Disclaimer: I am not expert when it comes to the subject or Hermann Hesse's philosophy so please excuse my blabber and do get the book and read it without fail.
I must have mentioned this earlier too that I am an atheist, but every-time I go through a book like this one which talks to so much about Life, Philosophy, Religion and belief, it does changes me a bit from inside (not that I will start going to a temple to pray) and makes me slightly a better human than how I was a day before. This is my second Hermann Hesse and I must tell you that he is the master of philosophy, one of the favorite writers of my own parents who totally refuse to share their copy of any of his books and I am supposed to get my own if I plan to read him. And just like my last from him "Siddhartha" this too is based on the life of a nomad named Goldmund who is always on move, never settles at one place but takes his life like a journey (superb at that) and tries to find the meaning of it all. I love this genre where the protagonist keeps moving, keeps meeting new people, keeps making relations to break away from them and land into new one, it keeps me wondering if there is ever going to be an end to his story and what kind of an ending one can expect to a philosophical book. Still Hermann no doubt puts a smile on my face, second time in a row by giving a perfect ending, you've got to read the magical book if you want to know how the journey ends for Goldmund and his most loved teacher cum best friend Narziss. A brilliant book on friendship and teacher student relationship.
Goldmund, a young kid is forced to join a cloister after his mother's death as his father decides to abandon him for reasons unknown to him. Coming from a royal family the new life is a surprise to him but he is delighted to have a master like Narziss, who himself is not so old, hardly a few years elder to Goldmund but is totally loved by his colleagues and chief of the monastery they work with. How they develop a repo between teacher and student, and what adventures young Goldmund goes through with his cloister mates is the story all about. After spending a few years at the monastery Goldmund decides that he has learned all he could and goes on to have his own learning with in the school called life and take each day as it came his way. The only purpose of his life as per him is to love and be loved in return, he is more of life for the pleasure of flesh guy whereas his master Narziss is more of live for the enlightenment of soul types. But fortunately they are never at the warring ends and their face to face interactions are a pleasure to read. The new masters that Goldmund comes across in his journey is again a terrific tale of loving and learning, how he aspires to become the perfect pupil and deliver what is expected of him, how many times he fails in his eyes more than anybody else's is the rest of the story. I never expected to come across this kind of a story from Hermann Hesse which totally bowled me over and made me yet again a fan of the great man. Especially the way he has touched the subject of sensuality yet never going over-board and delivers a solid punch in the end. I am not sure how this book was treated by the then critics as it does explores the sexual orientation of Narziss too (very subtly) in a most beautiful way but totally to my surprise and shock.
Another thing that I loved about it all was the way Goldmund keeps getting flashes of his past life and his association with his mother which was too short lived yet she keeps coming back in his senses, that was so beautifully done. As I said this is one of the most beautiful books based on Love, Lust, Lose, Friendship as well as Teacher Student relationship and like I mentioned, you have to read this to know who teaches whom more, is it the teacher or is it the student who teaches his teacher. Although I am no expert on neither on the book like this or on the Authors like Herman Hesse, so please forgive me if my blabber makes no sense but do read the book without fail and come back with your thoughts.
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