Beneath the Wheel
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| Author | Hermann Hesse |
|---|---|
| Original title | Unterm Rad |
| Language | German |
| Genre | Novel |
| Publisher | S. Fisherman |
Publication date | 1906 |
| Publication place | Germany |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover) |
| Pages | 192 pp |
| ISBN | NA Parameter error in {{ISBNT}}: invalid character |
Beneath the Wheel (Unterm Rad) is a 1906 novel written by Hermann Hesse. It is also sometimes titled The Prodigy in English.[1] It severely criticises education that focuses only on students' academic performance, and in that respect is typical of Hesse. There are also autobiographical elements in the story, as he attended and was expelled from the seminary described.[1]
Plot summary
Beneath the Wheel is the story of Hans Giebenrath, a talented boy sent to a seminary in Maulbronn. However, his education is focused solely on increasing his knowledge and neglects his development as a person. His close friendship with Hermann Heilner, a less hard-working and more liberal fellow student, is a source of comfort for Hans. In the end, Heilner is expelled from the seminary and Giebenrath is sent home after his performance decreases when he shows symptoms of mental illness.[2]
Back home, he finds coping with his situation difficult, as he has lost most of his childhood to scholastic study and thus never had time to form lasting personal relationships with anyone in his village. He is apprenticed as a blacksmith and seems to enjoy the work; it is visceral and concrete, as opposed to the intellectual abstraction of scholarly work. However, he never fully adjusts to his new situation. On a pub crawl in a neighbouring village, he and his colleagues get drunk. Giebenrath leaves the group to walk home early. Later, he is found to have drowned in a river.
See also
References
- ^ a b "Prodigy". http://www.abebooks.com. Retrieved 21 February 2013.
{{cite web}}: External link in|publisher= - ^ "Prodigy Hesse, Hermann". http://www.iberlibro.com. Retrieved 16 March 2013.
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