"Narcissus and Chrysostom" by Hermann Hesse, summary

The narrative unfolds before the reader the story of two opposing natures in medieval Germany. An earthly, sensual artist and a monk detached from worldly temptations seek the expression of the highest truth. The writer divided his own spiritual makeup between the two companions, imbuing one with strict monastic logic and the other with a thirst for wanderlust and feminine affection. The book was written between 1927 and 1929 following psychoanalytic sessions and was published as a separate edition in 1930.

In 1946, the writer received the Nobel Prize in Literature, and in 2020, director Stefan Ruzowitzky released a full-length film adaptation of this book.

Mariabronn Abbey

At the monastery gates, under the canopy of a southern chestnut tree, the novice Narcissus and the newly arrived disciple Chrysostom meet. His father brought the young man to the monastery to atone for the sins of his missing mother. The mentor teaches Greek, striking those around him with the noble restraint of the thinker. The blond novice becomes deeply attached to his teacher.

A secret nighttime foray into a neighboring village disrupts the peaceful flow of school life. A village girl kisses the fugitive at the kitchen window. A violent love affair overwhelms the student with a violent fever.

Narcissus visits his ailing charge in the monastery infirmary. With patient questioning, the older man forces the younger one to admit his attraction to women. The mentor bluntly calls Chrysostom an artist who preserves the sealed memory of the maternal element. A powerful shock leaves the young man unconscious on the stone slabs of the monastery gallery.

Father Anselm gives his unconscious disciple hot, spiced wine. At night, a forgotten childhood flashes before the youth’s inner vision with a blinding light. Chrysostom recalls his dancer mother, cursed by her father for her elopement and her witchcraft tendencies. His friend takes monastic vows and immerses himself in unceasing prayerful vigils.

In a field under the midday sun, a young apprentice gathers bunches of St. John’s wort for the monastery’s apothecary. The dark-skinned stranger Liza bends over the sleeping herbalist, bestowing upon him her first lovemaking on her knees. That night, he bids farewell to Narcissus in his cell and swims across the monastery stream.

The Road and the First Murder

Dawn finds the fugitives in a hayloft in an open field. Liza hurries back to her jealous husband, threatening to be beaten. The wanderer is left alone at the edge of the forest.

He wanders through oak and pine groves without a clear destination. Every woman he encounters opens the doors of peasant farmsteads and barns for him.

In early autumn, a traveler finds refuge in the castle of a pious knight. The owner dreams of writing about his past travels to Rome and Constantinople in proper Latin. The literate wanderer edits his manuscript, sleeping under the secure roof. The owner’s eldest daughter, Lydia, is drawn to the educated guest, fearing her father’s wrath.

The younger sister, Julia, catches the lovers on a narrow bed and threatens to expose them. Entangled in the maiden’s embrace, the guest receives orders from the old knight to leave immediately. The young groom, Hans, catches up with the fugitive in the field. The faithful servant hands the exile a piece of ham with a sewn-on ducat and a warm knitted woolen vest.

The winter cold forces a vagabond to team up with a wandering, overgrown schoolboy named Victor. That night, in a spruce hut, the cunning companion attempts to strangle Zlatoust for a hidden gold coin. The choking youth blindly draws a hunting knife and delivers several fatal blows directly under the ribs. The heavy body collapses on the victor, blood curdling.

In a panic, the killer abandons the body in the snow and runs across the snow-covered wasteland. Frantic hunger forces the fugitive to chew dried juniper berries and pine needles. The exhausted wanderer is picked up by the compassionate peasant woman Kristina, who shelters him in a warm barn with goat’s milk.

In the carver’s workshop

The spring sun leads a wanderer to the bustling riverside docks of a wealthy diocesan city. In the monastery chapel, the traveler pauses before a carved wooden statue of the Virgin Mary. Master Niklausz’s creation astounds the young man with its combination of unbearable suffering and unearthly peace.

Zlatoust searches for the famous sculptor’s home. On a large sheet of paper, the visitor uses charcoal to depict the distant figure of Narcissus. The owner of the workshop recognizes the visitor’s powerful talent and allows him to work nearby.

The sculptor allows the stranger to mold sketches from soft clay. For several years, the apprentice painstakingly carves a full-length figure of the Apostle John from dry linden wood, imbuing the saint with the features of the beloved monastery mentor. The carver’s proud daughter, Lisbeth, maintains a markedly cool demeanor toward the apprentice. Niklaus offers the assistant the title of master, a share in the lucrative commissions, and his daughter’s hand in marriage.

A freedom-loving wanderer resolutely rejects the bourgeois well-being of the guild class. The enraged master throws the ungrateful apprentice out into the street.

Black Death

A great plague covers cities and villages with a terrible stench of decay. Zlatoust walks the roads with the simple-minded pilgrim Robert, fleeing the locked plague settlements. The men see abandoned herds and carts with naked bodies piled on top of each other.

In the empty city, the artist leads the fair-haired orphan Lena through the gates. The three fugitives build a shelter in a birch grove from rough logs.

In the bushes, an unknown robber attacks a girl, attempting to take her by force. Zlatoust arrives and breaks the rapist’s neck on the sharp roadside stones. A fierce flame of loving pride flares in the eyes of his rescued friend.

A day later, plague buboes cover the body of the young woman who lives in the forest hut. Robert flees in terror, taking the sheep with him. Her caring companion constantly gives his dying friend spring water until her last wheeze. That night, the girl’s breath fades forever. Her lonely lover gathers dry brushwood and burns the hut along with her dead body.

On the way, the wanderer buries a handful of the burnt bones of the father of the unapproachable Jewish woman Rebecca. The proud maiden rejects offers to save herself and curses the stranger.

Prisoner of the Dungeon

Autumn returns the wanderer to the stone embankments of the diocesan city. Master Niklaus has died from excessive labor, and Lisbeth, who has recovered from smallpox, has become a sallow, timid cripple. Poor, lame Maria shares her bread with the guest.

On a city street, a traveler spots a rider on a chestnut horse. It is Agnes, the beautiful concubine of the imperial governor, Count Heinrich. The bold wanderer lies in wait for the beauty at the pilgrimage church of St. Vitus. The woman rips a gold chain from her neck as a sign of consent to a dangerous nighttime encounter.

The chambermaid leads the daredevil through the dressing room into the mistress’s scented bedroom. The lovers forget the world around them amidst the silk sheets. A sudden knock announces the return of the palace’s master. The woman pushes her lover out the door, saying, "Don’t betray me!"

The castle guards lock the outer entrances to the dressing room. The Count catches the stranger with an armful of velvet dresses over his shoulder. Zlatoust disguises himself as a thief, saving his concubine’s honor from the furious nobleman’s wrath.

The prisoner is thrown into the darkness of the basement with his hands tied behind his back. In the morning, the hangman’s noose awaits the vagabond. The prisoner stubbornly grinds the ropes against the edge of the stone steps, intending to beat the priest to death with a wooden stool and escape in his cassock.

At dawn, the bolt clicks. Abbot John, now head of Mariabronn Monastery, enters the dungeon with two wax candles. The prisoner barely recognizes his beloved Narcissus beneath the prelate’s ceremonial vestments. The abbot obtains a pardon from the count and places his friend on a riding horse.

Workshop in the monastery

The horsemen return to the monastery chambers past the fields of their former youth. The abbot gives the artist a spacious, bright room opposite the monastery’s forge. The blacksmith’s son, Erich, becomes the master’s faithful assistant, sharpening chisels and polishing boards.

A carver begins constructing a pulpit for the monastery refectory. Below, the master carves an intricate interweaving of herbs, birds, and scenes from the Book of Genesis with the patriarch Noah. Above, the parapet is supported by the faces of the four evangelists. One of the saints is given the handsome visage of the deceased abbot, Daniel.

The abbot stands transfixed before the finished sculpture, overcome with tears of gratitude. The friends discuss the mysteries of art and rigorous philosophy at length.

The next creation is an image of the Virgin Mary for the chapel in Neuzelle. The carver imbues the statue with the features of the forever lost Lydia. The delicate finishing of the dress’s folds drains the artist’s last spiritual energy.

Having completed the altarpiece, the master leaves the monastery on horseback in search of his former freedom. His wanderings turn into bitter disappointment: the count’s concubine, Agnes, drives her aging lover away. On the return journey, his horse throws him into an icy stream. With broken ribs, the wanderer lies for a long time in a roadside hospital.

In the fall, an aging traveler returns on foot to the monastery vaults. His broken body refuses to obey, and an excruciating chest pain constricts his breathing.

The abbot keeps constant vigil at the dying master’s bedside. Narcissus kisses his friend’s gray hair for the first time, declaring his boundless love for his fiery soul.

Before leaving, Chrysostom whispers to his friend about the eternal mother whose invisible fingers are extracting his tormented heart: "And how will you die, Narcissus, if you have no mother? Without a mother, one cannot love. Without a mother, one cannot die."

The words of the fading artist remain in the prelate’s memory as an unhealing wound.