Years ago, Herman Hesse’s Siddhartha was required high school reading. No doubt, many high school seniors gleaned a lot of important stuff from the book, but let’s be honest: At 17 or 18, most teens don’t have enough life experience behind them for the book to truly change their life.
But now… well, you’ve been through some stuff, right? Maybe it’s time to revisit Siddhartha. Good news: The Body Electric Book Club (which is totally free) will discuss it Wednesday, right around traffic jam time (5:30 p.m.), so this is a great excuse to leave traffic on the road for an hour or so and remember these seven great things about Herman Hesse’s Siddhartha:
- Scholars commonly acknowledge that the river in the book symbolizes not only the path to enlightenment, but life itself.
- Hesse wrote the book in German, and if you want to read the original, one, you’re a sucker for pain and two, you can totally read Siddhartha in German here.
- The Ferryman on that river was also the subject of a Pete Townshend song, which he wrote in 1976…
- …and reprised for a role in The Seeker, based on Siddhartha, last year.
- Only enlightened people will smile in the book.
- Siddhartha is the main character, as one might infer from the title, but also a portmanteau for siddha, which means perfected one, and artha, which means purpose. Put those two together and you have a tasty Sanskrit sandwich. You also have the entire theme of the book in its title: perfected purpose. The two words may also be interpreted to mean “what was searched for was achieved.”
- You can get the Cliff’s Notes version of the book (not really) in the Ten Mile Tide song “Siddhartha,” which aims to retell Hesse’s story.
The Body Electric Book Club: Siddhartha | The Body Electric, 3015 7th St. N., St. Petersburg | July 11: 5:30 p.m. | Get more info and let them know you’re coming here
This article appears in Jul 5-12, 2018.
