Imagine crafting a coming-of-age tale inspired by Nietzschean struggle with morality and Jung's archetypes. Sprinkle some mysticism inspired by esoteric spiritual christian sects and chronologically set the tale at the edge of a looming war that is poised to reshape the world order bringing forth a new world from the ashes of old. Now, write from your heart, pull words from your soul, describe your very being on paper and culminate all your lived struggles and passions in one tale. Congratulations, you're a Nobel laureate in literature— Hermann Hesse, currently writing a book called Demian.

Bildungsroman: "a novel dealing with one person's formative years or spiritual education"

I recently went out with an author who wrote and published a book, a young adult novel, about the coming of age of a certain girl in a certain environment. I gave it a try. While really well written, it just wasn't for me, I couldn't keep myself amused. Giving up on the book and accepting defeat, I concluded, with a single sample of evidence, that maybe YA books don't speak to me. Until, I came across the term "bildungsroman" on twitter and randomly picked up a copy of Hermann Hesse's Demian at the Book Donation Center Friends of the San Francisco Public Library.

Demian is a bildungsroman written by Hermann Hesse with a pseudonym— Emil Sinclair, who is also the protagonist of the book, which is named after Max Demian, Sinclair's friend & spiritual mentor.

Summary (Spoiler Warning!)

The book is an autobiographical account of Emil Sinclair's life. He recalls his intellectual and spiritual journey with the profound influence of people he meets along the way, most notably— Max Demian. Sinclair grows up in a disciplined, loving German home, a place he recalls as being bright, warm, and protective during his childhood. Though he cherishes the safety of his family home, he’s also aware of the dark, chaotic outside world— a place filled with crime, sin, and pettiness. Early on, Sinclair perceives this duality and, though fearful, anticipates his breaking out of this protective shield. His first venture into the dark was a seemingly harmless lie that led him to be blackmailed and bullied by Franz Kromer, a boy one year older than him— his tormenter, his childhood nightmare. His salvation comes in the form of Max Demian, another boy, one year older, who does something (which we never learn the details of) that ends the hold Kromer has over Sinclair.

Demian is mysterious, he "wills things into being" which is how he describes fixing the Kromer problem and moving his desk closer to Sinclair in their church classes. Demian is a ray of guiding light to Sinclair, a mentor and spiritual guide who has answers to all his troubles, a constant rock of confidence in his turbulent mind. Inspired, Sinclair embarks on a journey of self-discovery, struggling to form connections and feeling incapable of fitting into society. He breaks free of ideologies and tries to find his own knowledge by seeking the truth within. In this quest, he faces uncertainty about his role in the world, grappling with complex ideas of love, sexuality, good and evil, religion, and life’s purpose.

Throughout his journey, Sinclair goes through turbulent periods, mostly in his own head. Including bouts of heavy drinking, failing in school, and becoming infatuated with a girl he never approached and named Beatrice. His obsession with her even leads him to create portraits that, over time, begin to resemble not Beatrice but Demian and ultimately, himself (Sinclair's romantic desires always leads him back to Demian or himself, something I will delineate more on later). He grows increasingly engrossed in the esoteric religious concepts surrounding Abraxas, as discussed with his temporary mentor, Pistorius. Abraxas, a god of duality, "uniting the divine and the diabolical" helps Sinclair reconcile his troubling differences between good and evil. Guided by an inner calling, destiny, Sinclair prevents the suicide of a school companion named Kraumer. Later, he reconciles with Demian and becomes captivated by the sensuality of Demian's mother, Eva. His journey culminates in the turbulent upheaval of being drafted into war and having Demian (seemingly) die next to him after a kiss passed on by Eva.

Major Themes

Epistemology vs Ideology

Epistemology is the search for knowledge independent of belief while ideology is the collective societal belief. Sinclair struggles with accepting the norms of the world and is nudged by Demian, throughout the book, to search for his own truth, to seek his inner callings and destiny. While mostly spiritual, I believe there are hints of political beliefs dropped by Hesse throughout. Hesse hints at criticizing the thirst of modern Europe (of course, in Hesse's time) for a war born out of boredom fueled by ideologies lacking individual truths. But seeking truth is crushing, as described by the first sentence of the book: "I wanted only to try to live in accord with the promptings which came from my true self. Why was that so very difficult?". The crux of this book is Sinclair's reflections on seeking truth & facing difficulties while doing so.

Significance of Dreams

Dreams in this book are of two kinds— mystical prophecies & Jung's psychoanalytical hints for the subconscious mind. The coat of arms above the entrance of his childhood home, the both masculine and feminine being resembling Demian, contorted as well as clear images of Beatrice and Eva, all signify deeper psychological meanings and troubles of Demian's mind. Other dreams, such as that of the sparrow hawk, the impending doom, the bird breaking free from the egg, all are prophecies of events to be unfolded soon. A touch of mysticism by Hesse.

Fear of Romantic Love

Just like with good & evil, Sinclair has trouble reconciling his spiritual search with sexual desires. In his youth, Sinclair is ashamed of his sexuality and renounces all such thoughts. He directs his romantic attraction to drawing portraits of Beatrice, a girl he never approaches, which later resembles himself. In the later part of the book, Sinclair is observed to be attracted, both spiritually and physically, to Eva, Demian's mother. Eva asks Demian to either wholly renounce his desires or feel justified in having them but not alternate between the two and always be scared. She shares the following story with him:

And she [Eva] told me about a youth who had fallen in love with a planet. He stood by the sea, stretched out his arms and prayed to the planet, dreamed of it, and directed all his thoughts to it. But he knew, or felt he knew, that a star cannot be embraced by a human being. He considered it to be his fate to love a heavenly body without any hope of fulfillment and out of this insight he constructed an entire philosophy of renunciation and silent, faithful suffering that would improve and purify him. Yet all his dreams reached the planet. Once he stood again on the high cliff at night by the sea and gazed at the planet and burned with love for it. And at the height of his longing he leaped into the emptiness toward the planet, but at the instant of leaping "it's impossible" flashed once more through his mind. There he lay on the shore, shattered. He had not understood how to love. If at the instant of leaping he had had the strength of faith in the fulfillment of his love he would have soared into the heights and been united with the star. "Love must not entreat" she added "or demand. Love must have the strength to become certain within itself."

Beautiful!

Übermensch or Devil?

Is Demian an embodiment of Nietzsche's Übermensch or is he simply the description of a devil seeking to morally corrupt Sinclair?

Quoting Wikipedia: "The Übermensch is someone who has "crossed over" the bridge, from the comfortable "house on the lake" (the comfortable, easy, mindless acceptance of what a person has been taught, and what everyone else believes) to the mountains of unrest and solitude." While writing Demian's character, Hesse must've thought of him as an Übermensch; if not, surely in Sinclair's mind, Demian is the very embodiment of the idea of Übermensch. Demian pushes Sinclair to think beyond right & wrong and seek the discomfort of truth while he himself appears to have realized all the truths of the world. Since childhood, Demian's intellectualism is absolute, his spirit is unwavered, and he seems to have crossed the house of lakes and well settled in the discomfort of eternal truth.

But I wonder, what incentive does an Übermensch-like figure have to act as a mentor to Sinclair, especially during the periods of depravity? Isn't Demian pushing the boundaries of Sinclair's faith to believe in the devil and forgo the omnipotence of god? Isn't this exactly what a devil would do— corrupt people in the disguise of offering knowledge? Also, twice in the book Demian is observed to do this weird thing where he is no more inside his body— he is motionless, his eyes staring inwards and he seems, while physically in the world, spiritually elsewhere, perhaps hell? Maybe by helping Sinclair with Franz Kromer's torments, the Devil (Demian) was initiating a pact that marked the beginning of Sinclair’s moral corruption.

I like both interpretations, though the latter seems more exaggerated, overreaching, and less accurate than the former.

Anima & Animus

Hesse is inspired by Jungian archetypes of the collective unconscious. According to Jung, every individual harbors both the feminine (anima) and masculine (animus) archetypes within their subconscious. Sinclair perceives Demian and Eva as spiritually superior beings, embodying something beyond conventional notions of man or woman— something more unified, more complete, and profoundly perfect.

Magical Realism

The book has several accounts of magical events. Perhaps the most notable being the description of war towards the very end:

Sinclair sees a city in the cloud, streaming out millions of men and a god, as large as a mountain, resembling the beauty of Eva Frau (Demian's mother) with the mark of Cain on her forehead. She cries, and out of her forehead emerges lovely arches of starry lights. Thousands of sparkling stars emerge, one of which hits Sinclair, hurling him over the ground.

Hesse uses his artistic liberty to describe several other magical events in the book, including the symbolism of the sparrow hawk in the sky, Demian's mysticism, and Sinclair's psyche.

War Sentiment

Demian was published for the first time in 1919, right after the first World War. Naturally, Hesse vocalized his sentiments through the novel. I believe he used Demian's dialogues to voice his opinions about the ignorant masses rotten by ideologies that would lead to the collapse of the current world and onto a new one, through war and the thirst for blood. Quoting Demian's teachings to Sinclair:

“What will come is beyond conception. The soul of Europe is an animal which has been chained up for an immeasurably long period. When it is set free, its first movements will not display much amiability."

The book unexpectedly ends with revealing that Demian is a lieutenant and Sinclair is getting drafted for the war. It ends with the death(?) of Demian next to Sinclair, revealing the brutality of war.

The complete Cycle

Max Demian appears in Sinclair's life as a salvation from the torments of Franz Kromer. Since that event, Sinclair seeks truth and yearns for Demian in his journey of attaining the self. The book concludes with Demian (seemingly) dying next to Sinclair, reminding him, for the first time ever, the childhood incident of Franz Kromer. He finally goes away, leaving Sinclair independent and asking him to seek Demian (the truth) in the voice inside of him. Thus completing the full circle of events and making Sinclair self-reliant.

Personal Conclusion

Borrowing Hesse's analogy— when I regard Demain as purely fictional, it carries a bright fragrant scent of hyacinths in bloom. But the moment I seek actionable real-life insights from it, that sweetness fades, replaced by something cadaverous— a hollow allure of romanticized solitude and muddled intellectual struggles. In other words, I dislike Demian as a self-help or philosophical textbook but I appreciate it as a purely fictional work of art.

Perhaps the reason it reminds me of corpses is the death of my own formative years self. A time which I spent, somewhat like Sinclair, searching for meaning in philosophical textbooks and spiritual knowledge while renouncing to fit in societal ideologies. Sinclair is deeply troubled, obsessive, skeptical, too individualistic and lacks the ability to learn from the most important source of knowledge: people. His folly is his sense of pride and lack of love for the ordinary people.

But who knows, after all, I too am just a bird fighting my way out of multiple eggs and being reborn perpetually.

And no, I am not seeking some gnostic arcane occultist sect's esoteric diety named Abraxas to reconcile my duality.