34 pages • 1 hour read
Hermann HesseJourney to the East
Fiction | Novella | Adult | Published in 1956A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
Serving and Leadership
Near the end of the book, H.H. is stunned to learn that Leo—formerly a servant—is actually the President of the League. He recalls what Leo once said to him: “He who wishes to live long must serve” (34). Leo also calls this precept the “Law of service,” and says that “he who wishes to rule does not live long” (34). This statement leads H.H. to wonder why anyone would ever want to rule, if ruling, or becoming a master, is a negation of immortality. Leo explains that those who are meant to be masters—and there are few—were destined to become so since birth. Those who rise to their positions through nothing but achievements and effort “end in nothing” (34). As the conversation ends, H.H. is beginning to suspect that Leo knows more than the rest of them, who are considered to be his masters, since Leo is only a servant.
Once Leo is revealed to be the President of the League, he still makes it clear that he remains a servant. He serves the aims of the League and the goals of its initiates. Leo’s role as leader is akin to something more like a midwife: he helps other people bring their true nature into existence by helping them understand reality. As the book ends, H.H. is beginning to take on some of Leo’s qualities, including his desire to serve, which requires him to “disappear” (118) in favor of Leo’s ascendance.
Immortality and Art
During a discussion about why an artist can seem dull while the artist’s work can seem more vibrant and alive than a person could ever be, Leo remarks that the nature of immortality is to be found in service. He sees artists as servants. Their earthly existence cannot be of more importance than any other human: they are made of matter that will pass away. But their work can last for much longer, particularly if it is celebrated, talked about, and passed on. These statements are not easy for H.H. to think about, later, when he is struggling with his manuscript. Not only is his body mortal, but one of his chances at immortality—his book about the League and the Journey to the East—is in danger of never being completed, which dooms him to mortality in this sense as well.
The Unreliability of Memory
One of H.H.’s greatest challenges in writing his history of the League is that he is soon unable to trust his own memories. Memory is fallible, but this is compounded when he speaks with Leo in Seilergraben, where Leo fails to confirm that all of H.H.’s memories of their Journey are correct. This unpleasant reality is further reinforced when he reads in the archives in Chapter 5. H.H. sees that other accounts of the Journey—the same Journey that he undertook—vary to great degrees in some instances. He does not see how their memories can be correct, unless his are false, and the inverse is also true. Because H.H. views the Journey as the most precious, happy time of his life, he is distraught to find that much of it appears so unmemorable as to have vanished from his mind. And the same has happened to other members of his group. H.H.’s best chance at accuracy becomes his commitment to recounting the fragments of his memory with authenticity. He must also abandon the notion that he can ever place them in a timeline that’s accuracy is indisputable.
When H.H. writes the lengthy letter to Leo, it clarifies his thoughts and allows him to enforce order on the chaos of his memories. It allows him to sharpen his reason and to look at words that, once committed to paper, are immutable. He realizes that in some ways, books—and any personal writing—can serve as the memory of their authors.
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By Hermann Hesse
