Open Password – Friday May 20, 2022
#1073
Homage to the book – Open Password – Simon Verlag für Bibliothekswissen – Katharina Loonus – Siddharta – Hermann Hesse – German studies – The Steppenwolf – Self-discovery – Govinda and Gotama – Worldly life – Completion of the teaching – Perfect peace – Buddhism – The teaching of Buddhism – Hinduism – Friendship – Death – Love for the trees – Only your own individual path in life – It’s all good
Oliver Richter – 4 3 2 1 – Paul Auster – Suburbia – New York – Civil Rights Protester – Martin Luther King – John F. Kennedy – Student Riots – Vietnam War – Growing Up in a Troubled World – Madness Behind the Doors – Democratic Party – Paul Richter – Ranga’s World : Oh right! & Further questions? – Ranga Yongeshwar
Homage to the book (XVI)
An initiative by Open Password
and the Simon Verlag für Bibliothekswissen
Written with heart, passion and deep knowledge about books “that moved us”
Now that the book is threatened by short attention spans, lack of reading pleasure and electronic formats, it is time for a tribute to the book. Open Password and the Simon Verlag für Bibliothekswissen have teamed up on the project “Books that moved us” and have recruited 41 authors who report with passion, passion and deep knowledge how they were influenced by a particular book.
In the 16th episode of our homage to the book, Katharina Loonus sets out with Hermann Hesse on the path to perfect peace, Oliver Richter takes part in growing up in the turbulent years from the US civil rights movement to the student protests against the Vietnam War and Paul Richter Learns from Ranga Yogeshwar that you have to question even seemingly self-evident things.
Katharina Loonus is reading the book of her life.
“Siddharta” by Hermann Hesse
In the neighboring garden, a large fir tree stretches its feathery branches in all directions. The branches are densely needle-covered and move easily in the wind – only in one place does a gap become apparent. There is the entrance to the home of two pigeons, which live their life as a pair and occasionally coo on the neighboring roof or fly over the gardens and houses of Schildesche, our home in Bielefeld.
This fir tree often reminds me of a long-standing friendship with a man who could describe and admire trees like no other. In general, he had an eye for the special in the ordinary, for the feeling that a tree, a river, a memory can trigger. We’re talking about Hermann Hesse.
I met him for the first time on a train trip from Glückstadt, my home in northern Germany, to Osnabrück. At that time, when I was just 19 years old, I was in a transition phase: I had a new boyfriend in Osnabrück (with whom it didn’t work out in the end), I had spent six months abroad in the USA after graduating from high school and I was waiting for him Start of the semester in which I was able to start my German studies. That’s one thing about studying: After my trip to the USA and under the influence of my new love, I rediscovered my penchant for literature and reading and abandoned my original plans to study ecotrophology or anything else related to biology or agriculture thrown. I was young, ready for the numerous opportunities that were open to me, but deep down I was also a little unsure about the right path in life, constantly ready to change and re-evaluate my opinions and goals. It was during this time that Hesse spoke to me for the first time and he did it in the form of “Steppenwolf” – and I felt understood and inspired by a work that so often describes the human psyche so aptly without being didactic or intrusive.
However, “Steppenwolf” is not the book that changed my life. He played his part by introducing Hermann Hesse into my life, and so I read one or two of his books over the years. The book that I have read the most and that I would like to write about here is “Siddharta”.
There are books, films, music and other works of art that speak to you and tell you something helpful every time, no matter what situation you face them. Every time I pick up “Siddharta” I find something beautiful in it and every time there are parts that make me smile or bring me to tears. And every time I find a piece of myself in this book.
Self-discovery is also the central theme of this developmental novel. Siddharta, who grew up in a pious Brahmin family in India, felt the restlessness of his soul in his youth and, accompanied by his loyal friend Govinda, set out to find his destiny. Many people meet him on the way, including Gotama, the enlightened one, whom Govinda decides to follow. Siddharta, on the other hand, moves on, aware that following someone else’s teaching does not bring him closer to his innermost being and his own teaching (“If I were one of your disciples, O Venerable One, I fear that it would happen to me that only apparently, only deceptively my self would come to rest and be redeemed, because then I would have the teaching, I would have my successor, I would have my love for you, I would have made the community of monks my self,” p.34). He explores and welcomes worldly life, learns about physical love, moves away from his original pious values and yet finds his way back to them in the end. Leaving wealth and possessions behind, he eventually becomes a ferryman and learns from the river and the wise ferryman Vasudeva. He meets his old friend Govinda several times, who as a Buddhist monk is always looking for the perfection of his teachings and perfect peace. Siddharta found this in the end – as he must realize, precisely because of his previous worldly excesses and his sensual life.
As you can see from the content, the title and the motifs, Siddharta is of course primarily about Buddhism. Apart from the fact that I would generally describe myself as non-religious and that I have always been more inclined towards philosophy, I think Buddhism is an interesting middle ground and reflects ideas that I am very inclined towards (I found this confirmed, by the way, after I I once stole “The Teaching of Buddhism” from a hotel room and read it from cover to cover – the Society for the Promotion of Buddhism, which sponsored the book, would certainly be happy). Nevertheless, “Siddharta” should by no means be understood as a missionary text. The setting of India and the mystical motifs from Buddhism and Hinduism convey a message that is more universal than that.
First of all, there is the friendship between two men, which is deeply rooted in childhood togetherness and in loyalty and sympathy for each other, but at the same time in the recognition of each other’s individuality and respective life paths. Siddharta and Govinda separate at a young age to follow their respective destiny, and yet life brings these two together again several times.
Death is also an issue. Again and again in life I stop and understand Hesse’s love for trees. In autumn, when the leaves shine in the most colorful colors and fall to the ground, the beauty of the ephemeral is revealed. In Siddhartha, too, death is something natural and aesthetic. The beautiful Kamala dies and leaves Siddharta a son. The enlightened Gotama dies, leaving behind many followers who continue to follow his teachings. – And the wise Vasudeva enters the forest radiantly, disappears between the trees to go into unity. At this point it is clear that Siddharta will inherit and a solemn mood of complete understanding surrounds both of them. Being and becoming are one, as the river has taught them and as can be observed in the annual cycle of the trees here.
With this realization, another door opens: Just as Siddharta once set out from home to explore life and find his destiny, Siddharta’s son also moves away from him. Everything returns, life and death are inextricably intertwined.
Finally, the question remains what leads to the meaning of life. Siddharta must experience life with his senses before he can find his meaning (“I have had to go through so much stupidity, through so much vice, through so much error, through so much disgust and disappointment and misery, just to have another child and to be able to start anew. But it was right, my heart says yes to it, my eyes laugh to it.”, p.80-81). It is precisely human weakness, failure and wandering that lead Siddharta to understand the river and thus life and rise to a godlike being. In the end, Govinda also finds meaning through a final meeting with Siddharta. Both paths lead to the realization that there is no black and white, no right and wrong, only your own, individual path in life.
And so Siddharta is a special novel for me, in which there is the consolation that all the experiences that life gives you lead to more knowledge and meaning – even if you find yourself straying from the right path. This thought conveys without further ado: everything is fine.
My eyes wander back to the home of the neighboring pair of pigeons. The pigeons are not visible, but the tree is evergreen as befits a fir – there is no symbolic death of the leaves here; The dense needle cover will certainly continue to provide shelter for many birds throughout all seasons. I’m sure the pigeons don’t worry about it.
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The quotes come from the following edition: Hermann Hesse: Siddharta. An Indian poem. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp Verlag 2007.
Oliver Richter** is reading the book of his life.
“4 3 2 1” by Paul Auster
In his novel, Paul Auster tells the story of Archibald Ferguson, who was born in New Jersey at the end of the 1940s and whose story Auster continues in four versions. The four Fergusons are genetically identical, but different people and events over the course of their lives lead to very different biographies. The first is very insecure about himself and has problems with his father. The second dies as a child and does not live to see the end of the book, because death is also an option in life. The third loses his father when he is a child and only has anger and problems; he slides from one minefield to another. The fourth is the healthiest, the one who ends up writing the book. He is athletic, has a keen appreciation for music and, like everyone else, is drawn to writing in one way or another.
Ferguson grew up in an American suburb. He experiences his childhood as a safe place where he plays baseball and football with his friends after school and has dinner with his parents in the evening and is put to bed. So the years of his childhood pass until Ferguson eventually finds this suburb restricting and bourgeois and he just wants to get away from there. He is drawn to the other side of the Hudson River, to the cosmopolitan city of New York. There he goes to college and is drawn into world political events, into the black civil rights protests and the assassination of Martin Luther King and John F. Kennedy, but also into the student unrest surrounding the Vietnam War. Amy Schneidermann, his aunt’s neighbor, becomes his constant companion. She becomes Ferguson’s erotic ideal. Sometimes their paths diverge, sometimes they lose sight of each other and then come together again and become estranged again.
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About growing up in a troubled world.
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Paul Auster describes growing up in a troubled world, but even in the seemingly idyllic suburbs, madness thrives behind the doors. The USA has always been a much more politically dynamic country than Europe. The enormous changes there have left their mark on Ferguson. He comes into open opposition to his father and is involved in the Democratic Party. He stands for liberal, cosmopolitan, tolerant America. And yes, Ferguson’s story is also, somewhere and somehow, my story.
The novel ends with the fourth Ferguson being told by his mother on New Year’s Eve that his grandfather from Belarus had arrived in New York Harbor on Ellis Island on New Year’s morning at the beginning of the 20th century and barely spoke English. While waiting at the immigration office, he struck up a conversation with another Russian emigrant who advised him not to give his Russian name, Renzi Leznikoff, but rather an American one. “Tell them your name is Rockefeller.” An hour passed and another hour. Then he finally got to the American immigration officer, who asked him his name. Renzi Leznikoff touched his forehead and blurted out in Yiddish, “I hobe fergusoon.” And so began his grandfather’s story in America as Ickebod Ferguson. Nevertheless, his grandson Archie Ferguson feels like a full-blooded American with all God-given rights and it is precisely this story that fascinates me about America and its enormous dynamism. It doesn’t matter where you come from, just who you are right now and who and what surrounds you.
Paul Richter** is reading the book of his life.
“Ranga’s World: Oh right! & Any other questions?”
by Ranga Yogeshwar
Ranga Yogeshwar: Ranga’s World: Oh right! & Further questions? was the book that shaped me.
I saw it in the bookstore at Tegel Airport before my flight to Malaga. I was 13 and Yogeshwar’s way of thinking, his view of the world and his life story really impressed me. I literally read it on the fly. It started with how his desire to explore and ask questions was awakened during his childhood in India, especially by his father. In the book, questions from everyday life are asked and answered.
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“His stubbornness is just as strong as mine.”
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I found myself in his curiosity and his vision beyond things. Like me, he is a non-conformist, lateral thinker who questions seemingly self-evident things and is not fooled by the obvious. This became most evident during his school days. He could also watch an earthworm eat for hours and sometimes forget his homework.
Yes, I could identify with that very strongly when I was 13. His attachment is just as strong as mine.
**The texts by Oliver Richter and Paul Richter were created in the Marzahn writing workshop, a meeting place for young authors in the “Mark Twain” district central library. – The course leader was Renate Zimmermann.
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