Reading Siddhartha again 100 years after its publication is neither obvious nor outdated. Translated into more than 40 languages, published in 88 different editions from 1922 until today, Siddhartha remains one of the most widely read texts by Hermann Hesse and one of the most popular coming-of-age novels in the world.
If we consider that his "Indian legend", on which he worked hard for two and a half years, "led him to what, on a spiritual and poetic level, he was searching for", we can well imagine how important this novel was for the author and how much it can still tell the new generations.
Bringing to the attention of young people, 50 years after its first release, also the film adaptation signed by Conrad Rooks, gives further emphasis to the poetics of Hesse.
The second proposal that Castellinaria presents to high schools, in the context of its commitment to film literacy, is therefore dedicated to the Nobel Prize for Literature Hermann Hesse.
The conference will be developed on a dual artistic and linguistic level: on the one hand the German version and the Italian translation of the novel, on the other the film in the two language versions, Italian and German. This analysis will lead more to outline the central aspects of the text and the film than to a comparison of the two artistic expressions.
Short synopsis of the film
Siddhartha is a 1972 Indo-American film based on the 1922 novel of the same name by Hermann Hesse, directed by Conrad Rooks. The film tells the story of the young Siddhartha and his search for a meaningful way of life. This search takes him through periods of harsh asceticism, sensual pleasures, material wealth, then self-revulsion and eventually to the oneness and harmony with himself that he has been seeking.
Link to the trailers
in German
in English
During the month of November, it will be possible to visit the Hesse Foundation in Montagnola where interested schools will have the opportunity to see excerpts from the film (released in 1972) commented on by Giancarlo Zappoli and Claudia Bersani, as well as to discover with a guide the rooms where Hesse lived and their valuable contents.
Dossier
SIDDHARTHA - VEDERE UN LIBRO, LEGGERE UN FILM (Italian)
