It's a grey and rain-filled not-so-SUN-day morning at "Riverbend", but I don't mind because we needed the rain and it gives me time to catch up with my reading. What to read on a melancholic day?
Hermann Hesse, a German-Swiss poet, novelist, and painter, comes to mind. His best-known works include "Steppenwolf", "Siddhartha", and "The Glass Bead Game", each of which explores an individual's search for authenticity, self-knowledge and spirituality. Watch this YouTube clip:
The film is a moving documentary, filled with photos and video clips of Hesse's intense yet simple attempt to find meaning in his life. He indicated in his writings that his life had two pursuits: the need for solitude, and the need to communicate. To meet his need for solitude, he spent much of his life in the remote village of Montagnola, Switzerland (which towards the end of his life became a major tourist attraction, which he often lamented in his works). To meet his need to communicate, his house became a major asylum for German-born artists during the Nazi regime in Germany, as well as the many admirers of his works throughout his life. The video includes interviews with his two sons, his editor, and the doctor who examined him after his death.
Highly moving, Hermann Hesse’s "Long Summer" truly captures some of the author’s intensity and need for simplicity throughout his life. He liked the simple life of gardening and pulling weeds, and stated in his letters that he found most of his inspiration during this type of work. Hesse also answered over 35,000 letters during his lifetime, part of his need to communicate with others. He also dabbled with painting and artwork, which is featured throughout the video.
Well, it's almost 10 a.m. and my ennui (best said with a stuffy nose) continues as I start to read "The Journey to the East", which is a small book about a very large human wish: the wish to find a path that gives life unity and purpose. It shows that people can become lost even while seeking truth. It also suggests that meaning may return through humility, faithful work, and a new way of looking at others. The novel does not offer one simple lesson. Instead, it invites the reader to ask better questions. My own question will soon be: "What's for lunch?"
As for the rain, it hasn't stopped! What has stopped is a houseboat that has anchored - to use the nautical term - on the other side of the river (as seen just below the overhanging tree branches). Its occupants hired it for a weekend ON the water, not IN the water. I hope they brought along enough books to read. "Fifty Shades of Grey" comes to mind.
