Talk:Siddhartha (novel)

Untitled
Hi, sorry but I'm not an expert Wiki Editor. I do have some critiques of the page. First, the summary is an analysis, as has been mentioned. This could be split into two sections. Second, the discussion of the difference between "experience" and "understanding" I find a) misplaced, b) opinionated, c) irrelevant, and d) lacking in citation. Third, I have issues with the Theme section. It has digressions on Hesse's thinking which really don't belong in a theme analysis. Also, there is in my view a major missing theme. While the novel obviously centers around the search for transcendence, it is also a story about the pain of being a father (or parent) and learning to balance caring for and letting go of the child. This is evident not only in Siddhartha's painful experience and subsequent peace with his parenting, but in a more implied way in Siddhartha's himself needing to leave his father the Brahmin behind in order to get where he is going. SO ... can we add the stuff I said? Thanks BeholdMan — Preceding unsigned comment added by BeholdMan (talk • contribs) 07:15, 4 August 2012 (UTC)

I apologize, I am new to "discussions" on wikipedia. However, as it currently stads, the "plot summery" section is not a plot summery, but an analysis. One that I believe is debatable. To me, this is inappropriate in that section for two reasons: 1) it is not a plot summery 2) The analysis is debatable and argumentative without specifying itself as such. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.111.70.37 (talk) 18:05, 17 December 2008 (UTC)

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)ü| 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)

The character Siddhartha follows an illustrated spiritual journey which parallels that of the real Siddhartha Gautama (Buddha). Each of the major events in character Siddhartha's life have an origin in the real Buddha's life. While the novel does present the character of Gotama the Buddha, it is only one of many personifications of the Buddha. Was not Vasudeva also a personification of the Buddha in disguise? Or character Siddhartha in the final chapter Govinda? It should be reconsidered that in actuality, this is a fictional novel of Buddha's life. nkd, 4 Sept 2010 —Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.171.197.145 (talk) 00:29, 4 September 2010 (UTC)

Gotama and Gautama are both correct. Yes, at that time and place, Siddhartha was a common name. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Rgitbdc (talk • contribs) 02:17, 18 November 2011 (UTC)

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)

This is awesome, requesting sources so we can put this in. Someone must've heard it. 83.254.118.85 (talk) 22:57, 2 October 2008 (UTC)

Allegory
Precisely how is this novel allegorical? I suspect one of our authors doesn't know what allegorical means. --CRATYLUS22 This is an excellent point about use of the word allegorical! I have read the book very carefully and it is confusing. The main protaganist meets Buddha in the book but keeps going on looking for something else, saying that Buddha has not given him what he is looking for. But at the end, if you read the write-up here, the very last sentences,you will see that Siddhartha has come around to pure Buddhism, denying the self, realizing exactly what Buddha put forward, etc. v I don't think the person doing this write up of the Hesse book knows anything about Buddhism. I do; I've been reading about it for years. It stresses denying the self and not looking for any fixed references in life. What the character Siddhartha found that Buddha could not give him is never explained. In my mind, he found exactly what Buddha preached but on his own. So the concept of "allegory" does not fit here. This should be re-written by someone who understands Buddhism. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.70.145.102 (talk) 23:31, 29 May 2010 (UTC)

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)

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

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)

Modern psychology
What's posted here is utter complete hogwash. It was not just a metaphor, it was a frighteningly accurate description of life itself. It's perhaps the most important psychological novel ever written. Perhaps on par with what ever Freud or Jung ever added. This entry is utterly pathetic.

I'm going to change this thing bit by bit. This entry is farcical and I will have none of it.

—Preceding unsigned comment added by BennyMuller (talk • contribs) 22:50, 11 December 2008 (UTC)

Siddhartha in Indian language translation
Can anybody tell me if Siddhartha has been translated to Hindi or any other language of India? I'm in India for the next 3 weeks and would like to find a copy to add to my collection. &mdash; Hippietrail (talk) 05:30, 14 March 2009 (UTC)

Musical references?
would this go under musical references bit? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siddharta_(band) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.103.163.16 (talk) 00:58, 26 August 2009 (UTC)

What order are these references in? It seems as though they are unordered, or ordered in someone's impression of prominence, but I'd imagine Pete Townsend would go far more near the top, in that case. According to "In_popular_culture"_content#Formatting, lists like this should be organized either alphabetically, or by date, so as to provide a sense of flow and coherence. I would do this myself, but I'm still new to Wikipedia, and I'm wary of offending someone who has likely worked hard on this article. If someone gives me a go-ahead, I'll be happy to order it myself, likely by year, as that makes more sense to me (though I'm willing to do so by name if someone thinks it better). --Mopquill (talk) 08:51, 16 March 2013 (UTC)

Musical references seem not to prove whether they refer to this book or "Siddharta" in some other sense. Some "Siddhartas" in lyrics may rather refer to Buddha whose first name was Siddharta. --81.175.204.66 (talk) 13:17, 27 February 2017 (UTC)

Plagiarism in summary?
I think some of the summary might be plagiarized. The sentence that says "In Herman Hesse's Siddhartha" is a dead giveaway because it makes no sense to repeat that. I searched this on Google, "experience is shown as the best way to approach understanding of reality and attain enlightenment," and I got a few hits but you never know with Google.F. Simon Grant (talk) 14:35, 23 October 2009 (UTC)

Yes, and I saw at least one personal pronoun (namely 'I'). I think it's definitely plagiarized.

99.90.180.59 (talk) 00:39, 30 December 2010 (UTC)

Nepal or India?
‎113.199.169.2 changed the setting of the story to Nepal instead of India. Is this true? I always thought the story was in India. Could someone check this. Eatmark (talk) 00:18, 25 May 2013 (UTC)Eatmark

I'm changing the setting back to India as per chapter two of the book Eatmark (talk) 05:17, 14 June 2013 (UTC)Eatmark

Reference in Shameless
The notation here is correct that the excerpt Fiona read at Monica's funeral is unheard...however, if you turn on captions, it is displayed. The passage is “It is not my place to judge another person’s life. Only for myself, for myself alone, I must decide,”.

વર્ણકલા
. 2405:204:8080:C623:0:0:2911:10A0 (talk) 13:56, 13 September 2022 (UTC)

Who, what or where is 'Adan'?
The article contains the following:

Young Siddhartha: Son of Siddhartha and Kamala. Lives with Siddhartha for a time yet runs away to Adan.

However it contains no information about who, what or where Adan is. Not very encyclopaedic. Not soundly edited. 86.171.145.86 (talk) 02:17, 20 February 2023 (UTC)