| Within the context of how western society viewed "family" from early times until the turn of the 19th century, I have analyzed how the author Hermann Hesse expresses his family's influence in his early works. The conflicts of his background, particularly his close relationship with his mother, as well as the oedipal tension between himself and his father, are reflected in the characters Hesse creates and the family situations he describes in his early prose and poetry.; Hesse's first published novel, Eine Stunde hinter Mitternacht, attempts to work through his problematic mother-son relationship by resorting to irreality and dream in order to seek answers the author does not find until years later under the influence of psychoanalysis. Hermann Lauscher consists of retrospection to his childhood, but mostly describes or distorts his relationship with father and mother, excluding siblings or grandparents. The hero of Hesse's first successful novel, Peter Camenzind, outwardly differs from his predecessors, but his inner life equals that of the author. The novel represents a step into life and self-discovery, no longer bound to the model of Hesses pious parents, yet the oedipal tension remains. In this work, the theme of friendship, basic to Hesse's character, and in role, as demonstrated by the relationships which the hero forms. Unterm Rad largely deals with Hesse's own crisis in regard to school, theology and tradition, and acts as sharp criticism of the harsh educational system in Germany at the time. In various shorter narratives Hesse discusses different methods of child rearing. In Gertrud the author concludes that marriage itself can be rewarding, but is not suitable for the artist, an idea he presents also as the main problem in Rosshalde. Although Hesse at times had suggested that male friendship merely exists as an interim stage, Hesse here places this association above the male-female relationship. In his Knulp Trilogy Hesse finally develops an image of a world outside of marriage and concludes that the artist must be true to himself and, therefore, can only vicariously participate in love and family life. Also, the question of Hesse's mother-complex remains largely unanswered. |
