As stated in the introduction, Hesse has long been seen as a strong critic of modern technology. This critique is not only visible in the poem “The Battle Against the Machines,” but in several other works. For example, in
The Journey to the East, modern technology is depicted as a mirror of a world with a singular focus on money, numbers, and time, which the League intends to transcend.
1Hermann Hesse, The Journey to the East, trans. Hilda Rosner (London: Granada, 1972). There are references to how the group of travelers to the East live like pilgrims and eschew any mechanical contrivances such as railways, motorcars, ships, watches, and the like. Similarly, when one of the travelers decides to leave the group, technology is also discursively mobilized as anathema to spiritual life. In the remainder of this section, we will focus on Hesse’s novel
Steppenwolf and some biographical moments in Hesse’s life to show that his criticism was more nuanced. We will argue that in Hesse’s work and life, modern technology is seen as a self-limitation, but living without such technology can be equally limiting. The story of the main character in
Steppenwolf—Harry Haller—and Hesse’s own experience on Monte Verità reflect this duality.
Steppenwolf is set in Zurich in the 1920s. Here, the introduction of modern technology, such as the automobile, was happening at a rapid pace, and Hesse problematized the unfolding technologization of everyday life. The story begins with a critical stance toward technology, although the character’s relation to it changes as the story progresses. Harry Haller is repelled by the intellectual stupidity, moral irresponsibility, and lifeless normality of bourgeoise society.
2Martin Swales, “Der Steppenwolf,” in A Companion to the Works of Hermann Hesse, ed. Ingo Cornils (Rochester, NY: Camden House, 2009), 171–86. He experiences a struggle with technology, especially concerning the consumption of music. For example, he describes the radio as a weapon that destroys art. He romanticizes classical music in its purest forms, either as a live performance or as notations on a piece of paper. He therefore reacts with some resistance when Hermine—a hedonistic young courtesan who shakes up Haller’s life—asks him to purchase a gramophone to practice dancing: “Everything in me combined to resist the idea, all the objections I, as an old, spoiled connoisseur of music, had to gramophones, jazz and all kinds of modern dance music.”
3Hermann Hesse, Steppenwolf, trans. David Horrocks (London: Penguin, 2012), 123. Yet Haller eventually gives in to the bourgeois world and its modern technology, following Hermine’s request to purchase a gramophone. It enables the couple to practice dancing in Haller’s apartment, which in turn leads him to question his prejudices against modern music. Although Haller remains skeptical about technology, he must acknowledge that it can open one to new experiences. The dance practice sessions at home culminate in his participation at the final ballroom dance, where his identity is once again shaken. These experiences—which all depend on a gramophone—eventually help him to recognize the multifaceted nature of human existence, which changes and expands with technology, and the futility of either wholeheartedly embracing or rejecting technology.
This attitude is also manifested in another well-known scene in
Steppenwolf, namely when Haller experiences a lucid dream about a war between man and machine. Men are summoned to fight against the machines and the men behind them, namely plutocrats who “with the help of machines, lived off the fat of others.”
4Hesse, Steppenwolf, 195. Here, we once more see how humans are confronted with the technology-intensive world, suggesting that if the predominance of machines and the world of concrete were to subside, humans could flourish again. Yet, on the other side of the war between man and machines, there were those supporting the machines. With the aid of machinery, their placards argued, one could create “order and property and education and justice” and “[humans] would be transformed into gods.”
5Hesse, Steppenwolf, 196.Haller is not entirely convinced by either position. In the dream, he meets his former friend Gustav, who, when asked whether he is on the side of the factory owners, replies: “Don’t ask me, it’s just a matter of taste. … If anything, I think we should opt for the other side, even though it basically makes no difference, of course.”
6Hesse, Steppenwolf, 197. Confronted with this irresolvable dilemma—for or against the machines?—Gustav reasons that since Luther helped the rich and the princes against the peasants, he, as a professor of Theology, would establish balance by fighting against the machines. Harry’s dream continues, playing with ideological underpinnings of being either “for” or “against” technology. In our view the dream indicates that being either “for” or “against” technology is unreasonable. Given the irresolvable dilemma depicted in this part of the novel, and the logic with which Harry chooses a position in the war, we suggest that what is central in Hesse’s view is the absurdity of choosing either side in the war.
We will now switch to discussing examples representing Hesse’s own life experiences regarding technology. In his afterword to a recently published collection of Hesse’s writing on trees, Volker Michels reflects on Hesse’s criticism of treeless urban areas as lacking in character, comparable to soulless train stations.
7Volker Michels, “Afterword,” in Hermann Hesse, Trees: An Anthology of Writings and Paintings, ed. Volker Michels, trans. Damion Searls (Carlsbad, CA: Kales Press, 2022), 123–29. Indeed, Hesse saw modern technology such as trains and railroads as encroaching on nature and pushing it away from the cities. Hesse’s critical perspective towards technology and industrialization led him to escape the sedentary way of living and experience the beauty of nature. An essential experience of this type was his short involvement in the commune in Monte Verità in Switzerland in 1907, where he intended to “return to nature” but realized the downsides of such a move. Before that time, Hesse had led a bourgeois life: he had become a recognized author. He had a house in the countryside (Gaienhofen) with an abundance of wine and cigars, living with his wife and sons. He felt, however, that his life was not authentic and that he had become a hypocrite: criticizing comfortable ways of living supported by industrialization and, at the same time, conforming to the rules of such a life.
To change his life and to reflect upon his next steps, Hesse decided to visit a colony of outsiders, non-conformists, and visionary dreamers living at the commune on Monte Verità. The central values underpinning this commune were based on returning to nature and living away from the comforts of contemporary technological society. The colony consisted of anarchists, naturists, and meditation practitioners, guided by the principles of going “back to nature,” human love, and genuine, non-transactional relationships.
8Gunnar Decker, Hermann Hesse: The Wanderer and His Shadow, trans. Peter Lewis (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2018), 273. A kind of haven in an era of high industrial pollution, child labor, and tuberculosis was established; in the words of Hesse biographer Gunnar Decker, “not only to rid themselves of the detritus of life … but also to bring humanity salvation.”
9Decker, Hesse: The Wanderer and His Shadow, 274.Although Hesse came to Monte Verità expecting a life-changing experience, he quickly understood how the commune was detached from its surrounding community. The Commune’s founders came from wealthy families, collecting fees from those who wanted to experience the colony. But, as Hesse later reflected, he did not need a unique community of “turnip-green apostles” to fulfill his values of a life balanced with nature.
10Decker, Hesse: The Wanderer and His Shadow, 277. Even if Hesse was to some extent inspired by the colony’s anti-modernist ideas, he realized that ideological believers are dangerous when they try to convince others to adopt them and expressed this skepticism in several novellas, for example in
Der Weltverbesserer (The World Reformer) and
Doktor Knölges Ende (Dr. Knoelges End).
11Hermann Hesse, Der Weltverbesserer und Doktor Knölges Ende: 2 Erzählungen (Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp, 1985). From that time, he became even more suspicious of ideological and totalitarian systems in any form.
12Cf. his political essays: Hermann Hesse, If the War Goes On … Reflections on War and Politics (Edinburgh: The Canons, 2018). Through this failed attempt to escape modern technological society, he also saw that the allegedly non-technological society of the commune was morally corrupt and consisted of prophets who turned out to be cynics. This experience also contributed to shaping his view against taking sides for or against modern technology and his preference for going beyond opposing dichotomies.
There are reports of Hesse having seen the benefits of modern technology when, for example, he was enthusiastic about floating in an airship around Lake Constance or flying from Berlin to Stuttgart.
13Hermann Hesse, Luftreisen: Betrachtungen, Gedichte und Bilder über das Fliegen, ed. Volker Michels (Leipzig: Insel, 1994). On the other hand, he also expressed a disdain for the mass production of his works, which could indicate that he saw the benefits of modern technology, but within limits.