Name: Demian
Rating: 4.029310344827586 (290 reviews)
ISBN: 9788422609216

Hermann Hesse

Demian

Demian: Die Geschichte von Emil Sinclairs Jugend

First published in 1919 under the pseudonym "Emil Sinclair", the narrator of the story. Emil Sinclair is a young boy who was raised in a bourgeois home. He is confused as to what his life is and is going to be. Max Demian, friend and mentor of Emil, leads Emil to his eventual self-realisation.

ikkychan

Bought this book because of River Phoenix's parents and found out the whole concept of BTS's 'Boy Meet Evil' was from it. <br /><br />I'd like to call the story as The Lamentable Internal Conflict of a Certain Middle Class Brat but i guess it's so much more than that (?) with a touch of repressed sexuality and mysticism. It tells the life of Sinclair who happened to meet a very peculiar boy who goes by the name Max Demian. Suddenly he was thrown into an existential crises at the young tender age of 11 and discover an evilness within him. He tries his best to reject it and pretend to go living as an upright, respectable prodigal son but yeah, how long you can put up that mask and reject the sweet sweet ordeal of the devil anyway. It's surely exhausting.<br /><br />But I concur that I do have sweet spot in my shallow heart for this kind of comin-of-age stories.

A young man awakens to selfhood and to a world of possibilities beyond the conventions of his upbringing in Nobel Prize winner Hermann Hesse’s beloved novel Demian. Emil Sinclair is a quiet boy drawn into a forbidden yet seductive realm of petty crime and defiance. His guide is his precocious, mysterious classmate Max Demian, who provokes in Emil a search for self-discovery and spiritual fulfillment. A brilliant psychological portrait, Demian is given new life in this translation, which together with James Franco’s personal and inspiring foreword will bring a new generation to Hesse’s widely influential coming-of-age novel.

To live this love seemed my destiny, to taste of it my fate. I longed for it and was terrified of it at the same time, but it was always there, always above me.

a reminder that as you live, you will always carry traces of the world with you: "...the slime and eggshell of a primeval past," where, "The bird fights its way out of the egg. The egg is the world," and the only way to transform it would be to become fully humanized; to find and achieve the complete individual.

while it can be argued, demian to myself is the return of a child to its mother; the ever present urge to come back to the natural world, retreat, or attempt to find answers within one's origin. it's no question that the entirety of demian is steeped in religion, or simply belief, where the earliest of our kind invented/turned to/found in order to arrive at ourselves. it begs you to find each action literal but each thought behind it completely symbolic. and for such purposes despite my qualms about the creation myth i'd liken this search as if eve came into the world without adam but with the knowledge of his existence; from whose rib was i made? what matter is my equal? — and so the individual is left to seek being understood without first reaching within themselves. 

i am very late in reading hesse, even though i've been interested for a very long time; demian, through all its fog, has captured me completely; while yes, ambitious, thoroughly referential, intertextual, a disturbing amount of nietzsche in its foundations which even through my misgivings of him still has rudimentary authority on morality, and whatever demon from psychology he also conjured — hesse's demian is magnetic, faithful, that is, in terms of guiding whatever soul happens upon this text; it does not, however, tell you what you will find, once you've followed this attraction, your demian, whatever whoever it is, because even if this novel itself helps you, as put by it as well: "We can understand each other, but each of us can truly grasp and interpret only himself."

shen

“To live this love seemed my destiny, to taste of it my fate. I longed for it and was terrified of it at the same time, but it was always there, always above me.”


a reminder that as you live, you will always carry traces of the world with you: "...the slime and eggshell of a primeval past," where, "The bird fights its way out of the egg. The egg is the world," and the only way to transform it would be to become fully humanized; to find and achieve the complete individual.

while it can be argued, demian to myself is the return of a child to its mother; the ever present urge to come back to the natural world, retreat, or attempt to find answers within one's origin. it's no question that the entirety of demian is steeped in religion, or simply belief, where the earliest of our kind invented/turned to/found in order to arrive at ourselves. it begs you to find each action literal but each thought behind it completely symbolic. and for such purposes despite my qualms about the creation myth i'd liken this search as if eve came into the world without adam but with the knowledge of his existence; from whose rib was i made? what matter is my equal? — and so the individual is left to seek being understood without first reaching within themselves. 

i am very late in reading hesse, even though i've been interested for a very long time; demian, through all its fog, has captured me completely; while yes, ambitious, thoroughly referential, intertextual, a disturbing amount of nietzsche in its foundations which even through my misgivings of him still has rudimentary authority on morality, and whatever demon from psychology he also conjured — hesse's demian is magnetic, faithful, that is, in terms of guiding whatever soul happens upon this text; it does not, however, tell you what you will find, once you've followed this attraction, your demian, whatever whoever it is, because even if this novel itself helps you, as put by it as well: "We can understand each other, but each of us can truly grasp and interpret only himself."

A brilliant psychological portrait of a troubled young man's quest for self-awareness, this coming-of-age novel achieved instant critical and popular acclaim upon its 1919 publication. A landmark in the history of 20th-century literature, it reflects the author's preoccupation with the duality of human nature and the pursuit of spiritual fullfillment.

tori 👻

“The bird fights its way out of the egg. The egg is the world. Who would be born must first destroy a world. The bird flies to God. That God's name is Abraxas.”

wow, just wow

A friend's mother, war, and newly discovered self-respect draw a young man toward his psychological awakening.

The Story of Emil Sinclair's Youth

kinda gay and life changing herman hesse you rocked my world

Helena

Rosa

Virginia L

Rovino ogni poesia dicendo: scommetto che dopo ci siamo sentiti tutti un poco filosofi.
Sta di fatto che penso che abbia ragione, nonostante mi sembri uno di quei libri che lotti fra il ''non dirai sul serio'' e ''potrebbe cambiarmi l'esistenza''.

Een kort maar goed boek. Ik wist niet wat ik ervan moest verwachten en was helemaal niet voorbereid op de esoterische thema’s die centraal staan in het boek. Ik had niet verwacht dat een boek uit 1919 zo’n relatief modern verhaal zou vertellen. De “twee werelden” die eigenlijk een zijn passen bij een conclusie die ik zelf ook eerder heb gemaakt. Ik trek hem echter niet zo radicaal door, maar het is fascinerend om dit inzicht mee te maken. Ironisch dat dit ook een boek is over iemand die op groeit. Dit was een vaag boek maar zeker een aanrader, vooral als je de twee werelden nog hebt.

Bart Veldhuijsen 

sabina

I wasn't sure if I would enjoy this but it was a surprisingly good read. I limited myself to reading a chapter a day, but I probably would have read it in a day if I hadn't.

hermann hesse and his writings, especially Demian, saved my teenage years

esma

Emil Sinclair'in Gencliginin Öyküsü

kendini arama yolculuğu, kendini bulmaya çalışmanın ıstıraplı öyküsü. küçüklüğünde dünyayı ikiye ayırmış: aydınlık ve karanlık dünya. aydınlık dünya ailesi, evi, rahat bölgesi ama hep karanlığı merak etmiş. küçükken söylediği küçük yalanla başlamış karanlık dünyaya adım atması ona göre. belki birçoğumuza önemsiz denecek kadar küçük olan bir yalan, fakat kendisi için hem karanlık dünyaya adım atma bahanesi hem de yaşayacağı ıstırap ve acıların başlangıcı. yolculuğunda ona yol gösteren, içinde kıskançlık ve hayranlığın karıştığı his barındırdığı biri çıkıyor karşısına; Demian. sonra kendine yolculuğu başlıyor. 

"İnsanın kendini kendisine götüren yolu izlemesi kadar dünyada nefret ettiği başka bir şey daha yoktur." diye tanımlıyor yolculuğu.

"Yıldızlara benziyordu tıpkı, çevresi kendine özgü bir atmosferle kuşatılmıştı, kendine özgü yasalar çerçevesinde yaşayıp gidiyordu." diye de tanımlıyor Demian'ı.

Sonra Pistorius ve en sonunda Demian'ın annesi Bayan Eva; benliğini bulması yolunda izlediği kişiler.

Kitap güzel başladı, sorular sordurttu, cevabı okuyucuya bıraktı birçoklarında. sayfa sayısı az olsa bile okuması zordu bence. sonlara doğru mistik bir hava kazanmaya başladı kitap. belki bu nedenle seveceğimi düşündüğüm kadar sevemedim. 

nese

kendini arama yolculuğu, kendini bulmaya çalışmanın ıstıraplı öyküsü. küçüklüğünde dünyayı ikiye ayırmış: aydınlık ve karanlık dünya. aydınlık dünya ailesi, evi, rahat bölgesi ama hep karanlığı merak etmiş. küçükken söylediği küçük yalanla başlamış karanlık dünyaya adım atması ona göre. belki birçoğumuza önemsiz denecek kadar küçük olan bir yalan, fakat kendisi için hem karanlık dünyaya adım atma bahanesi hem de yaşayacağı ıstırap ve acıların başlangıcı. yolculuğunda ona yol gösteren, içinde kıskançlık ve hayranlığın karıştığı his barındırdığı biri çıkıyor karşısına; Demian. sonra kendine yolculuğu başlıyor. 

"İnsanın kendini kendisine götüren yolu izlemesi kadar dünyada nefret ettiği başka bir şey daha yoktur." diye tanımlıyor yolculuğu.

"Yıldızlara benziyordu tıpkı, çevresi kendine özgü bir atmosferle kuşatılmıştı, kendine özgü yasalar çerçevesinde yaşayıp gidiyordu." diye de tanımlıyor Demian'ı.

Sonra Pistorius ve en sonunda Demian'ın annesi Bayan Eva; benliğini bulması yolunda izlediği kişiler.

Kitap güzel başladı, sorular sordurttu, cevabı okuyucuya bıraktı birçoklarında. sayfa sayısı az olsa bile okuması zordu bence. sonlara doğru mistik bir hava kazanmaya başladı kitap. belki bu nedenle seveceğimi düşündüğüm kadar sevemedim. 

Hermione

it was definitely uhm interesting. i read a couple of reviews to maybe get a clearer look on how i feel about the book. 
its point seems to be to be touching and to give you a different perspective on the world in general. i think that worked and i was intrigued by many of the points made
however the plot was confusing at times and it didnt help on shedding light to the actually intellectual points of the book. 
it was definitely food for thought though and i enjoyed it

DEMIAN 

“Demian enseigne à Émile Sinclair une autre morale que le piétisme dont ses parents lui donnent l’exemple. Ce n’est pas le mal travesti en bien à la manière de Sade qu’il lui propose, mais une conception dangereusement élargie du bien.”

Chaïmae

“Demian enseigne à Émile Sinclair une autre morale que le piétisme dont ses parents lui donnent l’exemple. Ce n’est pas le mal travesti en bien à la manière de Sade qu’il lui propose, mais une conception dangereusement élargie du bien.”

— Marcel SCHNEIDER

Demian

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