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3.64 AVERAGE
3.64 AVERAGE
This is one of my favourite novels I've read by Hesse, together with Steppenwolf. Its theme reminds me somewhat of some of Henry James's fiction: it deals with the plight of the artist who wants to pursue spiritual and artistic fulfillment, but who also wants to do his duty by his family. Veraguth is torn between these two loyalties, represented in the novel by his best friend, who encourages him to travel through Asia exploring the world and his art, and his son Pierre, on whom Veraguth dotes. The novel is extremely Romantic in its tone and theme, exploring a conflicted human soul and its connection to the environment, to his art and his famiy.
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Rosshalde is probably not as celebrated as some of Hesse’s other works. No one had recommended it to me. I picked it up without any prior “ideas” about it. Maybe that’s why it worked. But really, if you ask me, it worked for me because this one reminded me of his another not-so-celebrated book: Peter Camenzind (which I reviewed quite some time back), which, like James Joyce’s Portrait of the artist as a young man, deals with the “making” of the artist, really, not the craft, but the “mind” behind the craft, as it takes shape. Rosshalde, is like a sequel to that — the mid-life crisis of an artist, who struggles to come to terms with the mundane existence beyond the successful career.
[More at:
https://asuph.wordpress.com/2016/08/06/rosshalde-portrait-of-the-artist-as-not-so-young-man/ ]
[More at:
https://asuph.wordpress.com/2016/08/06/rosshalde-portrait-of-the-artist-as-not-so-young-man/ ]