Quest for Meaning in Life in Peter Camenzind by Hermann Hesse: A Critical Study

Abstract

In the novel Peter Camenzind the protagonist poses some sensitive questions toward the end of
the novel:
What was the meaning of my life? Why had so many joys and sorrows passed over me? Why had
I thirsted for the true and the beautiful and why was my thirst still unquenched? Why had I been in
love and suffered so much for these women-- I whose head was bowed again in shame for an
unfulfilled love. And why had God placed the burning need to be loved in my heart when in fact he
had destined me to live the life of a recluse whom no one loved? (Peter Camenzind 1969 :129)
These and many other questions are asked to the self for giving a meaning to the life lived by the
protagonist throughout the novel. Peter Camenzind is essentially a bildungsroman, a novel of
education wherein the protagonist struggles to educate his self, to give a meaning to life. It is
primarily concerned with the Endeavour partaken by the protagonist, here, Peter, to embark upon
the search of the self. In the beginning of the novel, we see that Peter is struggling to give
meaning in many of his day to day activities. In his classroom he is grappling with the trouble
giving meaning to his life. He is yearning for a companion that can help him in his this endeavor.