| This thesis examines the enigmatic relationship between the inner self and the society outside as embodied in Hermann Hesse's Demian and Saul Bellow's Dangling Man. Since both Hesse and Bellow are interested in the establishment of an authentic self and the reason for social commitment, the thematic approach of this paper is grounded on Martin Buber's philosophy--the recovery of personal meaning requires involvement with the world as a whole.;Throughout the novels, the protagonists, Sinclair and Joseph, attempt to crystallize a personal ethos in the passage between isolation and contact. The purpose of this thesis is not only to make some thematic analogies between Demian and Dangling Man but also to establish each novel as a human quest for the solution to an eternal dilemma: the mutuality between self and the world outside that confronts it. |
