Hermann Hesse & Psychoanalysis
Rilke is one example; Hesse another. For Hesse psychoanalysis--of the Jungian ilk--was an inestimable boon. From Joseph Mileck's Hermann Hesse: Life and Art : Toward the end of April, Hesse left for Sonnmatt, a private clinic near Lucerne. Here he was referred to J. B. Lang, an analyst who had been one of C. G. Jung's students. He was able to return to Bern at the end of May after some electrotherapy and but twelve three-hour analytical sessions. Sixty more visits to Lucerne took place from June 1916 to November 1917. Some of Hesse's anxieties were dispelled, he learned to cope more ably with his frustrations, and he slowly emerged from his deep depression. Hesse's personal encounter with psychoanalysis had a profound effect upon his life and art. It provided him with the incentive necessary to appraise himself and his adjustment to life, and afforded him the insights needed to begin his long inward path ( Weg nach Innen ), that tortuous road t...