Book Club - "Narcissus and Goldmund" by Hermann Hesse

"All being, it seemed, was built on opposites, on division ... Lover or thinker - no breath could both be in and out. Always the one paid for the other, though each was equally precious and essential."

One of Hesse’s most haunting explorations of the divided human soul.

Through the unlikely friendship of two young men - one devoted to discipline, intellect, and spiritual certainty; the other drawn to beauty, love, art, and the fleeting richness of life - we are drawn into a timeless question: must we choose between understanding life and truly living it?

As their paths diverge, the novel becomes a meditation on longing, identity, love, and mortality. It asks whether meaning is found through reason or experience, through devotion or freedom, and why the things that make life most beautiful are often the very things we cannot keep.

Genres: Literary Fiction, Philosophical Fiction, Psychological Fiction, Classic Literature
Pages: ~320, paperback

💫 Follow us on Instagram @lifelong__curious for events, curious insights, and community highlights.

Contribution: A €5 fee is kindly requested to contribute to organisational and platform costs (PayPal or cash) 2 weeks before the book club. More about our organisation and other ways to support can be found in our group description 🤍

🌿 Community Guidelines

• Only attend if you’re on the attendee list.
• Listen actively and with curiosity, without interrupting.
• Engage with ideas, not individuals. We’re here to explore, learn and share, not to argue.
• Stay present - phones away, attention in the room with physical people.
• Photos will be taken during the event to share highlights and help grow our community. If you’d rather not be in any photos, just let us know in writing before the event - we’ll gladly respect that.
• Avoid no-shows and last-minute dropouts - they take a spot from someone else. If this happens, please get in touch, otherwise you’ll be removed from the next meetup. If repeated, you may be removed from the group.