Exploring The Waste Land
A note page linked from The Waste Land, Part V, line 366

Eliot's note for line 366

Cf. Hermann Hesse, Blick ins Chaos:

Schon ist halb Europa, schon ist zumindest der halbe Osten Europas auf dem Wege zum Chaos, fährt betrunken im heiligem Wahn am Abgrund entlang und singt dazu, singt betrunken und hymnisch wie Dmitri Karamasoff sang. Ueber diese Lieder lacht der Bürger beleidigt, der Heilige und Seher hört sie mit Tränen.

Commentator's note

For line 366 in The Waste Land

366)  What is that sound high in the air

Eliot refers us to Hermann Hesse's A Glimpse into Chaos. The quoted lines are in German and can be translated as:

"Half of Europe, at least half of Eastern Europe is already on the road to chaos, moving in a drunken state in holy delusion along the abyss and singing also, singing intoxicated and hymn-like like Dmitri Karamasoff sang. The common man laughs about the songs and is offended, the saint and the prophet are listening in tears."


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Topics:

T 53 - Hesse, Hermann
T 35 - Dostoyevsky, Fyodor Mikhaylovich
T 123 - The Brothers Karamazov

Links:

L 270 - Hesse's 'The Brothers Karamasov or The Downfall of Europe'
Herman Hesse's essay, a part of his Blick ins Chaos. This is the Stephen Hudson translation from the June, 1922 issue of The Dial.
L 271 - Hesse's 'Thoughts on Dostoevsky's The Idiot'
Herman Hesse's essay, a part of his Blick ins Chaos. This is the Stephen Hudson translation from the August, 1922 issue of The Dial.


Exploring The Waste Land
File name: nq366.html
File date: Sunday, September 29, 2002
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