Piktors Verwandlungen

by Hermann Hesse

Piktors Verwandlungen - Ein Liebesmärchen - bk350; Inselverlag; Hermann Hesse; pocket_book; 1975

Genres: Fiction, Short Stories, Classics, Literature, Fantasy, Germany, German Literature

91 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1922

About the author

Many works, including Siddhartha (1922) and Steppenwolf (1927), of German-born Swiss writer Hermann Hesse concern the struggle of the individual to find wholeness and meaning in life; he won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1946.

Other best-known works of this poet, novelist, and painter include The Glass Bead Game , which, also known as Magister Ludi, explore a search of an individual for spirituality outside society.

In his time, Hesse was a popular and influential author in the German-speaking world; worldwide fame only came later. Young Germans desiring a different and more "natural" way of life at the time of great economic and technological progress in the country, received enthusiastically Peter Camenzind , first great novel of Hesse.

Throughout Germany, people named many schools. In 1964, people founded the Calwer Hermann-Hesse-Preis, awarded biennially, alternately to a German-language literary journal or to the translator of work of Hesse to a foreign language. The city of Karlsruhe, Germany, also associates a Hermann Hesse prize.

Reviews

[Yassmeen Altaif]

رائعة تحولات بيكتور، تجعلك تتأمل ما هي السعادة؟
تجعلك تفكر فيما تملك قبل ان تفقده، فلتنعم في حياتك في شبابك قبل ان تكون كهلًا.

هيرمان كتابته رائعة ودومًا تأملية.

[Suad Alhalwachi]

تشبه الى حدٍ ما قصة آدم وحواء مع إبليس والشجرة. لقد مناهم ابليس بشجرة الخلد وملك لا يبلى. هنا يبدو ان الكتاب ممكن ان يتأثروا بالكتب الالهية وربما تأتيهم افكارا معينة عندما يقرأوا القصص المذكورة في الكتب المنزلة.

البحث عن السعادة هو دائم بالنسبة لنا معشر البشر! لا نفتأ ان نذكرها. وربما نجدها او لا نجدها ولكن حياتنا لن تتوقف الا بالموت. يا ترى هل سنبحث عن السعادة هناك ايضا؟ وهل ستكون جنة خالية من تنغيصات ابليس المعروفة والتي ختمناها في هذه الدنيا!

اقتباسات:
السعادة يا صديقي في كل شيء ، في الجبال والوديان ، في الازهار والكريستال

زهرة كانت برائحة مثل حديقة الطفولة، مثل صوت الام يشم عطرها الحلو

[Laura Leilani]

So. Bizarre.
Had to read some stories twice. The symbolism was sometimes elusive for me.

This collection of short stories have been called fairy tales, but moral fantasies is a better description for them.

One story took place in a country called Normalia. It had started off as a mental institution and as it got over crowded it simply kept growing until it was the size of a country. When it was written it was probably a comment on Nazi Germany. I found it also a fitting description of North Korea.

A couple stories were romances.
A couple were about attempting to become a great artist.
In another, a man has a discussion with his stove.

Great book but it helps to be open to the symbolism; in some stories more than others.

[Cherisa B]

Disappointing collection of shorts from one of my favorite authors. Not a single one grabbed me.

[Adriana Scarpin]

Livro que contem as ilustrações e o conto Transformações, vários poemas e um posfácio que conta parte da vida de Hesse, incluindo trechos de cartas, inclusive uma em que o próprio Hesse atesta a genialidade do Sr. Jung com quem ele se consultava bastante em tempos de escrever o Sidartha e esse conto dual sobre Piktor.

[Huda Akwyed]

بيكتور الذي يتحول إلى شجرة حيث السكون و الطمانينة و الثابت و لكن سرعان ما يمل هذا التحول حينما يدرك أن الافعى خدعته بامنية التي تمناه عند الحجر الأحمر!!
قصة من وحي الخيال مع سطورها القليلة تسحرك و تنبهك للامنيات التي نتمناها و ما المصير الذي يتبع ذلك ...

[Ali Alghanim]

في كل بداية هناك قوة سحرية تحمينا وتساعدنا على العيش

[Ali Alkhuzai]

البحث عن السعادة وكيف يكون الانسان سعيدا وهل التحول من حال الى حال ومن طريقة الى أخرى كما حدث لبطل الرواية عندما دخل الجنة يجلب السعادة.

[Ole Pogie]

An excellent collection of short stories. Most of the stories were written almost as fairy tales including the title story "Pictor's Metamorphoses", which Hesse wrote for the woman who would become his second wife. My favorite stories were: "King Yu" about a Chinese king who had a series of towers built that stretched for miles. Each tower had a powerful drum that was to be beat if an enemy army approached that would alert the kings troops before the enemy got near. To entertain his wife, the king had the alarm sounded and his troops came from far away thinking an attack was occurring only to find it was a false alarm. The generals were angered and swore they would never again respond to the alarm and so the enemy, hearing of this, attacked with dire consequences for the king. Another story I liked was "Report from Normalia" in which an insane asylum kept growing until it became the size of a nation. I suspect this was a metaphor for the rise of Germany under the Nazi. Hesse's writing was absolutely spectacular, but then I wouldn't expect anything less from him.

[Pamela]

Hesse fans will enjoy these short stories, fables, and indeed, fantasies that non-Hesse fans will find either hard to understand or too whimsical to bother trying. The hardcover edition (maybe the paperback too?) includes the original transcript of Pictor's Metamorphoses as penned by Mr. Hesse when he was very young. It also includes some incredible art work created by the author.

I found the first story in the book (which is not the title story) interesting to read but obscure in its meaning. The prose is, in places, wonderful but the story meanders so much that its ambiguity becomes tedious after a while.

The other stories are more easily digested. And again, Hesse fans will savor the psychological playfullness that Hesse does so well.

This book is no Siddhartha, Demian or, my personal favorite, Steppenwolf. For one thing, it is a collection of short stories, not a novel, and thus cannot, by limitation in length, delve into the deep and often dark abyss of the human psyche as Hesse does in his novels. However, Hesse fans will definitely want to add this book to their collection.

[Adam]

I was surprisingly non-plussed by most of these stories. Even the titular tale, Pictor's Metamorphoses seemed unremarkable. There are a few great bits in here, however. "Hannes" is the tale of a man who was always thought to be mentally handicapped and is therefore ridiculed to the point that he prefers the company of animals. Thus he retains his capacity to interact directly with the animate earth - not just with the sheep and cows he tends, but with the clouds, the rivers, the rocks. Not to give anything away, the townspeople come to learn before long that his lifestyle has lent him an unusually peace and kindness, and he is thus able to help them overcome personal strife.

The Wicker Chair story is also cute and quite nice.

[Jason O'brien]

I have really enjoyed some of Hesse’s novels, which lead me to “Pictor’s Metamorphoses and Other Fantasies”, although I am not big on short stories. Hesse’s style shines through each of the stories here but some pieces like “Lulu” are a bit arduous and may require a second reading.

Two of the nineteen stories in this collection left an indelible impression on me. “Bird” a story of a magical bird unique to a small town, and the challenges the townsfolk face when a bounty is placed on its head. And “Report from Normalia” a story of a utopian society that was birthed out of an Insane asylum.

[Nathan Brown]

Every time I read one of Hesse's works, it is a profound experience. Seriously, every single work of Hesse I have ever read has been either a spiritual awakening or a psyche shattering eye opener. I love the man, for his writings if for nothing else.

[Hayat Ahmed]

بحثنا الدائم عن السعادة هو سبب تعاستنا. فيعتقد الانسان ان تحقيق رغباته مرتبطه بسعادته وهذه الرغبات لا حد لها وكلما مر الزمن تغيرت ليفكر برغبات اخرى ليصبح الوصول للسعاده اكثر تعقيدا وفي المقابل يكون البحث ايضا دافع له للاستمرار والامل .

[Zozo]

البحث عن السعادة والمعنى بلحياة
البحث عن الكمال

[Fatima Alkhuzaei]

السعادة تكمن حيث هي لا حيث نريدها أن تكون.
السعادة هي الانتماء.
السعادة هي التكامل مع نواقصنا
السعادة هي الاتحاد والتصالح مع الكون واسراره وجماله.

[Mike]

Fairy tales that have the logic of dreams – indeed, at least two are just straight relations of dreams, at least according to the author. Quite a few have to do with birds as symbols for the human spirit, but rather than soaring and swooping, the birds are pursued, hunted, tormented, etc. These stories are like the anti-Jonathan Livingston Seagull. Hesse also includes a couple stories of painters and trees -- and almost every one include some sort of transformation (hence the title).

While I prefer Hesse’s nonfiction and poetry, these fairy tales are worth a look, especially for those into Jungian psychoanalysis, which is clearly an influence, as Hesse mentions in a couple stories. The title story even includes Hesse’s own watercolor illustrations which look like something out of Jung’s Red Book or Blake’s manuscripts.

[Paul Gaya Ochieng Simeon Juma]

"Pictor's Metamorphoses," is presented here along with a half century of Hesse's other short writings. Inspired by the Arabian Nights and the tales of the Brothers Grimm, these nineteen stories display the full range of Hesse's lifetime fascination with fantasy--as dream, fairy tale, folktale, satire, and allegory.

[باهي]

قصة قصيرة عن رجل يدخل الجنة ويسأل: ما السعادة؟
لكنّه، رغم كل ما حوله، لم يفهم معناها حقًا.
أخبره طائر أن السعادة كامنة في كل شيء، لكنه لم يقتنع؛ لأن الإنسان أحيانًا يسمع الحقيقة دون أن يعيشها.

ثم وجد حجرًا يستطيع أن يحوّله إلى أي شيء يريده.
فاختار أن يصير شجرة.

وهنا تبدأ لحظة الإدراك.

في ثباته الطويل تأمل الحياة، واكتشف أن الوجود ليس حالة جامدة، بل تحوّل دائم؛ وأن الكائنات لا تعيش حقًا إلا حين تتبدل شعوريًا وتذوب في حركة الحياة الكبرى.
أن تتحرر من الأنا، لا لتختفي، بل لتتصل بالوحدة الكونية.

لكن المفارقة أن هذا الإدراك جاء عبر السكون.
فالإنسان يقضي عمره يركض، يبحث، يشتهي، يقلق… ثم يكتشف أن الحقيقة ربما كانت في البساطة، وفي الاتصال الهادئ بالحياة، لا في اللهاث خلفها.

وسألت نفسي: لماذا اختار هسه الشجرة تحديدًا؟

تأملت الشجرة فوجدتها: ثابتة لكنها حية،
صامتة لكنها متصلة بكل شيء،
لا تركض خلف الرغبات والصراعات البشرية،
جذورها غارسة في الأرض، وأغصانها ممتدة نحو السماء، كأنها جسر بين المادة والروح.

ربما لهذا أراد هسه أن يقول إن الإنسان لا يصل إلى الحقيقة بالشرح العقلي وحده، بل بالتحول الداخلي، وبالتجربة، وبالذوبان في الوجود نفسه.


٣.٥

[Tahera]

تحولات بيكتور قصة قصيرة للكاتب الألماني هيرمان هيسه ،، قصة جميلة بدخول الجنة والتحرك فيها والاستمتاع بكل الجمال فيها من اشجار ترمز للرجل والمراة و كذلك الطيور و الازهار التي هي في تحول دائم،، للحظة تمنى بإيعاز من الشيطان ان يتمنى وهو يمسك بقطعة الكريستال قبل التلاشي فيتحول الى شجرة ضاربة بجذورها داخل الارض واغصانها مرتفعة في السماء والطيور تعشعش فيها،،، ولكن دخل الى قلبه الحزن واليأس وتمنى ان يكون حرا ،،الى ان اتت طفلة والتئامت كفرع على جذع الشجرة والشجرة هي بيكتور

اقتباسات:
"عندما لا تملك تلك الكائنات نعمة التحول ، تسقط مع الزمن في الحزن و الضمور، و يضيع جمالها."
"بوضوح شعر أنه في الوطن، في منبع الحياة"

[MAHMOOD ALMADHOOB]

تتطابق أحداث القصة نوعاً ما مع بعض أقوال من مر بتجربة الإقتراب من الموت بما يسمى NDE أو Near Death Experience وهي مرورهم بعالم البرزخ لفترة زمنية محدودة ومن بعدها الرجوع إلى الحياة وكما يقال أن عالم البرزخ هو عالم ما بين الحياة الدنيا والآخرة وفيه تبعث الروح إما في النعيم أو الجحيم كُلٍ يحاسب على حسب أعماله (الفراشة عبارة عن حسنة والثعبان هو السيئة) وهي فترة ما قبل يوم القيامة (الجنة والنار) إن صح ذلك.

نسأل الله العفو والعافية

[Betty]

Piktor's Metamorphoses is a fairy tale written an illustrated by Herman Hesse. It's the sweetest story ever.

[Don Gubler]

Uneven collection but some gems of historical Hesse.

[Manan Sheel]

Lovely story with all the colors of the rainbow 🌈
with all the gold of sunlight ☀️
with all the richness of gems 💎
and all the songs of birds 🦋

[Joseph Knecht]

Hesse reached deep into the human soul and used his great use of language to paint the picture of what he saw there. Most of these fables are allegories for something greater than what is described. The biggest impression I got from the story called Bird. All others contain the spirit of Hesse, but I think most of them had the biggest sentimental value to him personally.

I have read other short stories that contain higher metaphysical allegories, but the majority of these stories lacked metaphysical depth.

Here are the best excerpts I enjoyed the most:

Everything must go through the brain, everything must be grasped and measured. You put things to the test; you measure yourself, seeking out the limits of your talents; you become your own experimental subject, and finally you see—too late—that you’ve left the better part of your self and your art far behind you, in the oft-ridiculed, subconscious impulses and emotions of early youth. Now you are reaching out to embrace the sunken Isle of Innocence; but you no longer do so at the wholehearted and heedless prompting of sorrow deeply felt. No—even this gesture is self-conscious, premeditated, a pose.”

to climb mountains, to play my fiddle, to run after girls, to take whatever life—whatever each day—has to offer; I want to wait for my poems to come to me, instead of breathlessly and anxiously hunting them down.”

The most supreme, the most eternal words of the great poets seem—even to me—but the babblings of a dreamer who, without knowing it, murmurs through heavy lips of the heights of the world beyond, heights he has only briefly glimpsed.”

that the Good and the Beautiful are not two distinct principles; rather, they are the daughters of the one principle: Truth. The two only appear as separate, hostile mountaintops—deep in the womb of the earth, they are one and the same.

Have you seen God? And what has He told you?” the people asked. And he opened his eyes and answered them: “This is what He told me: ‘Get you hence and die for your town, as I have died for the world.’”

For man, however, everything is divine, rife with meaning, everything’s a symbol. Everything signifies something else, something entirely different from what it is.

It is conceivable, or rather, imaginable that this Jakob was a genius who from an early age felt himself to be very different, striving for an abnormal degree of individuality, dreaming of accomplishments, achievements, and honors which were unknown in jackdaw life and the jackdaw tribe, and thus he became an outsider and loner who, like the young man in Schiller’s poem,* shunned the coarse company of his companions and wandered about by himself until through some lucky chance the world opened for him a door to the realm of beauty, art, and fame, about which all young geniuses have dreamed since time out of mind.

[Luke]

What a wonderful little book this is. I read the Insel-Bücherei edition (1502) in German, which does not only includes the story but also includes the handwritten version and original drawings from Hesse, some of his poems choses by the editors and an afterword from Volker Michels. Though the story Piktors Verwandlungen itself is a relatively small part, it's beauty lies in it's (psychoanalytic) methaphores and descriptins (further explained in the afterword), enhanced by Hesse's drawings which make it even more colourful. The story, or 'fairytale' as Hesse calls it, was a bit too short to really grab me but it was a nice introduction to Hesse next book on my TBR (Siddarth, also explained in the afterword why). Strangely enough, I loved the poems most. They are wellchosen, connected to the theme of the story, but moreso very eloquent. They made me copy them down in my journals, send them to friends or read them out loud.
I would argue that this book is a nice and relatively simple introduction to Hesse's further work, or at least a certain period of it. As an added bonus the beautiful Insel Bucherei edition also is a very esthetically pleasing version to look at, enhancing it's slightly lyrical and magical character.

[Dane Cobain]

This is a collection of Hesse’s short stories, and it was interesting for me because I’d only ever read his novels until this point. The problem is that Hesse has such an unusual writing style that even though these stories don’t relate to each other, it still felt like reading a novel.

But then, maybe they do relate to each other. They’re all fairy tales and fables, or at least the Hessian equivalent, and while I’m not normally into that sort of thing, Hesse did it well and with his signature brand of surrealism.

I learned from the introduction that Hesse had wanted to be a magician when he grew up, and I’d say that this book shows that he went on to do exactly that. There are a lot of authors where I want to read everything they’ve ever written, but Hesse is the only one I can think of where after reading his books, I’m always left wondering what I actually just read.

Still, as Hesse goes, these are pretty comprehensible, and if anything, I think I prefer his short fiction to his longer-form stuff. Noice!

[Matthew]

"He longed only for the feeling of that vibration, that power current, that secret intimacy, in which he himself would be annihilated and perish, would die and be reborn... made life bearable, brought something like meaning to it, transfigured and redeemed it" The Painter

Of the short stories the best are: "The Man of the Forests", "The Dream of the Gods", "The Painter", "Pictor's Metamorphoses", "Nocturnal Games", and "Christmas with Two Children's Stories".

A couple of the stories felt incomplete though.

[Tim Hoar]

Ruminations on craft and art. The centrality of the two to many worthy lives. The transformative power of nature - both seismic and subtle.

Almost Hesse comfort reading. In part because I’ve read enough of him now to occasionally slip into that mode. But also the nature of these fairy tale inspired stories makes that more prominent. In a good way.

[Lilah Gran]

What a disappointment. Too absurd. Can’t hyperfocus to any one story. That’s on me. I wasn’t willing to invest time and attention to interpret a story that in average is only 10 pages long. Besides Report from Normalia, nothing was interesting enough for me. I raised the bar high for my favorite author. It didn’t deliver.