The Prodigy - Hermann Hesse

I have recently resolved to re-read the works of the great German author Hermann Hesse, and as part of this process I revisited his novel The Prodigy, which has also been published under the alternative title Beneath The Wheel.

The novel tells the tale of a gifted young man called Hans from southern Germany who works hard to attain admission to a prestigious theological college, but is subject to constant pressures from his father, schoolteachers and others.  Once at the aforementioned college, he becomes friendly with a young man who questions the value of "abstract" scholasticism. Hans falls from favour with the college hierarchy, his academic performance diminishes, and he suffers from a breakdown, and returns home, eventually enrolling as an apprentice in a manual occupation.

As ever with Hesse's works, there are lots of pleasing passages concerning a person's oneness with nature, and an immersion in the simple pleasures of life. Again, in keeping with the regular Hesse style, there is not much in the way of direct social criticism, and much of his message can be found between the lines, as it were. There is the occasional slice of sarcasm, which underlined for me that the topics covered in this novel were of particular moment for the writer.

The preamble, covering the time prior to our hero's admission to the theological college, is a delight, and worth the "admission fee" on its own.

This novel is ostensibly a critique of the educational system which prevailed in the early twentieth century. More broadly, it explores themes of regimentation, oppression, the folly of some academic pursuits, and conformity as a route to stagnation and decay. Hesse extols the virtues and value of work which brings one closer to nature, which has a tangible result, and which activates and nourishes all of our senses.  For me, it brings home the necessity for a balance in our lives.

Another strand which runs through the story for me is that people should be allowed to find their own path, and that we should not let the success or acquiescence of others become the measure of our own self-esteem, value or prestige.

This is a highly affecting novel, and is to my mind one of the more straightforward and linear of Hermann Hesse's works. Although the story is told from the standpoint of early twentieth-century Europe, the issues are still relevant. Perhaps some of the ills discussed here are less "institutionalized" nowadays, but they are still pervasive and important.

Beneath The Wheel - Hermann Hesse

Over many months, I have blogged my thoughts on some of the novels of Hermann Hesse. My latest read, Beneath The Wheel, was in many respects the least complex and meandering of them all, but at the same time the one whose plot reflected some of my feelings on the course taken by my own life.

The central thrust of Beneath The Wheel is a critique of rigid formal education, and its insidious effect on the development of individuals. It tells the tale of  Hans Giebenrath, a small-town boy who leaves home to attend an academy. In time, he strikes up a friendship with a fellow student, Hermann Heilner, who has much less regard for the strictures of his tutors and teachers.  Eventually Hans assigns greater priority to his relationship with Hermann than to his studies.

After returning to his home town following the onset of a nervous breakdown, Hans struggles to adapt, and is plagued by difficulties, some of them stemming from the estrangement previously induced by the pressures of education.  At the end, Hans is found drowned.

Although Beneath The Wheel was originally published in 1906, some of the subjects which it throws up are as relevant now as ever.  The sometimes stultifying effects of academia and "bourgeois" conformism on mind and spirit, and the measures undertaken by the establishment to maintain people on a pre-defined course in life, this manipulation leavened with the promise that one will be "looked after" in return.

The experiences of Hans on his return to his home town are perhaps a reminder that even when one is allowed to find one's own way in life, and we experience peaks and troughs more intensely and vividly, we are prey to the same pitfalls and pressures as everyone else.  Such an existence is not necessarily idyllic.  At the same time, the denial of natural emotional and spiritual development at a crucial stage of life is often irrevocable.

In addition to its philosophical angles, Beneath The Wheel contains some of Hesse's most evocative and compelling descriptions and depictions of nature and places.

This is another Hesse novel which as well as exercising the grey matter, has the power to make one glad to be alive.