Krieg als Erweckungserlebnis. Zu geistiger Reife und Künstlertum als Kriegserfahrung in Hermann Hesses „Der Künstler an die Krieger“ (1914)

Abstract

This article analyses Hermann Hesse’s poem, „Der Künstler an die Krieger“ (1914), written and published shortly after the outbreak of World War I. Hesse considered war an experience of personal crisis initiating the soldiers‘ moral and intellectual maturation. Fighting, they approach an artist’s higher state of mind. The poem is often said to be nothing more than a spontaneous reaction to the initial German enthusiasm for war. But Hesse praises the educative potential of the war situation and the superiority of artistry even in texts from the 1920’s. The connection between crisis and artistry as well as an intellectual distinction of artists seems to be an important assumption of his self-concept as a poet.