Hermann Hesse is one of those writers that allows for one to be picky. He has enough great titles that of those great titles, certain ones rank better, or in this case greater than others. Narcissus and Goldmund is among his great titles, but it’s one of his lesser greats. Steppenwolf, Demian and Siddhartha are still stronger works overall, but Narcissus and Goldmund is not too far behind. A couple of things that keep me from ranking this as his best: 1) the prose is not as rich and complex as that which can be found in those other works and 2) perhaps this is just due to the translation by Ursule Molinaro, but there were several instances of clichés and a flatness within the prose (at times) that did not appear to be present in his best works.
Having said that, the novel poses interesting philosophical questions, this being the battle between hedonism and a life of the mind versus altruism and how it works with a life devoted to the spirit. The tale begins with Goldmund as a young man who is in awe of his older teacher, Narcissus. Narcissus is a monk who seeks to live his life for a power higher than himself, while Goldmund is a wandering, pleasure-seeking artist type. He is selfish and is all too commonly found among artsy types. He wants to live a life of pleasure, but then as he attempts to devote himself to art, he becomes despondent at the time and effort that must be scarified in exchange for the creation of it. He witnesses a myriad of things occurring to the body — from sensual pleasure, to eroticism, to dead bodies eaten alive by rats to imprisonment of his physical self. And in turn, what does such physical imprisonment (or limitation) have upon the pursuit of the mind? All of what Goldmund is experiencing is part of this larger metaphor. Most of the novel consists of Goldmund’s wanderings and it is only nearing the end that Narcissus once again returns.
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