{"product_id":"narcissus-and-goldmund","title":"Narcissus and Goldmund","description":"\u003cp class=\"x12ofw9d\"\u003eFirst published in German in 1930, Hermann Hesse’s \u003cem\u003eNarcissus and Goldmund\u003c\/em\u003e is a lyrical meditation on two contrasting ways of being in the world. Set in medieval Germany, the novel follows Goldmund, a gifted and restless young man who arrives at a monastery and forms a profound bond with Narcissus, an austere novice whose intellectual discipline stands in sharp contrast to his companion’s sensual curiosity. Where Narcissus seeks understanding through reason, faith and contemplation, Goldmund is drawn towards the wider world, pursuing beauty, love and artistic expression through a life of wandering. Their friendship becomes the novel’s guiding thread, linking the contemplative life of the monastery with the uncertainties, pleasures and sorrows of experience beyond its walls.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"x12ofw9d\"\u003eThrough Goldmund’s encounters with art, desire, suffering and mortality, Hesse explores the enduring tension between intellect and instinct, spirit and body, permanence and change. His medieval setting lends the story the atmosphere of a legend, while its psychological depth reflects the modern search for wholeness in a divided self. The novel belongs to the same inward-looking tradition as \u003cem\u003eSiddhartha\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eSteppenwolf\u003c\/em\u003e, yet its attention to sculpture, beauty and the formative power of human relationships gives it a distinctive warmth. At once a coming-of-age story and a philosophical reflection on the artist’s life, \u003cem\u003eNarcissus and Goldmund\u003c\/em\u003e asks whether wisdom can ever be separated from the experience of living.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"x12ofw9d\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFrom the book\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"x12ofw9d\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e“The world, it seemed to him, was full of beauty, and he could not bear to think that he might one day be unable to see it.”\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"x12ofw9d\"\u003e— Hermann Hesse, \u003cem\u003eNarcissus and Goldmund\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n","brand":"Gardner's EU","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":63950920450378,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":false}],"url":"https:\/\/thelamppostparis.com\/products\/narcissus-and-goldmund","provider":"The Lamp-Post Library \u0026 Bookshop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}