Humberto Mejias 2008-09-26

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Luis Mejia - Hesse's Beneath The Wheel can be classified onto his classic "youth" tales. Actually, out of this context I am not too experienced with the rest of his works, although there is something about the nature of the human spirit; which can only be described with certainty and growing beauty on it's formation, on adolescence, that Hesse's captures in a way you can feel so close as to your own father. This first novel - which wasn't his cup of tea as a writer - tells the story, almost in a philosophic perspective, of how an educated formation of a young kid, who by the times the story is set and it's cultural contexture (the Germany of early 20th century) is taught to be a sort of "spokeman" for his very own town, to the cumulative expectatives of others, by the honor of him being the only one to assist to a famous exam and even more famous institute. but through the experience this boy passes through crude and serious adult experiences, turning around numb headeaches, frustating insecurity, the lack of a clear goal, his thoughts of going through a wrong path only to go different from what the boy calls "the rest", and soon in this spiral he goes all the way back to dissapointment, finally falling without any type of emotional support; or rather unravelling it.

On this institute (which was somewhat accurate due to Hesse once being expelled from this academy) the group of classmates is well explained, the death of one of the children; but specially his acknowledgement of friend Herman Heilner; a flamboyant poet boy who has such a strong spirit the proper academy has encounters with him. The story is dramatic by Hans going out due to his physical pains; and by this archaic failure, he soons discovers (progressively and secretively) the whole town and relatives had worn him out, and his treatment was just like a living death. The results: to fall into the dark side and end in tragedy. Apart from the severe education critic Hesse exposes with such delicate spirit, he describes most greatly the nature of the adolescent condition with such a warm and factual nature...I can't explain it very well, all I can say is that you must read it specially when you're a teen and specially to understand it; it will open spiritual doors. At the end of almost each of his stories, there's always that sense of essay and the message drowning the story, although this is something very peculiar about Hesse. It is short, to the point and sincere; a very important read.

Kevin Collins 2008-09-13

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after reading and greatly enjoying two of hermann hesse's other works ("siddhartha" and "narcissus and goldmund"), i read this book.. and i loved it! 5 stars, easy :)

along with numerous others, both the top-ranked positive and negative reviews (and wikipedia?) portray this book primarily as an indictment of educational systems. even the back cover reads ->

"based on his [hesse's] own experience, his second novel attacks an educational system that fosters intellect and ambition at the expense of emotion, soul, and instinct"

what?

i didn't experience this at all. narratively, most of the book is about hans' education, in grammar school and then in boarding school. true. and it certainly isn't an endorsement for late-nineteenth century german education. but if that's all it is, why would you read it anyway?

hesse exquisitely whisks us through (both!!!!!!!!) the ups and downs of education, and everything in between with his intensely vivid - and amazing! - style

after his educational tour concludes, hans works for exactly one week in a blacksmith shop.. and then?? that's it. you'll have to read the book :)

"BTW" is an excellent adventure through the interplay of pleasure, memory and the agony of aging. does everything that was once new and exciting eventually become "old news" and lifeless? this is the question hans asks us through (h) hesse's unbelievable talents as a writer - lyrically transporting us through life's highest highs, and its lowest lows - with pathos only a child can hold ("old news" for the rest of us).. and, while reading this book, i was a child again. thank you hermann (h)

if there is an indictment in this book (and it does seem so), it is either with our human memory, or our civilization at large. eg, p150 ->

"the precocious boy experienced an unreal second childhood during this period of illness. his sensibility, robbed of its real childhood, now fled with sudden yearning back to those already dimming years and wandered spellbound through a forest of memories whose vividness was perhaps of an almost pathological nature. he relived these memories with no less intensity and passion than he had experienced them in reality before. his betrayed and violated childhood erupted like a long pent-up spring"

this book challenges me to experience - and appreciate! - life's pleasures and torments with the perception of a child.. without the dulling burden of personal (or cultural) memory

Benjamin Rumson 2008-04-28

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

For anyone being crushed and canned within the (mostly) incompetant and self-serving system of American Educational Faculty personnel, this book is a fair warning to any prospective college student (of any age) as to what they are really signing up for. I would suggest it as required reading prior to completing applications for any US institution of "higher learning". I completed a BA, MBA, and PhD...and found two professors in all that time who even vaguely gave an idle damn about the students they were supposedly educating. I have since found that comparative discussions with peers have proven my experience to be anything but unique...indeed, my observations have met commonplace agreement, and therefore are all the more disappointing as a result. Hesse called it fairly and true way in advance of current times.

SK 2007-05-18

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

This is a brilliantly written critique - of the Prussian Education System - in the form of a novel. Herman Hesse intended to show how a natural genius(or any child) is stiffled under an educational system that does not care for the needs and desires of the children. A system that is designed for the benefit of the status quo social structure, but ignores the freedom of the children to grow up in accordance with their own dreams.

The central character in this book is Hans Giebernath, a brilliant student in school, but a miserable failure in college after a short while. He is burned out - studying, studying, studying - matters irrelevant to him. He is not able to enjoy and cherish the joys of life. This is the story of his tragedy. His attempts to find a different path for himself in life, his desire to break out of the cage of the academy.

Many will be able to relate to the story; I especially felt a strong similarity between Hans' lifestory and my own. I was a brilliant student in high school, went to an elite college carrying high hopes placed upon me by everybody that knew me, but burned out by the sheer boredom and irrelevance of the 'ivory towers'. However, unlike Hans Giebernath, I managed to put myself through four years, but not without much frustration similar to that felt by him. That is why I loved this story, finally a book that understands and sympathizes with young men like me.

Hans' story continues after the college, has a few surprise twists and an ending that many can see coming. But that is not a shortcoming of the book, the author has built it up so that many a readers will not feel surprised by how the book ends.

What can be said about the writing itself? It's brilliant and choke full of great imagery. Even without a florid prose, Herman Hess has created a work that is great pleasure to read for it's quality of writing and deep thoughts contained therein.

Kevin A. Freeman 2007-04-19

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Although I have seen this Hesse novel called "a Black Forest 'Catcher in the Rye'," I see little similarity beyond a young male protagonist who drops out of school. Otherwise, both the book's tone and the protagonist's personality are wildly different from Salinger's. Hesse's book is more steeped in academia than Salinger's, which only briefly treats Holden Caulfield's disillusionment with school early on in that book. Here the criticism of the academic grind are more focused and take up more than half the book. Also, "Beneath the Wheel" contains Hesse's trademark Romanticism and obsession with nature, and though we can consider Salinger's young hero a frustrated Romantic of sorts, sarcasm and cynicism are the preferred vehicles used and there's little in the way of paeans to nature as seen in the German tale.

Fans of Hesse will find this book of interest, but might consider it "Hesse Light" compared to the author's more heavyweight entries. There's a touch of "Little Lord Fauntleroy-itis" to our young hero, Hans Giebermath, and some of his Werther-like sufferings are staples of adolescent tales we've read before. In his rebellion, Hans will sample blue-collar work and the siren calls of beer and cigars, but it is his forays into nature that lend the story its appeal. Hesse is at his best when describing forest streams with silent fish rising to dimple the surface, autumn valleys with milk-white mist rising from their crevices, and the torches of October trees turned bright red and orange before the approach of winter. If you love description, "Under the Wheel" will not disappoint. As a bildungsroman of a young man in school, however, it is very good, if not the strongest example of its kind.