and academic-type of circulation (every time I hear myself say 'academic' I get shivers). I think this would a good beginning.

Anyone interested, please e-mail me at: Rawhide@usa.net

Best,
Duke C. Darkwolf

Nicely put. However, I think I would place Hesse as more of a writer and educator. Yes, he is definitely capable of philosophy and of entertaining some of the deepest questions concerning the human condition. His strength is found in his ardent invitation to philosophy by employing the literary tools of irony and contradiction. For example, by dividing the contemplative life and the public life (Knect being the incarnation of the former and Designori being the ideal of the latter in The Glass Bead Game), Hesse provokes the reader into entertaining the philosophical question of theory and practice - namely, can they co-exist - a question spawned by the greatest thinkers we have hitherto known. Hesse is a masterful writer and educator, but he refrains from making a definitive position on the nature of man; and, thus, refrains from philosophy properly understood.

hello there! I think that Hesse wouldn't want to be placed in some academies, he should be discovered. every fool doesn't need of him and needn't to know about him. It is better to discover him by your open mind, lack of fear, etc. He is for people like us, not for anyone, only for nuts :). So Hesse should be placed(on my oppinion of course) in hearts of people who deserve him. bye bye from jastvo!

I don't mean place or categorize Hesse. In fact, he is quite distinct in that his style is poetic and philosophica - not easily identified with literary and philosophic traditions. He just seems more of a teacher than anything else - not saying definitively this or that, but rather inticing the reader through literary tools to explore and think in poetry, music and philosophy - to get the reader enagaged in his own thoughts, dreams and imaginings.

Hello, I am just discovering Hesse's work, I really like it. Can you tell me what he won the Nobel Prize for? I have been told it has two names. ThanksThanks