Rating:  Summary: I am still on the journey,sir, I still belong to the League! Review: I have always suspected that this penultimate novel of Hesse's plays upon the myth of the Most Honorable Order of the Rosy Cross in certain German intellectual circles. Even today you can get an arguement, either way, about the existance of the Rosicrucians and Christian Rosencreutz. This is fitting, since even the protagonist (H.H.) is left wondering if the League that sent him forth on his quest really ever existed or if he hallucinated it all.At the begining H.H. has no doubt what-so-ever in the existance or purpose of the ancient League. He sets forth on the journey to the East with his brother members in pursuit of the Tao, Kundalini, and the other Eastern mysteries. In short, they are seeking union with the divine. Even when some member drops out during the quest and "takes the railroad back" to the mundane world, they simply bid him farewell and continue on, unshaken in their own faith. They travel on through time, myth, poetry, and magic towards their goal. It is at the gorge of Morbio Inferiore that everthing unravels. It is here that the loyal servant Leo suddenly departs and the expedition falls apart in squabbling over trifles. Morbio Inferiore is the dark night of the soul. It is also the historical cataclysm of WW1. You see, before the Great War Germans could still belive in magic, Mozart, and Goethe, after the war all magic and innocence were dead. All that remained was cynicism, machines, and monsters. H.H. is suddenly left alone wondering if the League ever really existed or if it was a dream. He searches and searches for the lost servant Leo- only to be surprised at what he eventually finds.... Ultimately we end up at the realization that despair serves a purpose in our own journey through life. For if we are still capable of despair then we must still, deep down, still believe in innocence, virtue, and justice. You cannot deeply mourn what never existed- somewhere, sometime!
Rating:  Summary: A moralistic Tale Review: I must admit I was somewhat disappointed with this short book. It seemed to all lead up to Hesse's message regarding the responsibility of the self to accept the responsibility of guiding others and that pure followers are doomed to disappear. One only imagines that Hesse had an idea, almost like a dream, where a couple sentences summarizes an array of experiences whereby one feels like he has been through the entire journey with him yet cannot recall details. Although at times interesting, this book seems to be Hesse's period of contemplation before undertaking The Glass Bead Game.
Rating:  Summary: In mY Top 5 Review: I read this book every couple of years, and just finished it again a few days ago. I also read "Dharma Bums" by Jack Kerouac over again then too. Each time you read it, you get just as caught up in the writer's story, then once again see the vision that it's about way more than what it appears to be. You get deep echos of what he is describing. Each time I read it, I have just as rich an experience. I heartily recommend it for someone who is looking for a good quick Hesse book. Try it.
Rating:  Summary: faux Eastern philosophy bilge Review: If Herman Hesse had to hang his entire reputation on reeds as slender as this one, he'd be in big trouble. But Siddartha is a fine novel and he wrote the only truly great novel about the game M'Laba Laba (Magister Ludi: The Glass Bead Game), so we'll cut him some slack. This very brief novel consists of the report of a failed pilgrimage to the East by a group of men who belong to a mysterious League. In the course of relating their misadventures, the narrator realizes that the pilgrimage was part of a much larger effort to collect all of human knowledge in one place, that his version of events differs from that of others, that many great thinkers have also participated in this effort and finally, when he despairs of their ever succeeding, that he is being tested and has failed the test. But out of this despair he is able to grow in understanding. As he is told: ...despair is the result of each earnest attempt to go through life with virtue, justice and understanding and to fulfil their requirements. Children live on one side of despair, the awakened on the other side. Having emerged on the other side of despair, he is accepted as a full League member. The story is okay as far it goes; it just doesn't go very far. All of these elements are completely derivative, all pilfered from Christianity then dressed up in mysticism. And if you are going to propound this kind of faux Eastern philosophy bilge, there really ought to be some reason behind it. At the point where you turn around and merely rip off the Bible, the reader is entitled to ask why the original does not suffice. GRADE: C
Rating:  Summary: One of Hesse's Best--A Must-Read Review: In many ways, this book serves as a humble yet profound companion to Siddhartha and the Glass Bead Game (whose dedication reads: "To the Journeyers to the East"). It is another of Hermann Hesse's beautiful tales of searching. The story is that of HH, a member of an apparently long-dissolved League, a League of travelers who traversed space and time to absorb the wisdom, culture, and secrets of the ages to find peace and unity. As HH tries to recount this story, he reaches a great obstacle: the unexplained disappearance of League servant. He cannot go on. The rest of the book shows how HH deals with this encumbrance, only to find out that the truth he has been searching for is simpler than he though, and it is right in front of him. What insight Hesse had, to be able to see that endless searching can blind us to what we already know, to be able to express the often-neglected value of humility and faithful servitude. Hesse's feel for communal and individual values shines forth in this brilliantly simple story, all of 117 pages. And so I invite you to read this short tale in the hope that you, too, will find what you are looking for.
Rating:  Summary: One of Hesse's Best--A Must-Read Review: In many ways, this book serves as a humble yet profound companion to Siddhartha and the Glass Bead Game (whose dedication reads: "To the Journeyers to the East"). It is another of Hermann Hesse's beautiful tales of searching. The story is that of HH, a member of an apparently long-dissolved League, a League of travelers who traversed space and time to absorb the wisdom, culture, and secrets of the ages to find peace and unity. As HH tries to recount this story, he reaches a great obstacle: the unexplained disappearance of League servant. He cannot go on. The rest of the book shows how HH deals with this encumbrance, only to find out that the truth he has been searching for is simpler than he though, and it is right in front of him. What insight Hesse had, to be able to see that endless searching can blind us to what we already know, to be able to express the often-neglected value of humility and faithful servitude. Hesse's feel for communal and individual values shines forth in this brilliantly simple story, all of 117 pages. And so I invite you to read this short tale in the hope that you, too, will find what you are looking for.
Rating:  Summary: Short, creative, interesting look at the Self Review: In this book, the master of philosophical fiction tells the tale of a man (initials H.H....) who goes on a wonderful and amazing journey throughout the world, experiencing so many wonderful and fantastic things. When he returns, he finds himself writing about the journey, but comes to a point in his story where he cannot procede. After an interesting turn in both the contents of the book and the focus, the narrator comes to powerful realizations about himself and the nature of things. Perhaps the only book I've read that rivals Siddhartha, it is one I will read over and over, and, as always, with this author, I'm sure all readers will find a piece of themselves in this masterpiece.
Rating:  Summary: Hermann Hesse: German Bodhisatva (sp)? Review: It's hard to imagine that a work as thought provoking as Journey To The East was written by an author that dropped out of school at the age of thirteen. With such limited formal education, Hesse must have turned inward for his learning, which is obvious from his other works, namely Siddhartha, and Steppenwolf. For anyone intersted in Eastern philosphy and religion, Hesse is a must. He may not give exact information on specific religions, but his work does capture the essence of Eastern thought.
Rating:  Summary: A Satisfyingly Kafkaesque Little Book on Mysticism Review: Not having read any Hesse since my college days, over 20 years ago, I was expecting adolescent angst plus a little sex. But I was pleasantly surprised by the similarities of this book to Kafka's "The Castle". Layers of reality (or are they fantasy?) get peeled away only to reveal additional mysteries. Can the League's misfortunes/failures have really been only the reflection of the protagonist's own weaknesses? By the end, everything the protagonist believed has been turned upside down, except, perhaps, his faith in the continuing search, the journey East. And there's not enough didacticism about the book to turn off skeptics. It's thin, but quite lovely, really.
Rating:  Summary: Pure fantasy, pure wisdom Review: The Journey to the East is a journey of deception, appereances, learning, colourful images of snakes and a ritual with Don Quijote and Sancho Panza. All in one book. All in one go across time and space, as Hesse puts it. Not the best of Hesse's books, neither one i would recommend to start with Hesse, since, at least i felt it that way, its real meaning will probably never be found in the 117 pages of the book. That is pure fantasy and wisdom. Meet a more mundame but still absolutely intriguing H.H. in Steppenwolf.
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