The Opposites and Unity: A Study of Chinese Taoist Thought Found in Hermann Hesse’s The Glass Bead Game
Hermann Hesse was keenly aware of the spiritual and social crises of war-torn Europe. He explored possible solutions to these problems in his writing and was interested in drawing on the resources of oriental philosophies. Of particular importance was the thought of Chinese Taoism. Hesse frequently...
| Published in: | Literature and theology |
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| Subtitles: | Special Forum on Taoism and Western Literature |
| Authors: | ; |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Oxford University Press
[2020]
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| In: |
Literature and theology
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| RelBib Classification: | BM Chinese universism; Confucianism; Taoism CD Christianity and Culture VA Philosophy |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (Verlag) Volltext (doi) |
| Summary: | Hermann Hesse was keenly aware of the spiritual and social crises of war-torn Europe. He explored possible solutions to these problems in his writing and was interested in drawing on the resources of oriental philosophies. Of particular importance was the thought of Chinese Taoism. Hesse frequently mentioned his understanding of the Taoist philosophies of Laozi (老子) and Zhuangzi (庄子) in letters to his friends, and Taoist ideas such as ‘Tao’ (道) or ‘One’ and ‘polar opposites and unity’ recur across his work. This article will trace Hesse’s understanding of the Taoist thought of Laozi and Zhuangzi, and analyse the influence of Chinese Taoism on Hesse’s masterpiece, The Glass Bead Game (1943). |
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| ISSN: | 1477-4623 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Literature and theology
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1093/litthe/fraa022 |