夢系青春：與歌德《少年維特之煩惱》媲美的《德米安：彷徨少年時》
威麒拉杆箱書童讀經典
《夢系青春：青年辛克萊尋找「夏娃」的故事》（原名《德米安》，另一譯名：德米安：彷徨少年時）1919年問世後，在社會上引起強烈震動和反響，其受人歡迎的盛況唯有歌德的《少年維特之煩惱》能夠與之媲美。
人們競相探問辛克萊究竟是誰，出版人據實說到，他在1917年秋天收到黑塞（Hesse，H.）一封推薦這部稿件的信，聲稱作者辛克萊（Sinclair）是一位病入膏肓的瑞士青年，料已不久人世，希望他儘早出版此書，此外便一無所知。
《夢系青春》出版後在兩年中接連重版16次，真實作者始終被隱匿，直至1921年給《夢系青春》頒發馮塔納文學獎金才暴露真相，從第17版開始終於署上黑塞本名。
《夢系青春》與其說是小說，倒不如說是啟示錄式的散文，記錄了主人公辛克萊從少年到成年直至充當第一次世界大戰炮灰的10餘年精神生涯的片斷。
但是，這僅僅是字面看來如此，實質上辛克萊只是第一人稱敘述者而已，出場不多的德米安才是作品的中心，代表著作者所欲闡明的精神理想。
摘錄一段中文和英文翻譯請閱讀欣賞：
我閉著眼睛回想著 I close my eyes and think back now，他的形象出現在我眼前and I see his image rise up before me。這是什麼地方Where was that？對Yes，又是這個地方there he is。這是在我們家前面的巷子裡It was on the street in front ofour house。有一天我看見他站在那裡I saw him standing there one day，手裡拿著一個筆記本with a notebook in his hand，在畫著什麼drawing。他在描畫我家宅門上方舊的鳥紋章He was drawing the old coat of arms with the bird, above our front door。我站在一扇窗戶旁I stood at a window，藏在窗簾後hidden behind a curtain，向他望去and watched him，我極其驚奇地看著他專心、冷靜、明朗的臉朝著紋章and saw, with deep admiration,his keen, cool, bright face turned toward the coat of arms，這是一個男人的臉the face of a man，一個研究者或者藝術家的臉a scholar or artist，從容不迫，意志堅定supercilious and purposeful，特別明朗而冷靜strangely bright and cold，帶著一雙內行的眼睛with knowing eyes。
他又出現在我眼前。那是不久以後，在街上，我們放學回來，大家都圍著一匹倒在地上的馬站著。馬躺著，仍套在一輛農夫車子的車轅上，它可憐地張著鼻孔吸著空氣，探尋著什麼，血從一個看不見的傷口裡流出來，使得馬身邊的街道上白色的灰塵也慢慢吸足了血而變黑了。當我感到一陣噁心，從這個情景前轉身離開時，我看見了德米安的臉。他沒有往前擠，他站在最後面，舒坦自在，相當雅致，他就是這種樣子。他的目光象是盯著馬的頭，目光裡又是這種深沉的、寧靜的、幾乎是狂熱的、卻又是冷靜的全神貫注。我不由得久久地盯著他看，當時我感覺到——還遠不是意識到——某些非常獨特的東西。我看著德米安的臉，不僅看到他的臉不是孩於臉，而是一個成人的臉；而且還看到，我相信看到或者感覺到，這也不只是一個成人的臉，而且還是別的什麼東西。其中好象還有一張女人臉上的某些東西，剎那間我尤其覺得這張臉不是男人的，也不是孩子的，不老也不小，而不知怎麼象幾千年的臉，象是永恆的臉，帶著與我們生活的歷史時代所不同的歷史時代打上的印記。動物看上去可能是這樣，或者樹木，或者星辰——這點我不知道，我沒有確切地感覺到我現在作為成年人所談論的這些東西，而是感覺到一些類似的東西。也許他是美麗的，也許我喜歡他，也許我又討厭他，就是這點也不能肯定。我只看見：他不同於我們，他象一個動物，或者象一種精神，或者象一幅畫，我不知道他是什麼，但他和我們大家都不一樣，難以想像地不一樣。
中文出處:夢系青春：青年辛克萊尋找「夏娃」的故事,（德）黑 塞（Hesse，H.）著；王衛新譯,同濟大學出版社,1989.第42-44頁
另一譯名：德米安：彷徨少年時
I see him again. It was a little later, on the street; allof us coming home from school were standing around a horse that had fallen. Itlay in front of a farmer’s cart, still harnessed to the shafts, and it snorted,complaining and questioning, through wide-open nostrils, and bled from a hidden wound. Dark liquid slowly soaked into the white dust of the street near the horse. When I turned away from the sight, feeling sick, I saw Demian’s face. Hehad not pushed his way to the front; he stood at the back, comfortable with himself and even looking rather elegant, as usual. His gaze seemed directed atthe horse’s head, again with this deep, silent, almost fanatical but nevertheless dispassionate attentiveness. I could not help looking at him for along time, and even back then I felt, far from consciously, something very unusual and special about him. I looked at Demian’s face and saw the face of a man, not a boy; but not only that, I also thought I could see, or feel, thatthis was not just the face of a man, it was something else too. There seemed tobe something of a woman’s face in it as well, in fact the face seemed to me,for a moment, neither manly nor childlike, neither old nor young, but somehow millennial,timeless, marked with different spans of time from the ones we lived in.Animals might look like that, or trees, or stars—I didn’t know, I didn’t feel precisely what I would say about it now, as an adult, but I felt something likethat. Maybe he was beautiful, maybe I was attracted to him and maybe repelled too, there was no way to decide that either. I saw only that he was different from us—he was like an animal, or like a spirit, or like a picture, I don’t know what he was but he was different, unimaginably different from us all.
英文出處：Demian：the story of Emil Sinclair's youth.Hermann Hesse 1877–1962.translated by Damion Searls - the Penguin Group,2013.