This is a static copy of In the Rose Garden, which existed as the center of the western Utena fandom for years. Enjoy. :)

#1 | Back to Top10-20-2006 09:22:58 AM

Maarika
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Demian - Chapter by chapter group analysis, starting 10/27!

Has anyone read Hermann Hesse's "Demian"?
In my opion it's a brilliant book and after reading it I was thinking it has a lot more to do with SKU than just the Student Council speech which was taken from "Demian". After I have read it all over again I'll write an essay about the comparision between "Demian" and SKU, but I was wondering if anyone else saw that those two might be connected in other ways, too. And if yes, then I'd be very interested in hearing your thoughts on this.


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#2 | Back to Top10-20-2006 09:27:45 AM

Yasha
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Re: Demian - Chapter by chapter group analysis, starting 10/27!

You know, that's funny. I was just looking at my copy the other day and thinking I might try to read it. Maybe I'll take a hack at it over the weekend. Any thoughts on what I should watch out for? Recurrent themes, symbolism, philosophical similarities? What did you notice that made you think SKU and Demian were more connected than you first thought?


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#3 | Back to Top10-20-2006 09:37:05 AM

Maarika
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Re: Demian - Chapter by chapter group analysis, starting 10/27!

Reeeead iiiiittttt! It's very good!
It's mostly psychological and philosophical, but it has some reference and hints to Christianity so if you don't know about some of the stories that it refers to then you'll miss out on a few (important) things. Anyway, the biggest similiarity is the theme of course. SKU and "Demian" are both about growing up and finding one's true self. But as I was thinking about it, some parts of the story reminded me of situations that SKU characters (mostly Utena and Anthy, but also Dios) were in, too. It also depends a lot on how you interprete it, and because of that I need to read it again.


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#4 | Back to Top10-20-2006 09:38:47 AM

Giovanna
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Re: Demian - Chapter by chapter group analysis, starting 10/27!

I read it years ago, but even I found it a quick read, so you should pound through it in an hour, Yasha. What I recall of it there was a lot of that whole strength of the will thing, though I vaguely (been a long time) recall a theme being the idea of disregarding good and evil, or understanding that both ends of the spectrum must be explored for you to be complete. I should really give it a quick scan before trying to discuss how it relates to SKU, but even a dim recollection makes a lot of it obvious. I remember going OMGSKU because a woman tells the main character to seduce her, he must want her more than he wants to preserve the moral properness of not having her. That, I would say, was a big theme in SKU, for the student council members especially, since they did have to hang up various moral convictions to duel the way they did.

Edit: Hey, maybe we should all vow to read it at the same time for the purposes of analysis. It's like college except with SKU. school-eng101

Last edited by Giovanna (10-20-2006 09:40:31 AM)


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#5 | Back to Top10-20-2006 10:07:36 AM

Yasha
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Re: Demian - Chapter by chapter group analysis, starting 10/27!

That sounds great! I'm going to read mine this weekend. Anyone else want to give it a shot with me?


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#6 | Back to Top10-20-2006 10:13:41 AM

Maarika
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Re: Demian - Chapter by chapter group analysis, starting 10/27!

I can't >_< I lent my book to my uncle today. I hope I get it back soon.

Well and it's not my book anyway, it's from the library. I wonder when I had to return it?


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#7 | Back to Top10-20-2006 10:39:04 AM

Yasha
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Re: Demian - Chapter by chapter group analysis, starting 10/27!

Hmm... I'm still hanging out with my philosophy prof from last year. If anyone knows where to find a copy of Demian on the net or in text format, he would. If I found one for you, would you consider it?


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#8 | Back to Top10-20-2006 10:44:05 AM

Maarika
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Re: Demian - Chapter by chapter group analysis, starting 10/27!

Ooo, reading it in English! Sounds interesting, though I very much dislike reading stuff online. And I think it's a bit too much to be printed too.
I was wondering if I could get another one from the library, but that would seem a bit suspicious.


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#9 | Back to Top10-20-2006 10:50:41 AM

Yasha
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Re: Demian - Chapter by chapter group analysis, starting 10/27!

I would try. It's not like you lost it. If they ask questions, tell them you're having a study group on it. (Why not? It's true... sorta. school-devil )


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#10 | Back to Top10-20-2006 10:58:02 AM

Giovanna
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Re: Demian - Chapter by chapter group analysis, starting 10/27!

I think I might have a copy on my computer at home. If not I could probably find it fast. I wonder if it's public license yet?

Damn, apparently not. You can read Siddhartha on Project Gutenberg though. I'll have to track Demian down.


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#11 | Back to Top10-20-2006 11:09:49 AM

Maarika
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Re: Demian - Chapter by chapter group analysis, starting 10/27!

I have Siddhartha, but I haven't found the time to read it yet. I have a whole bunch of other books to be read too, our teachers think we have nothing else to do than just read ALL THE TIME. Gaaaah!
I refuse read anything this weekend though, so I'll try to finish my drawings and make a new pic of Mr. Demian.


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#12 | Back to Top10-20-2006 05:49:04 PM

allegoriest
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Re: Demian - Chapter by chapter group analysis, starting 10/27!

...Out of curiousity, has anyone read a translation by someone other than Micheal Roloff and Micheal Lebeck? I wish I could read German TT___TT


I want to read it again, and I have it with me, but my reading comprehension is horrible. I'll just read along and lurk in your findings. school-devil

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#13 | Back to Top10-21-2006 12:25:03 PM

Clarice
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Re: Demian - Chapter by chapter group analysis, starting 10/27!

If I can find a copy of it, I'll more than happily jump on the analysis bandwagon. I am a total whore for group analysis. [coughs] This series always brings out the best in me... etc-wankdude


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#14 | Back to Top10-21-2006 02:22:49 PM

Yasha
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Re: Demian - Chapter by chapter group analysis, starting 10/27!

Ooh ooh ooh!

How about chapter by chapter posts? I'd love to be able to see what you people think at the end of each chapter, I'm sure you'll see things I've missed!


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#15 | Back to Top10-21-2006 02:24:32 PM

Maarika
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Re: Demian - Chapter by chapter group analysis, starting 10/27!

Ooooo, that's a good idea!

And the chapter titles have meanings too. This means extra analyzing.


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#16 | Back to Top10-21-2006 02:45:34 PM

Giovanna
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Re: Demian - Chapter by chapter group analysis, starting 10/27!

Oh my god nerdy group analysis makes my panties happy. I love you all. etc-love

So let's get this show on the road! I've grabbed the English translation in a .doc file (Michael Roloff and Michael Lebeck), and I also stumbled upon a Spanish .pdf, if anyone's interested in that one. (I know there are a few Spanish-as-first-languagers on here.)

There are eight chapters (and a short prologue, as well as an intro by Thomas Mann), so a chapter by chapter analysis would break it down into bites we can all handle. The book is in total 101 Word pages long, and I recall it being very readable for something that was translated from German. Obviously there'd be an SKU-specific spin on things, but I'd certainly love to see just a general all around analysis of the text. You know, like no one ever actually does in my college. emot-frown I'm so starved for intellectualism. emot-frown

INTEREST CHECK
I'm not going to post links for what should be obvious reasons, but those of you who can't get a paper copy or are lazy about hitting the library, etc, etc, PM me or post in this thread and I'll either e-mail you with the texts or give you links to download them.

This sounds like much much fun. emot-dance emot-dance


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#17 | Back to Top10-21-2006 08:43:45 PM

Clarice
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Re: Demian - Chapter by chapter group analysis, starting 10/27!

Giovanna wrote:

Obviously there'd be an SKU-specific spin on things, but I'd certainly love to see just a general all around analysis of the text. You know, like no one ever actually does in my college. emot-frown I'm so starved for intellectualism. emot-frown

This sounds like much much fun. emot-dance emot-dance

I agree -- on both the starved and fun fronts. I should have done an English PhD, and yet I am a pharmacist, for chrissakes. I need analysis. My brain is wilting. emot-dance


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#18 | Back to Top10-22-2006 02:08:24 PM

Dulcinea
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Re: Demian - Chapter by chapter group analysis, starting 10/27!

!!!

This topic makes me squee on so many levels. Demian is a great book (and one of the few I actually have at school with me), and it made me so sad that no one else seems to have read it. Yes, it defintely has muchmore than just the "bird fights its way out the egg" speech in common with SKU. I've been reading Hesse's fairy tales too, and they definitely share common themes in SKU. Chapter by chapter analysis? How should this work?

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#19 | Back to Top10-22-2006 02:12:35 PM

Yasha
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Re: Demian - Chapter by chapter group analysis, starting 10/27!

Well, I'm guessing how this works is that we declare a start date after a period of waiting to see who wants in, and then on that day start reading. Read a chapter, post about it, and when you're ready for more, do it again until you're finished the book. Hopefully everyone else is doing the same, so we'll have a bunch of different takes on the book.

Sound good to everyone?


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#20 | Back to Top10-22-2006 02:29:59 PM

Clarice
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Re: Demian - Chapter by chapter group analysis, starting 10/27!

Sounds good to me -- and ready and raring to go, because I am AN ANALYSIS SLUT. When it comes to analysis, I am easy as Akio.

...I possibly also need to get more sleep. Hmm. etc-love


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#21 | Back to Top10-22-2006 02:33:54 PM

Yasha
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Re: Demian - Chapter by chapter group analysis, starting 10/27!

Clarice wrote:

Sounds good to me -- and ready and raring to go, because I am AN ANALYSIS SLUT. When it comes to analysis, I am easy as Akio.

...I possibly also need to get more sleep. Hmm. etc-love

emot-wink etc-love No way, baby, I like you just the way you are! etc-love emot-wink


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#22 | Back to Top10-22-2006 04:50:05 PM

Giovanna
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Re: Demian - Chapter by chapter group analysis, starting 10/27!

Clarice wrote:

ANALYSIS SLUT

Things like this make me want to start throwing around custom titles.

Anyway I'm definitely completely in for this. I'm a slow reader but I can always drink some coffee and do my reading at work instead of sleeping at my desk. (My boss is very negligent and I'm very underpaid, so it evens out.) I'd say let this roll around a couple more days and see if there's more interest, then we can get started.


Akio, you have nice turns of phrase, but your points aren't clear and you have no textual support. I can't give this a passing grade.
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#23 | Back to Top10-22-2006 04:57:55 PM

Clarice
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Re: Demian - Chapter by chapter group analysis, starting 10/27!

Giovanna wrote:

Clarice wrote:

ANALYSIS SLUT

Things like this make me want to start throwing around custom titles.

Well, Akio gets custom plates for his car, so I'm sure he'd approve. (And you know, that reminds me -- the other day I poked at the New Zealand website for customised plates and if I wanted to fork out six hundred NZ dollars (about two hundred GBP or three hundred USD) I could gets me some OHTORI plates of my very own. Although I could only put them on my car in New Zealand, and I just sold that one. Hmm. But...OHTORI PLATES DAMMIT!)

Giovanna wrote:

Anyway I'm definitely completely in for this. I'm a slow reader but I can always drink some coffee and do my reading at work instead of sleeping at my desk. (My boss is very negligent and I'm very underpaid, so it evens out.) I'd say let this roll around a couple more days and see if there's more interest, then we can get started.

I wish I could read at work, but then I'd likely as not give someone twice their dose of digoxin and whoops litigation. Dammit. And I have been meaning to read Demian all day now that I have the text (thanks!) but I have been procrastinating like a mofo. Looking for fanfic smut. God, I am such a whore some days. emot-dance


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#24 | Back to Top10-23-2006 07:08:35 AM

Almaser
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Re: Demian - Chapter by chapter group analysis, starting 10/27!

Are you all really discussing the idea of reading a work for the sole purpose of discussing and analysing it in a group environment?

...

Please excuse me, I appear to have spontaneously orgasmed twice. *wipes up*

Count me in on this etc-love

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#25 | Back to Top10-23-2006 07:30:45 AM

Giovanna
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Re: Demian - Chapter by chapter group analysis, starting 10/27!

Clarice wrote:

Well, Akio gets custom plates for his car, so I'm sure he'd approve. (And you know, that reminds me -- the other day I poked at the New Zealand website for customised plates and if I wanted to fork out six hundred NZ dollars (about two hundred GBP or three hundred USD) I could gets me some OHTORI plates of my very own. Although I could only put them on my car in New Zealand, and I just sold that one. Hmm. But...OHTORI PLATES DAMMIT!)

emot-aaa God damn, I think vanity plates in the US are only like one hundred. I haven't even checked, I know there are a few OHTORI plates in the US but I don't know if there's a Florida one. It wouldn't be me anyway, I have the wrong Chevrolet. emot-frown

Almaser wrote:

Are you all really discussing the idea of reading a work for the sole purpose of discussing and analysing it in a group environment?

...

Please excuse me, I appear to have spontaneously orgasmed twice. *wipes up*

Count me in on this etc-love

We certainly are. emot-wink Glad you'll be joining us, I'd love to see this work out well and possibly be the start of a trend. Keep an eye on this thread, we'll be starting soon, I think.


Akio, you have nice turns of phrase, but your points aren't clear and you have no textual support. I can't give this a passing grade.
~ Professor Arisa Konno, Eng 1001 (Freshman Literature and Composition)

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