Journey to the East

“Words do not express thoughts very well; everything immediately becomes a little different, a little distorted, a little foolish. And yet it pleases me and seems right that what is of value and wisdom to one man seems nonsense to another.” 

H.H.’s task of writing the history of the League is a narrative within a narrative. H.H. ostensibly stands for Hermann Hesse, the author of the book that the reader is following. When he says that words do not express thoughts very well, it signals that the author of The Journey to the East feels similarly to H.H. with his unwieldy manuscript. The novella is both a story and a commentary on the pleasure—and possible futility—of writing stories. 

“The whole of world history often seems to me nothing more than a picture book which portrays humanity’s most powerful and senseless desire—the desire to forget.” 

Much of H.H.’s mysticism and worldview are rooted in the necessity for living in the moment. Ironically, this is at odds with what he calls a “senseless” desire to forget the past. Forgetting would enable one to live only in the moment, making forgetfulness a rational pursuit. But there is a larger comment on the nature of history itself: it is a relentless story of bloodshed and trauma. In this sense, forgetting has the power to heal. 

"The heights to which our deeds rose, the spiritual plane of experience to which they belong might be made proportionately more comprehensible to the reader if I were permitted to disclose to him the essence of the League's secret. But a great deal, perhaps everything, will remain incredible and incomprehensible."

H.H. is earnest in his assessment of his potential shortcomings as a writer, but he also sees himself as impeded by his inability to convey the League’s secret. One must be a member of the League to know the essence of the secret.