Hermann Hesse

[Lotr246]

Hermann Hesse, author of Siddhartha

 

[Lotr246]

I was thinking INFP

 

[entropie]

"Und an diesen Tag, wo die Bürger glaubten es zu wissen und der Denkende erkannte, es sei anders; an diesem Tag kaufte ich Äpfel und es waren die wundervollsten Äpfel, die ich jemals kaufen würde in meinem Leben"

 

[mippus]

INFP would be my guess too.
NF for sure...

 

[redacted]

definitely INFsomething. i would guess J because of the linear nature of his story-telling, but who knows?

 

[kuranes]

I'm surprised by how many people seem more interested in guessing the type of individuals versus discussing the ideas that they espoused. http://www.typologycentral.com/forums/arts-entertainment/10557-herman-hesse.html

 

[mippus]

I'm surprised by how many people seem more interested in guessing the type of individuals versus discussing the ideas that they espoused. http://www.typologycentral.com/forums/arts-entertainment/10557-herman-hesse.html

I am surprised at how easily you make this assumption. This is an MBTI forum, though. But if you feel like discussing his ideas and the pros and cons of Bildungsromans, please go ahead

 

[kuranes]

I am surprised at how easily you make this assumption. This is an MBTI forum, though. But if you feel like discussing his ideas and the pros and cons of Bildungsromans, please go ahead

My "assumption" isn't based on just seeing this one thread. I'm not saying that discussing the types of artists/actors etc. breaks any formal or informal rules or anything. I just see all these threads naming celebrities and guessing their type. And that's it. "George Clooney. What type ? Britney ? What type ? "

My original thoughts about what an "MBTI forum" is was that it was someplace that people who consider themselves of certain types can gather online, and there have a better chance of meeting people who click with them - no matter what subject they discuss. That doesn't mean that one shouldn't discuss MBTI, but that it is just one of a million subjects that can be engaging. We could discuss Barack Obama's politics ( as we have ) or we could limit ourselves to just asking what type do people think he is. Another anology - just because I'm a dentist at a dentist convention, doesn't mean that what I discuss with my fellow dentists is just drills and molars etc.

If I was going to discuss "Popular culture and type", for example, I might also wonder out loud about what types of audience members were likely to enjoy that very thing - "popular culture" - more, versus only discussing the pop culture figures themselves. Or I might discuss what the popular image of MBTI was, versus the more scholarly details of it. But my interest in it only really falls as deep as knowing that I'm likely a so and so type ( originally pegged as INTP but there have been some questions ) and so coming and talking initially to people of that type, and later broadening it out.

Discussing nothing but MBTI issues is certainly something one can do if they choose to, but it is kind of like discussing new ways to tune up one's computer all of the time, but never actually using it.

 

[marm]

It would be interesting to consider how Hesse's type relates to his characters. I always got the sense that his characters reflected aspects of his own personality. Also, he was familiar with Jungian psychology and so quite likely knew about the functions. He did like to play around with ideas in his writings and intentionally implemented Jung's ideas in at least one of his novels.

 

[kuranes]

I always got the sense that his characters reflected aspects of his own personality. Also, he was familiar with Jungian psychology and so quite likely knew about the functions. He did like to play around with ideas in his writings and intentionally implemented Jung's ideas in at least one of his novels.

I think the protagonists often were expressing thoughts of his own, but some of the rest of the cast could be based on others. A person in "The Journey to the East" is supposedly based on painter Paul Klee.

For some reason I often think of John Fowles book "The Magus" when I think of the scenes with the horn player in "Steppenwolf".

The concept of "Abraxas" described in Demian would seem informed by the Jungian ( such as "shadow" ) too, if not completely inspired by that.

 

[marm]

When I said characters I had specifically his protagonists in mind.

Ya know, its been a while since I've read Hesse. I'm trying to remember which books of his I've read. I first read Siddhartha, and later I read Steppenwolf and The Glass Bead Game. I read some of his other books, but I can't recall what they were now. I might've read Demian. I'm pretty sure I never read The Journey to the East.

I've seen some interesting adaptations of his novels. Steppenwolf was made into a decent movie. Siddhartha was filmed in India, but you could tell that the conservativism of India couldn't quite do respect to the story. Even so, if you enjoyed Siddhartha the book, its worthwhile watching the film version. Actually, I'd recommend a different "version" of Siddhartha. It was also translated as a spaghetti western which is very amusing.

As for the topic at hand, I find it interesting that Jung and Hesse knew eachother. Hesse, without my knowing it at the time, was my introduction to Jung's ideas. I've read that Hesse particularly focused on the typological distinction of Introversiona and Extraversion, and I can see that in some of his works.

I would try to say more, but its just been too long since I've read Hesse.

 

[kuranes]

I've seen some interesting adaptations of his novels. Steppenwolf was made into a decent movie. Siddhartha was filmed in India, but you could tell that the conservativism of India couldn't quite do respect to the story. Even so, if you enjoyed Siddhartha the book, its worthwhile watching the film version. Actually, I'd recommend a different "version" of Siddhartha. It was also translated as a spaghetti western which is very amusing.

Hmmm. I'll look for the "straight" one.

If you're referring to "El Topo", your coolness factor just went up a few notches. Actually, when I finally saw it again, after 20 years since the midnight movies of my college years, it had become a bit tarnished, but then again..... the90's version was a shitty bootleg. Supposedly a high quality DVD issue finally has come out...or will be issued soon....
Alejandro Jodorowsky

 

[marm]

I'm sorry to lessen my coolness factor, but I don't think I've ever seen El Topo... I never had that big of a cool factor anyways and so no great loss. I did a quick search about it and I'd think I would remember if I had seen it. A strange looking movie. I might enjoy it, but from watching a video excerpt of the movie its easy to see how dated it is... not that being dated is always bad.

I was about to say that I probably hadn't heard of the movie because it was made 5 years before I was born. However, I was looking at some info about the movie I was referring to and it was made about the same time. The movie I'm talking about is Zachariah. I only happened across it because my library had a copy of it.

Looking at various reviews, I noticed that El Topo and Zachariah get compared quite a bit.

To get back on topic, Siddhartha which Zachariah takes its inspiration from is the one book of Hesse's that has stuck in my mind the most. I read it in highschool and it was a major influence. Like some of his other novels, Hesse does like to contrast different kinds of people. What might you think are the types of those two characters? I've never been big on typing characters, but it might work better with a writer like Hesse who was influenced by Jung in a very direct way.

Have you ever read any biographies about Hesse? I've never read much about Hesse. I think I saw a book about the relationship between Jung and Hesse which would likely be quite interesting.

 

[the state i am in]

i get introverted feeling more than extraverted feeling. infp. plus two of my infp friends have read all his books. i petered out on them when i realized they all felt the same. until the glass bead game, which had too much Si for an infj like me to handle. infp.

 

[kuranes]

Have you ever read any biographies about Hesse? I've never read much about Hesse. I think I saw a book about the relationship between Jung and Hesse which would likely be quite interesting.

I read a little. The only thing I remember from it all is that Hesse originally wanted to be a painter, and being a writer was at least a second choice, if not on an even lower rung of the ladder. I vaguely recall reading something about Jung and Hesse, but I can't recall what or where. Hmmm. Maybe Victor or Wildcat wrote something on it....The artist Paul Klee is embodied in one of the characters Hesse creates as a "fellow traveler" on the bus in his novel "The Journey to the East".