This is one of my fixations. It connects with Larry and Watanabe, though Murakami and Maugham rather cleverly use asceticism to obscure the turning points that transform them.

The turning point Hesse explores through Frau Eva is worth revisiting again and again.

The long opening stretch is very dark. I have already moved beyond that period, yet rereading it still stirs something in me. I really am a lot like Hesse.