19 August 2012

Strange News from Another Star by Hermann Hesse

Strange News From Another Star is a  collection of eight short stories.  They take place in a world that is very familiar to us but, unlike our own, has lost none of its enchantment.  There are forces at work here above and beyond those of physics, and the tales are as much about learning to love the mysteries of nature or of one's aesthetic self as it is to uncover or conquer them.  Denver Lindley has provided us with a translation that allows the gentleness of Hesse's themes to shine through in abundance.

Hermann Hesse was a staple in my early twenties. His writings are particularly attractive to me because they explore the dichotomy between the rationalist world-view of the Enlightenment and the emotion based paradigm of the Romantics. 

Being, philosophically, an inheritor of the Enlightenment tradition, I welcome Hesse's challenge. Should we live a life ruled by reason or passion? Is there a happy medium?

Hesse's work definitely addresses the question of Truth in human affairs, while the work of other writers, such as Tolkien, addresses the question of Good and Evil. Interestingly, while Hesse was awarded a Nobel Prize for literature in 1946, Tolkien has been derided by the literati; yet neither author was reluctant to set their stories in a non-realist world. Make of that what you will.  Enjoy.

I read the Penguin Modern Classic edition published in 1985.

 

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