Narcissus and Goldmund
Hesse And His Typewriter by Qtea
Narcissus and Goldmund
A novel by Hermann Hesse set in Medieval Germany about a Christian monk, Goldmund, who strays from monastic life and his close friend and teacher Narcissus to find truth through lived experience.
Narcissus represents a stereotypical – or in the Jungian sense ‘archetypal’ – clergyman bound by rules and regulations whereas Goldmund is a free-thinking wanderer and seeker.
At the end of the novel the two characters, although estranged throughout most of the narrative, meet up favorably and are reconciled.
To this GradstudentCCC adds:
Hajo Smit’s summary contains an error about the ending. He says:
“Goldmund was so deeply disappointed that he gave up his trip and returned to the monastery, pretending that he had an accident.”
This isn’t the case at all. In the end of the book Goldmund *did* have an accident, in which he broke his ribs. He didn’t return to the monastery until much later (even after staying in a hospital for a while). He was very ill from the accident and returned to the monastery in time to die.
On the World Wide Web:
» Archetype, C. G. Jung
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Posted on December 16, 2008, in N and tagged fiction, Germany, hesse, literature. Bookmark the permalink. 1 Comment.
Hajo Smit’s summary contains an error about the ending. He says:
“Goldmund was so deeply disappointed that he gave up his trip and returned to the monastery, pretending that he had an accident.”
This isn’t the case at all. In the end of the book Goldmund *did* have an accident, in which he broke his ribs. He didn’t return to the monastery until much later (even after staying in a hospital for a while). He was very ill from the accident and returned to the monastery in time to die.