Hello and welcome back to hardcore literature.

Wherever I find you in the world today, I hope you're doing well.

Today, we're talking about Siddhartha by Herman Hesse, a slim little masterpiece

that deserves deep appreciation, consideration and attention. At time of

recording, I have recently wrapped up a series of long-form lectures on this wonderful novel

over at the Hardcore Literature Book Club. There are currently four hours of video content for Siddata alone

designed to guide you through a deep reading of the work where we connect essays offering to the

tenets of Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity and explore the psychology of Zen. It's a great group and the discussion is always open.

So if you would like a deep reading of Sedata or any of the other works on the schedule,

then please do check out Patreon.com forward slash hardcore literature.

And you will be warmly welcome. I say this because the podcast today is my

own personal looking back over the novel after having lectured at length over the last couple of

months on the work. What does Sedata mean to me now?

What is the psychic residue left over?

For me, when I think of Sedata, I think of eternal recurrence.

I think of Sansara.

I think of the pain, pleasure, binary. That's Duka and Suka. I think of Ananda or Bliss, Nirvana. I think of the archetype of the ferryman. And I think of the image of the river. Let's unpick all of this together today.

Now, Sedata was published in 1922. Herman Hesse was 45 years old. A few years previous to the publication

of Sedata, he published Demian under a pen name.

Five years later, he published Stepan Wolf.

Now, leading up to Sudata, Herman Hesse's life was in disarray.

Whenever you find a work of art and you find yourself astonished at just how beautifully wrought it is, how

...