Narcissus and Goldmund

 A real gem. What else do you expect from a master writer, Nobel prize laureate Herman Hesse? 

I am talking about the book 'Narcissus and Goldmund'. 

When I first started listening to the book, I expected the usual physical attraction between the student Goldmund and the new teacher Narcissus in the cloister. I couldn't have been more wrong. Though they liked each other very much, it was great friendship and nothing more. Friendship because of the exact opposite natures of the two. Narcissus is an ideal teacher in such a  abbey, a well read man, a pedagogue, a person who is willing to dedicate his life to the God and his teachings and to the abbey of course. 

But Goldmund was a person who thinks with his heart. Interested in Art, music and in nature. Who would have been miserable if he continued his life in that institute. He leaves the cloister and goes in search of meaning of life.

He leads the life of a vagrant. Eating what he can, when some village lady gave him a meal, seducing women and finding God in their beauty, but then moving on with his journey. He stays in the house of Count and teaches him fencing in exchange for food and boarding. Count's daughter - elder daughter falls in love with him. But the younger daughter knows about their affair and threatens of exposing them.

Goldmund leaves their home and continues his journey. In one of the churches, he sees the painting of Mother Mary and is entranced by its beauty. He enquires about the artist and searches him. He visits the artist and begs him to take him as an intern. 

He starts painting under the teacher's guidance. He paints his friend Narcissus and St. John. 

His journey takes him later to a village ravaged by plague. He feels the same rapture looking at the pile of corpses too.

Well, is he a bad person? For killing two men? For seducing so many women? For not believing in God and turning away from a religious life? Or is he an innocent child trying to find the beauty - and in that beauty - the meaning of life?