Deconstructing Hermann Hesse’s Narcissus and Goldmund with a cross-cultural lens
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.47264/idea.lassij/6.1.6Keywords:
Jungian psychology, Gemeinschaft, Gesellschaft, self, orient, self and the other, culture, high-context culture, low-context culture, individuation, cross-cultural communicationAbstract
This paper is a qualitative thematic analysis of Hermann Hesse’s novel Narcissus and Goldmund with a cross-cultural theory framework, buttressed with concepts from Jungian psychology. The novel narrates the story of two medieval priests who are the exact opposite of but emotionally attached to each other. The paper demonstrates how various cultural themes that Hesse has engaged can shed light on the ways Western and Eastern societies make sense of the Self, the Other, and the everyday existential dilemmas. Based on Jungian psychology, we argue that Narcissus and Goldmund are not two distinct characters; instead, they are two aspects of the Self. The social construction of these two characters is the symbolic representation of the struggle to attain the deeper meanings of the Self. This struggle, what Jung called individuation, is the journey of the human soul into its own deepest spheres. Moreover, we note that the matrix of Hesse’s thought is the European interest in the Orient. Narcissus and Goldmund represent the anima and animus or the Yin and Yang of the conflict of self-realization. We conclude that a synthesis of Eastern and Western philosophies can offer both a fertile avenue and a rich toolkit for seeking deeper self-knowledge.
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