Narcissus and Goldmund

A new, stand-alone edition of the lyrical novel from 1930. The central pair of characters in this book symbolise the basic antinomy of Hess's work: the contrast between the spiritual man and the sensual man, the contrast between the ethical and the aesthetic, the contrast between the thinking attitude and the artistic attitude. This conflict of "spirit and body", represented by the monk Narcissus and the gifted artist Goldmund, remains unresolved.