Siddharta

Hesse's tension between the necessity of experience and its transcendence is tenuously redeemed by the presentation of the compassionate Vasudeva and the silent teaching of nature in the guise of the river. In one sense the river is presented by Hesse as a teaching that transcends the many words and concepts of the Buddha. Siddhartha is a coming-of-age novel that attracted a generation of young searchers, a work of existential fiction, an attractive tale of all-or-nothing. It is not a didactic or spiritual manual. The eremitic model redeems the protagonist and the story itself, and that, perhaps, is its chief virtue.

Language : English