Kaspar is the kind of play of truly incredible depth that only comes along once in a great while. In my mind it is on the same level as the tragedies of Shakespeare and the Greeks. At first glance, this is a rather pretentious play about language and language aquisition, but it runs much deeper and has all sorts of implications for all sorts of people. If you are at all interested in language, society, psychology, psycho, socio, or antho-liguistics, human development, if you have ever worked with mentally [handicapped] or autistic children, or if you are interested in what it is to be human, check out this play. One caveat, though: One reviewer commented that the play consists of two columns of text designed to be _read_ simultaneously. This is not true, the play is not meant to be read at all, it is meant to be performed. Unless you put considerable energy into penetrating the text, you will get little out of reading it without seeing it performed.
The other plays in this volume are also interesting and worth checking out, although a bit self-referential to the theatre. I have heard that the translator has changed the new edition, including altering the title of "Offending the Audience" to "Public Insult" wich, to me, ruins it completely. Anyway, check out this book, but go see a performance if you can.

Found on the shelves of Book World in New Haven. Seen on the stage in Chicago. Still in my hands years later. Read in excerpts often and in entirety every few years - because I'm not sure why the play Kaspar has such a hold on me. And because it thrills me.

Perhaps because it points back to before my mind was stuffed with concepts. Perhaps because I sense my thoughts are in a rut. I don't know. What words to choose? What choice?

I know no similar work of literature. Wonderful to see performed. A challenge to read being 2 columns per page meant to be recited sometimes interleaved, sometimes simaltaneously. But even though it is not performed often, you can nevertheless benefit by reading it alone. I certainly did until I saw the play 4 years after reading it. Even better than reading it to yourself, find some friends and recite it together. You probably won't capture all of the staged play's power, but you may have more fun than a lone read. Still, the theatrics are only a part of Kaspar's challenge. Why do you think as you do? How much of one's thinking is explanatory fiction? Where did the store of phrases come from? Is it helping?

In some strange attachment, the play Kaspar figures deeply in my self-definition. Foolish, to let a powerful warning about language define me. I don't even think I understand it that well. But long after I have set aside many books, this one continues to challenge and amaze me.

...goes to Peter Handke's Kaspar. I first read the play because I had been cast in the show, and frankly I thought it was another psudo-intellectual work intended only to confuse the audience with bitter attempts at meaning through poetry which, at the time, I had seen and worked on all too much of. Kaspar was different. Seven years later, I'm still reflecting on the experience I had with that text, re-reading it, discovering new things, and marveling at the genius of Peter Handke in every regard. I have never known any contemporary playwright to be so didactic yet at the same time so evocative. Most writers with this kind of material just dish out a pile of footnotes in dialogue form. Handke does neither; rather, he paints many unseen facets of profound themes surrounding socialization, language development, and object recognition, to name a few. The way Handke deals with concepts of learning and how we take a typical learning process for granted is illuminating in ways that no theory book or psychology text can offer - and shouldn't that really be the point of theatre? To offer the audience something they can't get anywhere else?

This is a directors play, an actors play, even a designer's play - but most triumphantly it is Handke's play. I can think of few writers outside Shakespeare who can manage to leave so much to those producing the work while still leaving an indelible thumbprint on the final product. My only lament is that the english language is deprived of a writer of this magnitude.

An excellent psychography of the modern city dweller.
An ordinary working man suddenly senses that all his world is falling apart. He "reacts" to this with apathy and the conduction of a murder that has no apparent motive; no attempt is made to rationalize it. All of a sudden, he is a murderer. He then goes on moving from place to place, looking without seeing, focusing on details rather than on meanings. He passively waits for what is to come, without really thinking about it. The ending is sublime...

Demian, as described by Hesse in the original title, is the "story of a youth." The book relates the experiences of Emil Sinclair, a boy at the beginning of the 20th century whose model childhood is tranformed through his encounter with Max Demian.

The novel reflects Hesse's fascination with mythology and religion. An extensive symbolism drawing on both Christianity and the theories of C. G. Jung permeate the work. The central message of the novel is a powerfully affirming one: that amidst chaos, amidst disintegration, one can remain loyal to a value system that has existed since the first human being.

I have read Hesse's works for many years, and this novel remains my favorite. It has some remarkable scenes, including Sinclair's conversations with the organist Pistorius and the fantastic conclusion on a World War I battlefield in Flanders.

Hermann Hesse is without a doubt one of the most intriguing writers I have ever read. However, when reading reviews and hearing other people's opinions, I usually feel that peopl misunderstood what he is like and what his character represents. This is particularly the case with Demian. This book is often described as a great insight into what it is like going from child to teenager and then entering the adult world. However, I believe that Sinclair, the main character, is not entering the normal world on any level. In fact he is leaving it. The first time he meets Demian, both know there is something different about him. As their friendship/relationship grows, it become smore and more clear that they should not be part of the normal world, where people to choose to be part of a group, to share a religion, to accept the truth as it is told to them. Demian shows sinclair a new world, where people of a higher intelligence, and by that I am referring to more than simply an academic intelligence, will find each other. Those who are different, who choose to be individuals instead of be part of the the main stream mass meet, are Hesse's version of the ubermensch. Where Nietzsche claims that all men can let go of the standards and morals of our society, their religion, their need to be part of a group, can focus on themselves and become better, become the ubermensch, someone who is above all others, someone who is not alone in his existence, but who is alone in his own life, Hesse contradicts this with an ubermensch who is born different, someone who will find others like him, someone who will has a clear vision of what people are like and who he is, an individual, an ubermensch. Hermann Hesse's Demian is not at all about growing up, or understanding "how the world works", Hesse is not for the average reader, but he will only be understood by those who understand themselves and can see themselves as individuals instead of part of the mass. On a more personal note: The very strong homosexual tendencies in this book intensify the emotional appeal of the book and are also simply satisfying.

If the text is to speak to me sans the authorial function surrounding Hesse, "Demian" speak one thing loudly to me - Nietzsche, the Overman is in the flesh.

Apollo and Dionysis are doing battle in Emil Sinclair - specially when he meets Max Demian - an individual in touch with his "natures" and uses them to produce personal greatness, strength and Emil Sinclair. We are all, in a sense, all in a state of becoming - just like Emil, just like Max.

When Max introduces Abraxas the whole texture of the book changes - it really becomes liberating. We are reminded that we are raw stuff - stuck in an existential scenario and the limitlessness of our lives. Max embodies the qualities I would imagine Nietzsche's beloved overman to be - strong and sensitive and not allowed to pity. Demian is wonderful introduction to the complex psyche of Hesse, Demian allows readers to ease their way into his Oeuvre. Part surreal, part mystical, Demian has to be read several times to appreciate its many layers. This volume is one I plan to revisit, and soon.

Miguel Llora

Another great book by Hermann Hesse decribing the search of Peter for peace...

Peter coming for a very small town is taken by a priest to learn and get cultured. He spends a lot of his life trying to get that perfect combination, he goes through a tragedy in the loss of a friend, and misery romances.

Boppi shows up and life changes, standards change, and Peter starts seeing the beauty in the small everyday behaviors...

Hermann Hessse expresses in Peter some of the things he went through, the pain in the beginning before finally understanding what life is all about...

I've read all works of Hesse that I could find during my teenage years. I read them not as books but as a starving person would devour delicious food.

I have not yet encountered another book (Hesse or not) that is as striking as Peter Camerzind. That's partly because I had some tough times during my teenage years and in Peter C. Hesse is 100% realistic to me.

It's been 12-13 years that I had not read Hesse again with maybe with one or two exceptions. As I said before, I read Hesse when I was a teenager and I had no intentions to analyze, criticize or whatever ! There are too many people who go into to analytical descriptions of Hesse's works. Don't do it. I do not think that Hesse's works are intellectual. I doubt he is after anything intellectual, rational or analytical. It could be the opposite ! Forget about the feeling you had while reading, do you think a wolf wandering in the steppes would philosophize ?

I felt Peter Camerzind deep in my heart. That's all I have to say.

Hermann Hesse is a superb writer. This book is very good for a first novel (and very good for a novel, period). I have read all of Hesse's major novels except Gertrude and I can honestly say that none of them moved me in the way which this book did. Hesse's description of the yearnings of one's soul are always stirring. But the story of the narrator's relationship with the hunchback, Boppi, is unforgettable. To claim that Peter did not find what he was looking for and that "he does not enjoy life", as one reviewer claims, is absurd. It completely misses Hesse's point. Anwyays, read the book and find out for yourself -- don't take my word for it.

Hermann Hesse's second novel, Beneath the Wheel, concerns the plight of young Hans Giebenrath who is a highly-prized student of his village. the pastor, the school master and Hans' father contrive to make the boy work hard so that he can take the examination that would allow him to enter the academy.

In a society rife with class-consciousness, a middle class youth has few options. An academic career leading to a church position is the highest they can achieve. There is not much between. To be a clerk or artisan is looked down upon at his school. Hans achieves well.

But his success is not enough. he is worked harder and at the academy he finds a friendship that clearly demonstrates that this type of striving is wrong-headed. His friend, Heilner, is considered a revel and forced to leave the school. The hypocrisy of the staff is evident in the losses the school suffers.

Hans returns home in disgrace having experienced a breakdown no one diagnoses correctly. His own death is something only the shoemaker Flaig can assess correctly.

Some of this plot seems aubiographical, but Hesse makes a point in 1906, the year in which this book was published, that a society that divides people by class and forces their young into desperate work is doomed. The wheel of time, of fate, of relentless, mindless motion will grind the ones who seek something more transcendant.

The book is touching. Yet in light of Hesse's other works, this book is somewhat immature. It certainly remains a good start and the author will go on to write farw more challening material. Yet Beneath the Wheel offers challenge to the x-generation. Are they, too, mindlessly achieving without attending to the transcendant?

This is a story about the faults of education and how they push gifted kids too hard. In an effort to maximize their intellectual talents they leave out expression of soul and of the spirit. In the process of trying to cram their brains they may destroy their desire to learn and maybe even their lives....

In this story Hesse presents a completely opposite personality to the main character. Hans (the main character) meets Hermann, who is more concerned with poetry and the soul than academics like Hans. These opposite characteristics seem to attract each other and they become best friends.

Overall this is a very good book and I would reccomend it to all Hesse fans. However, don't start with this book if you've never read Hesse before.

I couldn't have read this book at a better time. Like a lot of American high-schoolers in the "fast track" to college, I was feeling way overworked. I never had time anymore to enjoy nature, good books or anything else. It seemed that my life was school, and nothing else.

On a whim, I picked this up. "Beneath the Wheel," or "Unterm Rad" (auf Deutsch) is the story of a brilliant young man (in the prodigy sense) who is worked to death by those who unconsciously care nothing for him, but to see his advancement.

While I never experienced anything as extreme as Hans, this book really made me question why I was doing what I was doing. Why was I working myself to death in high school? Was I learning anything? Was I growing as a person?

This book is wonderful because Hesse tells the story is such a simple and poetic way; and it is translated marvelously. Simply a joy to read. I can read it over and over again. So, take heed, reader. Enjoy this book and spend many an afternoon questioning the merits of forced education; and different systems of learning. A good technical follow-up is "Teaching As A Subersive Activity." Check it out.