Hermann Hesse's fictions of the self : autobiography and the confessional imagination / Eugene L. Stelzig.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Stelzig, Eugene L., author.

Series:

Princeton legacy library

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Authors, German--20th century--Biography.

Authors, German.

Autobiographical fiction, German--History and criticism.

Autobiographical fiction, German.

Confession in literature.

Self in literature.

Autobiography.

Hesse, Hermann, 1877-1962.

Hesse, Hermann.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (361 pages).

Edition:

Course Book

Place of Publication:

Princeton, New Jersey : Princeton University Press, [1988]

Language Note:

English

Summary:

This masterful synthesis of criticism and biography surveys all of Hermann Hesse's major works and many of his minor ones in relation to the intricate psychological design of his entire life history. Eugene Stelzig examines what it means to be an "autobiographical writer" by considering Hesse's fictions of the self as an exemplary instance of the relationship between life and art and between biography and autobiography. In a graceful and inviting style, he frees this major confessional writer from the confines of German culture and the status of "cult figure" of the 1960s, and situates him in the tradition of world literature and in a variety of literary, psychological, philosophical, and religious contexts.Three introductory chapters on autobiography and Hesse set the stage for a chronological study. Then follows a penetrating analysis of the balance between biographical fact and confessional fantasy in Hesse's long career, from the failed autobiography of his first literary success, Beneath the Wheel, through the protracted midlife crisis of the grotesque Steppenwolf period, to the visionary autobiography of his magisterial fictional finale, The Glass Bead Game.Originally published in 1988.The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Preface

Abbreviations

I. The Confessional Imagination

II. Life as Writing

III. Self-Will

IV. Autobiographical Beginnings

V. Domestic Fictions

Vi. Hesse's Marriage of Heaven and Hell

VII. Ticino Legends of Saints and Sinners

VIII. Live(D) Fantasies

IX. Home to the Un-Becoming Self

Epilogue: Who is he?

Notes

Index

Notes:

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 08. Jul 2019)

Description based on print version record.

Includes index.

Bibliography: pages [315]-336.

ISBN:

9780691606316

0691606315

9780691635095

0691635099

9781400859559

1400859557

OCLC:

889253451