Hermann Hesse in Ticino: Looking for traces

It is nice to travel with men who do not exist, actually. One is 108 years, the other 85 and the third only 82. We drove all over Switzerland, up the mountains and down to the lakes. In Zurich and Basel, we drank wine for wine, so the two elders liked it. We made a detour to the Swabian, because the third was there in the monastery. Of course, we did not always get along, but we still loved each other, at least that's what I would say. The oldest, Peter Camenzind, I first met on this trip. The Harry Haller I met in my student days, he called himself Steppenwolf. And Mr. Goldmund was a veritable womanizer.



Before this trip, I asked friends if they read Hermann Hesse. Sure, many said, and some remembered the 1970s, Lucy in the sky with siddharta, you remember, and then they got that dreamy look. Or the significant look at "Unterm Rad" and "Demian". Hesse is one of the most widely read writers in Germany. In 1946 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. And in all his books, he always tells of his own life, of the yearning for freedom, of the need to rebel. That's why we were so fascinated by young readers of Hesse. And how will I go with his books today? Here in Ticino, where he lived from 1919 until his death in 1962, I am beginning to read again.



Lake Lugano, Ticino. I see nothing. Fog sways over the water, the gray makes the landscape elegant and me slow. A good day for books, I take the "Camenzind" and sit in a bar.

Ticino, "Peter Camenzind" appears in 1904 and tells the story of a young man who travels and becomes a writer. He wants to live free, hard and beautiful, he does not want to be bent. I do not read and do not know what's going on outside. Wind has blown away the fog, palms on the shore bend, the sun winks, I'll go out, just read this section.

"Mountains, sea, storm and sun were my friends, told me and brought me up, and for a long time I was dearer and better known than any human and human fate, but my darlings, which I preferred to the shining lake and the sad pines and sunny rocks the clouds." The quiet, lonely Ticino: here in the mountains near Biasca



"Show me the thing in the world that is more beautiful than clouds, soft, soft and peaceful like the souls of newborns ... they float silvery in a thin layer ... they creep darkly and slowly like murderers ... they are the eternal symbol of all wandering, all seeking, longing and Heimbegehrens. "

I drove after the clouds, winding roads, past mountain villages. It is a lonely area. Once I stop and look into an abandoned house with an open wooden door. Inside someone made a fire. Immediately I think of Camenzind on one of his walks. In Astano in the Malcantone region there is a green-blue mountain lake. You can camp and fish here. And sit next to a kiosk on bright yellow plastic chairs. And Camenzind in the middle? "So often I had the feeling of a horrible loneliness between me and the people, so I ran out into the woods, on hills, on country roads ... behind dreams, of which no one has yet fulfilled," I hear him say. Immediately I share his melancholy, about nature and loneliness, this Camenzind can tell so beautiful and without pathos that it grabs me. I drive back, over hills and country roads, the clouds pour out again water, steeples and forests shine.

"In Basel I rented a suburban dwelling, unpacked my belongings and began to work, looking forward to living in a quiet city where no one knew me." Beautiful past: music school in Horgen near Zurich

Zurich & Basel. In cities there are people, people can disappoint, they have been able to do that before and still do today. Then you can go to the inn. It used to be called "The Golden Swan" or "The Deer", and they are still called today, but the "deer" has a souvlaki and the "swan" has tagliatelle. Camenzind might have liked that, but he does not go to the inn for dinner. "I'm a drinker and a shy one," he says, ordering two liters of wine, Vaudländer or red Veltliner. After two glasses, I say goodbye politely, I still have a date.

The book

Peter Camenzind: A young man leaves his homeland in the mountains, moves to the cities and becomes a writer. He remains a loner, is disappointed with the modern age and finally goes back to his village, where they let him be as he is (305 p., 7 Euro, Suhrkamp Verlag)

The steppe wolf

"We met in a café the next afternoon and Hermione was already sitting there drinking tea and smiling, showing me a newspaper where she found my name." Finest Art Nouveau: "Café Odeon" in Zurich

Zurich, It could have been at the Bellevue in Zurich, in the "Café Odeon". A man, almost 50 years old, listens to jazz music, he goes to the dance hall, the music seems raw and wild. He lacks what one needs to celebrate: the innocence, the ease and the momentum. He will learn it, dancing and being crazy. Today the "Odeon" is a modern café with photos of former dance balls hanging on the walls. Young families are having breakfast, a woman is typing on her laptop, some are reading a newspaper. Is there anybody sitting here with similar thoughts to Harry Haller in the 1920s? Does one feel like a steppenwolf, alien in an incomprehensible world?

"In a bleak suburban pub, I rested for a moment, drank water and cognac, ran again, driven by the devil, up and down the steep, crooked streets of the old town ..." In the old town of Basel: village atmosphere and trendy bars

I think Zurich is beautiful and rich and the mountain panorama on the lake is grandiose, all clichés. The Steppenwolf, whom I already knew, also seems to me like a cliché: his disgust at the world and the people, his strange love for two women, his self-loathing and his arrogance. Even days later, when I'm already in Basel, where Hesse let the Steppenwolf live, I'm irritated. At the fish market there is no more fish to buy, but still the beautiful fountain from the 14th century. And too much traffic. Green tram from the right, yellow from the left, white bus from the back. The steppenwolf often came here, opposite the fountain was his family pub "Zum Stahlhelm". There he watched the citizens and hated "this satisfaction, comfort, this fat prosperous breed of the mediocre".

"The Steppenwolf was a man of about 50 years, who a few years ago called in my aunt's house and was looking for a furnished room." He rented the attic and the small bedroom next to it. " Culture Square Basel: with world-famous museums and the internationally renowned art fair Art Basel

Basel, I walk along the Rhine, where Basel is the most beautiful, on the promenade opposite the cathedral. Some jog, the others sit on a bench, many phone. I do not like steppe wolves that rise above other humans. The refusal to adapt, and to celebrate their individuality. And why did I like Steppenwolf as a student? Because I (like many others) protested against an authoritarian society and its norms. Today it has long been a good thing to be anti-authoritarian and individual. Bottom line, I count, it's everywhere. But the book appears in 1927, the First World War is nine years ago, the second will start in twelve years. Already before, people, their thoughts and feelings are brought in line with propaganda and violence. The fairytale of the Steppenwolf also plays a part in this well-known catastrophe.

The book

The steppenwolf: Harry Haller can no longer bear his inner turmoil and wants to kill himself. There he meets Hermione, who shows him an unknown magical world. Here he encounters the multifaceted aspects of his personality and finds a way out of his crisis (229 p., 7 euros, Suhrkamp Verlag)

Maulbronn & Montagnola - Narcissus and Goldmund

"From the hand of the heavens they take hour after hour whatever is given to them: sun, rain, snow, fog, heat and cold, well-being and need, there is no time for them, no history, no aspiration and not that strange idol the development and progress that homeowners so desperately believe. " Eerily beautiful: the Black Forest with its spruces and firs

Maulbronn, Baden-Wuerttemberg. Today is the Middle Ages, a knight sells quark balls, a boy learns archery, his uncle drinks mead, I hate history festivals. But I love this monastery, the well chapel, the cloister and the Madonna. I would like to eat in the refectory, discuss in the parliaments, and walk in the oratory. But first, I have nothing to look for as a woman, and secondly, everything is being renovated.

When the monastery was not yet a World Heritage Site, 1930 published one of the most beautiful and opposite friend pairs of literature: Narcissus and Goldmund. Here in the monastery Hermann Hesse let her story begin. The monk and thinker Narcissus seeks the spiritual approach to God, Goldmund seeks his experiences in art and sensuality. He has to go out into the world, and the world was "ready to please him and hurt him".

"... and then he saw a figure standing in a side chapel, who spoke so much to him and put him on, that he turned to her with loving eyes and looked at her with devotion and deep admiration." It was a mother of God Wood." Maulbronn: the best preserved monastery in the Middle Ages north of the Alps

Wandering around in the area with Goldmund is nice.I can imagine him in the marketplace in Calw, I see him dancing and flirting in the hunting lodge Hirsau. He loved the women and she loved him. So much Goldmund tenderness I did not notice before. So I have to read while eating pleasure. Between Maultaschen and Spätzle I see Goldmund carving Madonnas, becoming murderers and wandering through villages plagued by the plague.

Montagnola, Ticino, I was at the Museo Hermann Hesse, I had a drink in the café next door. Everywhere Hermann looks at me, as a poster from the walls, from the books on the shelf, from CDs with his poems. Outside, two young men walk by with a stroller. Why did not Hesse, who had three sons, give birth to Camenzind, Goldmund and Steppenwolf? Family and art, that was incompatible with men at that time.

It's time to say goodbye to the books of landscape, of the men who do not exist, actually. And which one has become my favorite?

Only the next morning, when a loud church bell awakens at seven in the morning, when I remember dreams of forests and persecution and a monastery, I know the answer: Goldmund. Because his story appeals to a longing that people feel earlier, today and hopefully the day after tomorrow. Narcissus, Goldmund's best friend, can explain this better than I do: "In the end, it was probably bolder and greater to lead a goldmouth life, to leave the tide and confusion, to commit sins and to bear their bitter consequences to lead a clean life away from the world with washed hands. "

The book

Narcissus and Goldmund: The story takes place in the Middle Ages. Goldmund wanders through villages and towns, getting to know the love and mystery of art. At the end of his life he returns to the monastery where he meets Narcissus, his first teacher and friend (305 p., 7 Euro, Suhrkamp Verlag)

Nice accommodations

Hotel Restaurant Roessle. Cozy hotel in the center of Calw. The rooms are called like the stories of Hesse, z. B. "Siddharta" or "Gerbersau". Good food in the restaurant and rich breakfast. DZ / F from 85 Euro (Hermann-Hesse-Platz 2, 75365 Calw, Tel. 07051/79 00-0, www.roessle-calw.de). Hotel Schwan. 15 kilometers from Zurich, in the historic center of Horgen. This beautiful house is 550 years old, was always hostel and in the Middle Ages also Gemeinerdehaus. Very good breakfast in the tavern in the house, where you can also have dinner well. DZ / F from 170 Euro (Zugerstraße 9, CH-8810 Horgen, Tel. 0041/44/725 47 19, www.hotel-schwan.ch). Hotel Carina Carlton. The house is separated only by the quayside on Lake Lugano. The rooms are partly solid, partly simple. There is a small swimming pool on a rooftop terrace and many small bars and trattorias nearby. Double / F from 100 Euro (Riva da Sant Antoni, CH-6922 Morcote, Tel. 0041/91/996 11 31, www.carina-morcote.ch).

Read on

Hermann Hesse: the Wanderer and his shadow. In the biography of Gunnar Decker the life stations of Hermann Hesse are recorded. It is also about the internal contradictions of the author as well as the reception of his work during his lifetime and after his death (704 p., 26 euros, Hanser Verlag 2012).

Hesse's women, by Bärbel Reetz. Many previously unpublished documents not only give a picture of the three wives of Hermann Hesse, but also show his difficulties to get involved in family and relationships (426 p., 16.99 euros, Island Verlag 2012).

UFO OVNI en AFRICA A Quantium Leap (March 2024).



Germany, Zurich, Basel, Regina Kramer, Spurensuche, Switzerland, Nobel Prize for Literature