A review by likecymbeline
Gertrude (Modern Classics) by Hilda Rosner, Hermann Hesse

5.0

Speaking with a friend here in Ireland about my well-documented love of Hesse and about my recent writing involving composers he rooted through the bookshelves in his house till he could find me this book, insisting upon the necessity of reading it. It's very much a book I needed at this time in my life, but then Hesse always seems to be that for me. I love that he talks about individualism and "the artist's way" somewhat cynically here. At times I feared he veered too much towards accepting the "art = suffering," but I think ultimately he's critical of that. Kuhn thinks deeply about what it means to be a creator, but he also thinks about what it doesn't have to mean. People keep telling him this is what an artist feels, this is what I know you feel but he repeatedly ends up finding that no, he doesn't feel what they are telling him he feels, he doesn't want the things they're telling him all artist's want, he doesn't see his experiences the way that they keep insisting he must see his experiences. I think the novel straddles the line and that my own bias brings it to one side rather than the other. I think if I were younger I would have read it and said: "I don't trust Kuhn's narration, I think he's lying to himself, he has suffered greatly and put it into his work and we can see that and he is only denying it." But that's exactly what the people around him say.

There's more that meant something to me in this book, but I don't think I can say it here, or say it yet.