Lemmiwinks Posted May 27, 2011 Share Posted May 27, 2011 OK, so after many years of postponing I've finally got around reading it and... I'm quite amazed. IMO this "novel" is nothing else than a trip report. All the "action" really seems like a group of people wandering on some psychedellic substance, otherwise it doesn't really make sense. Like for example it's called "Journey to the East" but they never actually head East, more like South-West (you'd expect India or China maybe but in reality they never get further than Spain). And they seem to follow real but also imaginary people like Don Quixote and the author mentions "journying through space but also time"... Plus, there are some passages that are REALLY intriguing like when he starts reading an old text, then realizes it's in greek carachters, and, even though he can read greek he then realizes that the more he focuses on the text the more unreadable it becomes until the carachters seem to become circles and flowers flying off tha page... if that's not tripping I don't know what is? lol I'm pretty amazed to see in amazon reviews and such that like 99% of the people completely missed the "right" interpretation... unless I'm missing it... So has anyone else read it? What are your thoughts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Time_Trap Posted June 2, 2011 Share Posted June 2, 2011 I haven't read it but I bet it's worth it. I have read "Siddharta" by the same author and it made me a really good impression! Check that out too if u haven't.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lemmiwinks Posted June 3, 2011 Author Share Posted June 3, 2011 I haven't read it but I bet it's worth it. I have read "Siddharta" by the same author and it made me a really good impression! Check that out too if u haven't.. well that's exactly it... when you read the title you'd expect something like Siddharta but it's VEEERY different Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Time_Trap Posted June 3, 2011 Share Posted June 3, 2011 well that's exactly it... when you read the title you'd expect something like Siddharta but it's VEEERY different I am intrigued to check it... Maybe you have some link for it in electronic form ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Otto Matta Posted June 4, 2011 Share Posted June 4, 2011 I read it a very long time ago, but I remember it being very weird. I've read pretty much all of Hesse's stuff and I definitely prefer the early to middle stuff he wrote, before he got into heavy mystical motifs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TranceVisuals Posted June 4, 2011 Share Posted June 4, 2011 My favourite Hesse book by far, Reminding us that we carry each other on the spiritual journey, and that some parts of the path are narrow ledges, that by virtue of our own self-testing we must at times walk alone. But mostly that "The East", that which we seek, really resides in each and everyone of us, here and now, not somewhere else, sometime else. I found quite a few of his other books quite depressing, but worthwhile. I wonder who else got turned onto Hesse through Leary's writings? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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