Talk:Siddhartha (novel)

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[edit] Gotama vs. Guatama

In the book, they refer to the Buddha as "Gotama". In this article, they say "Guatama". Should this be corrected? 24.17.209.41 00:46, 2 January 2007 (UTC)Lit

That is true;in the book "the Illustrious one" is called Gotama. I believe it should be changed.

I thought it was a difference in editions, but as all three of us have seen it as "Gotama," I think it's safe to change it, so I will. At the very worst, I'll be changing it from one acceptable name to another. Twilight Realm 23:03, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

Gautama is sometimes correct. "Guatama" not at all. Das Baz, aka Erudil 16:07, 22 April 2008 (UTC)

So this Siddhartha is not Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha? --Menchi (Talk)â 10:42, 12 Dec 2003 (UTC)

No, he's not, but he meets the Buddha in the book (though they refer to him just as "Gotama," presumably to avoid confusion). Anyone who's read this: I wasn't aware that Kamala was a prostitute! Any info for this? They don't mention it in the book... I don't think. Andre 22:09, 27 Aug 2004 (UTC)
Well if I understand correctly Kamala is a prostitute in the same respect as Japanese Geishas are: women who exchange shared time, sophisticated appearance and bodily pleasure with gifts and luxury. There is few -if any- moral judgment underlying, be it positive or negative.
They say Kamala is a courtesan on numerous occasions. A courtesan is an upper-class prostitute.

This article claims that Siddhartha is an allegorical novel, but does not say what it is an allegory for. Does anyone know? -Branddobbe 02:33, Sep 22, 2004 (UTC)

An ingenious critic tried to show that the first part of Siddhartha and its four chapter concided with the Four Noble Truths of Buddhism and the second part (with eight chapters) matched up with the Eightfold Paths of Buddhism. Magiblade 22:15, 19 October 2005 (UTC)

About how Siddhartha (title character) is not the Buddha: was Siddhartha a common name? Is there significance to the name's literal meaning? What other reason would Hesse give the title character the same name as the historical Buddha? (To confuse people?) M. Stern 04:14, 7 February 2007 (UTC) Those are blessed good questions. Das Baz, aka Erudil 16:07, 22 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] translation anecdote

I heard this story many years ago--does anyone know if it's true? Apparently there was some author in the Depression (call him X) who was a literary type but who found himself writing porno novels to pay his bills. Like many authors, X was sometimes slow delivering manuscripts, and the publisher would sometimes hassle X's agent and ask what was taking so long. X's agent, the story goes, on one of these occasions made up a ridiculous excuse about how X was some kind of swami in the remote Himalayas, sending his manuscripts on a long journey by yak, blah blah (the agent knew that X was in fact interested in eastern mysticism, and had made up the rest from there). The publisher said "hey, that sounds exotic, tell him to put some of that into the next porn book". The agent passed the instruction to X, who obediently delivered such a work, which was duly published to the usual obscurity.

A few decades later, Hermann Hesse won the Nobel Prize and Hesse's novels took off in popularity and maybe new English translations appeared. And a few people who read these Hesse translations but who had previously read X's mystical porno novel recognized what they were now reading, and said "what's going on here? They took the good parts out of Siddhartha" (i.e. X had in fact read Hesse in German, and rewrote the story of Siddhartha with a bunch of steamy sex added, long before the official translation came out). I don't know who X was. I've heard one name mentioned but I think that person was born in the wrong decade for the pieces to fit together. Anyone else heard this? Phr (talk) 20:34, 9 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Allegory

Precisely how is this novel allegorical? I suspect one of our authors doesn't know what allegorical means. --CRATYLUS22

[edit] Hesse in India?

I'm new to contributing to Wikipedia, so I apologize if I'm going about this wrong. I'd appreciate any feedback if needed.

In the beginning of this article, it says, "It was first published in 1922, after Hesse had spent some time in India in the 1910s." My understanding is that Hesse never actually stepped foot in India, ironically. In the introduction to the Dover Thrift Edition (isbn 0-486-40653-9)written by Stanley Applebaum, he says: "Another dream that failed to stand up to reality was Hesse's quest in 1911 for some sort of roots in India, a country where both of his parents had lived and whose literature, religions, and philosophies were dear to him. The steamer he sailed on touched at ports in Ceylon, the Malayan island of Penang, Singapore, and Sumatra. Hesse suffered from the heat and from dysentery. He was away only a few months and never set foot in what we call India; English-language reference books that speak of a stay in India are carelessly mistranslating the German word Indien, which can also be an overall term covering Vorderindien(Hither India; i.e., our India) and Hinterindien(Farther India; i.e., Southeast Asia). Hesse himself referred to his destination variously as Indien, Asia, or Malaya. On his return he expressed disappointment, claiming that colonial rule had denatured the territory...." —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.246.211.145 (talk) 02:46, 4 March 2008 (UTC)

He also wrote Morgenlandfahrt - "Journey to the East" - (more literally, "Journey to the Land of the Morning.") The protagonist never actually makes it to the Orient. Das Baz, aka Erudil 17:05, 22 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Genre

Hmm, I'm guessing allegorical buddha is not a literary genre. I could be wrong. Timjim7 (talk) 01:33, 2 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] River

The parents of River Phoenix named him after the River of Life in Siddhartha. Das Baz, aka Erudil 17:06, 22 April 2008 (UTC)