“Hesse’s Spring” in China in the 1980s

It is in the foreword of this Narziß und Goldmund that Chinese readers at that time could get a more comprehensive understanding of Hesse. In the late 1970s, following the suggestion of Zhi Feng (冯至), the poet and director of the Institute of Foreign Literature at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Peifen Zhang (张佩芬) began her dedicated research and translation of Hermann Hesse’s works. Zhang’s colleague, Wuneng Yang, also followed her advice to translate Narziß und Goldmund, for which Zhang wrote the twenty-five-page foreword. Zhang introduced Hesse as one of the most influential writers worldwide, noting that his novels became popular after every major war, including the two world wars and the Vietnam War; this is known as the “Hesse phenomenon.” She also pointed out that Hesse’s works “seek the ideological characteristics of spiritual liberation contained in religion and philosophy” and “explore the ways of human spiritual liberation,”1Peifen Zhang, “译本序” [“Foreword to Translation”], in 纳尔齐斯与歌尔德蒙, 上海译文出版社 [Narcissus and Goldmund], trans. Wuneng Yang (Shanghai: Shanghai Translation Publishing House, 1984), 1, 6, 14. which aligns with the ideological and spiritual liberation that China championed in the early 1980s. Zhang’s foreword opened the door for the acceptance of Hesse in the new era of China.

Furthermore, Zhang argued that Hesse’s uniqueness lies in the fact that his work did not belong to the realistic tradition, and that, in the Western literary arena, where romanticism had almost disappeared, Hesse had further developed it.2Zhang, “Foreword to Translation,” 24. This subverted the long-held view that Hesse belongs to the field of critical realism and eliminated the need to label and classify him as part of a specific literary school. The foreword also accurately assessed the artistic value of Narziß und Goldmund as a transitional work for Hesse, in which he moved from “simple and subjective lyric and symbolic techniques” to “a descriptive method that is relatively close to narration.”3Zhang, “Foreword to Translation,” 12. It means that during this period, Hesse increasingly replaced lyricism with narration or stories. Hesse’s skillful integration of art and philosophy mentioned in the foreword struck a chord with Chinese readers in the 1980s, and we shall examine its influence in the following.

In the late 1980s, more of Hesse’s works were translated and published in China, such as Siddhartha (“席特哈尔塔,” translated by Peifen Zhang [张佩芬], in Selected Novels and Essays of Hesse [“黑塞小说散文选,” 上海译文出版社], Shanghai, 1986), Steppenwolf (“荒原狼,” translated by Dengrong Zhao [赵登荣], Shanghai, 1986; translated by Shilong li [李世隆, 漓江出版社], Guilin, 1999), and Demian (“德米安,” as “梦系青春— 青年辛克莱寻找“梦系青春——青年辛克莱寻找‘夏娃’的故事”的故事” [Dream Youth—The Story of Young Sinclair’s Search for “Eve,” translated by Weixin Wang [王卫新, 同济大学出版社], Shanghai, 1989). In addition to the novels, Hesse’s short stories, poems, and essays were also translated and published in literary journals and anthologies during this time. The publication of The Selected Lyrics of Hesse (“黑塞抒情诗选,” 天津百花文艺出版社, Tianjin: Tianjin Baihua Literature and Art Publishing House) translated by Chunqi Qian (钱春绮) in 1989, underscored the significance of Hermann Hesse as a German lyric poet. In his foreword, the translator emphasizes Hesse’s romantic characteristics. The translation of six of Hesse’s works arguably made a deep impact on a specific readership in China during the 1980s, particularly among contemporary writers, and inspired new aesthetic explorations during the most prolific period of literary creation in the People’s Republic of China.

With the influence of the “open climate,” a group of pioneering writers abandoned the storytelling style of Chinese classical novels and the imitation of Soviet realism. They incorporated the Western tradition of speculative and philosophical writing into their creations and continued the development of Western modernist literature that had been introduced half a century earlier. This shift was not just about cultural appropriation or local adaptation, but also involved a significant aesthetic rethinking. The new wave of writers, having been raised under Communist rule in China, typically lacked overseas experience or foreign language skills, so they generally need to rely on translated works of foreign literature. In the 1980s, Hesse’s works were translated more than most of other modern German writers, and he became one of the Western literary masters to be emulated by new Chinese writers.

Shanzeng Shen (沈善增, 1950–2018), one of the contemporary “Shanghai writers” whose works were mainly based on Shanghai society from the 1950s to the 1970s, obviously benefited from Hesse’s influence. In 1987, when Shen was preparing to write the second half of his novel Normal People (“正常人”), he encountered writer’s block and could not continue. At this time, a friend recommended Hesse’s Narziß und Goldmund to him. Shen had previously read and appreciated Hesse’s Unterm Rad and Der Steppenwolf and had even imitated them in his own writing. Encountering Hesse again was a turning point for Shen. He found in Hesse’s Narziß und Goldmund “a possibility of directly describing the spiritual world of human beings” and “a possibility of transcending reality”; he said it was “a strong and dazzling light” for him during a time of confusion.4Shanzeng Shen, “‘精神性’加持” [“‘Spirituality’ Blessing”], in “作家谈译文,”上海译文出版社 [Writers on Translation] (Shanghai: Shanghai Translation Publishing House, 1997), 128. Shen injected this spirit into the writing of the second half of Normal People, which was finally published in 1991. Although the novel describes the seemingly normal but actually abnormal life of people in Shanghai due to the unique political environment in China from the 1950s to the 1970s, it achieves a rational transcendence of trivial history with divine compassion and a deep existential irony. In addition, one of the key themes of the novel, “looking for the spiritual father,” is similar to Hesse’s “looking for the mother Eve.” It’s uncertain whether Shen has read Demian, but its Chinese version Dream Ties to Youth—The Story of Young Sinclair’s Search for “Eve” had already been published in Shanghai by 1989. Therefore, there is a possibility that Shen might have read and been inspired by it. The historical and artistic value of Normal People should not be overlooked, especially for its outstanding philosophical irony in portraying the twisted reality of life, and its kind is rare in contemporary Chinese literature.

The friend who recommended Narziß und Goldmund to Shanzeng Shen was Jialu Shen (沈嘉禄), another Shanghai writer. To better understand the circumstances of that time, I reached out to Jialu Shen (沈嘉禄) and asked about his experience with Hesse’s works during that period. He responded:

It can be seen that Jialu’s views on Chinese literary creation during the reform and opening-up period are generally similar to those of Shanzeng Shen. However, Jialu felt that the pure literature of Hesse was inevitably becoming less popular in the consumer society of the day.

Hesse’s influence extended beyond Shanghai writers to avant-garde and many other Chinese writers from the 1980s. For example, Beicun (北村 1965–), one of the pioneer avant-garde writers, displayed obvious Hesse-like themes and dualistic pairs of characters in his novels.6Beicun is one of the very few contemporary writers in China who openly identify as Christian. His novel Glass (“玻璃,”上海三联书店出版社 [Shanghai: Shanghai Sanlian Bookstore Publishing House, 2010]) explores the symbolic spiritual connection between two male poets, and the various tensions between desire, literature, and divinity. The complementary characters in the novel, as well as the themes, can be compared to those in Hesse’s Narziß und Goldmund. Nevertheless, Beicun’s language is more playful and light-hearted compared to Hesse’s serious tone. Lianke Yan (阎连科), a prominent contemporary Chinese writer, has stated that Hesse was his favorite writer when he was young and that Steppenwolf was a spiritual inspiration.7Jingfeng Wen (文经风), “黄昏亮起一盏灯,” 海天出版社 [A Light at dusk] (Shenzhen: Haitian Publishing House, 2016), 147. Similarly, Xiaoyi Yuan (袁筱一),8Xiaoyi Yuan, a female scholar and writer, wrote an article “Hermann Hesse: A Book I Have Read Twenty Times,” which was included in “作家谈译文,” 上海译文出版社 [The Writer Talking about Translation] (Shanghai: Shanghai Translation Publishing House, 1997). Yu Hou (侯钰),9Yu Hou, “Reading Hesse: Passing through the Narrow Gate of Life Alone,” https://vip.chinawriter.com.cn/member/kxsqt/viewarchives_150874.html. Hui Kou (寇挥),10Hui Kou praised Steppenwolf and observed that “this novel has set a towering monument to the imagination of the world.” See Hui Kou, “我的世界文学地图,” 北京十月文艺出版社 [My Map of World Literature] (Beijing: Beijing October Literature and Art Publishing House, 2018), 46. Yiran Liu (刘毅然)11The novel written by Yiran Liu, “我的夜晚比你们的白天好,” 长江文艺出版社 [My Night Is Better Than Your Days] (Wuhan: Changjiang Literature and Art Publishing House, 2001), uses an epigraph from Hesse’s Demian as the note for the title: “I have nothing to ask for except to live according to my natural desire. Why is it so difficult?” and other Chinese authors have also found inspiration in Hesse’s works, and they have praised him highly for it.

Steppenwolf enjoyed widespread popularity in the 1980s. A reader recalled: “In 1987 … those days, everyone was reading and talking about Steppenwolf before and after class … it sparked unprecedented, heated debates and discussions among us …. I have never again witnessed such a strong sensation and such fervent enthusiasm caused by a book within a group.”12Bing Xia (夏冰), “Steppenwolf and Me,” January 18, 2008, http://www.17xie.com/read-258920.html (This webpage is currently inaccessible due to internet regulation in China). Cited from Huaying Wu’s “The Difficult Canonization of Steppenwolf in China,” Journal of Hubei Second Normal University 4–6 (2011): 4. Scholar Huaying Wu (吴华英) believes: “At that time, the fans of Steppenwolf were mostly middle-aged intellectuals who had suffered through the Cultural Revolution … The protagonist Harry Haller’s ‘desire to find himself, his most essential self,’ and all that he experienced and felt, resonated deeply with those who had suffered through the Cultural Revolution. The novel’s attempt to guide the Steppenwolf to find a way out was also a profound inspiration for those in a spiritual crisis.”13Huaying Wu, “The Difficult Canonization of Steppenwolf in China,” 4. This perspective is insightful, but we must also relate it to the relaxed environment of the 1980s, when people, after a long period of cultural repression, were eagerly seeking out Western culture. In that era, forming reading groups centered around unique themes was common. For instance, during the mid to late 1980s, while studying in the Chinese department of a college in Hunan Province, I myself partook in circulating novels like Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights, which portrayed intense, unconventional love, and Nietzsche’s Übermensch philosophy. The distribution and popularity of Hesse’s works such as Steppenwolf and Narziß und Goldmund were similarly reflective of this cultural trend.

In short, the surge in Hesse’s translations in the 1980s was driven by a relaxation of censorship in the reform period. The early translators of Hesse, such as Youzhong Zhang, Peifen Zhang, and Wuneng Yang, approached their translation and research tasks with a sense of mission. They translated in a way that captured the author’s intention and the spirit of liberation of thought that prevailed at that time. This allowed Hesse’s works to resonate with contemporary readers and deeply influenced the works of Chinese writers, leaving a lasting impact to this day.