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Narcissus and Goldmund
Genre Fiction
Two mediaeval men, one peacefully happy with his religion and monastery life and the other fervently seeking a more worldly salvation, are depicted in Hesse's novel. Hesse used this clash between the physical and spiritual worlds, between the emotional and reflective man, as a life study. It is a subject that is timeless. He has appealed to both an underground and an establishment, as well as to dissatisfied young people who share his disdain for our industrial civilization. The Hesse Phenomenon "has transformed into a vogue, the vogue into a flood." the book review in The New York Times