Narcissus and Goldmund represent a world of conflict between intellect and emotion, religion and art.
Hesse's masterpiece, which purely depicts the experiences of human growth, including love, friendship, wandering, and longing.

“The dark yet beautiful sorrow that accompanies this love, its foolishness,
Even despair was surprising.
“The sleepless nights, filled with all sorts of thoughts, were beautiful.”

Narcissus, a born monk, is rational and reasonable, and seeks to approach the truth of God with extraordinary intellectual depth.
One day, a sensitive student named Goldmund enters the monastery, and the two overcome their differences in temperament and form a soulful bond.
Goldmund awakens to his free sensibility through Narcissus and leaves the monastery.
He forms relationships with women, breaks free from moral bondage, finds himself in nature and love, and witnesses death, realizing the light and dark sides of life.
Inspired by a statue he saw by chance, he creates a masterpiece under the guidance of a master sculptor, but refuses the offer to become his successor and begins wandering again.
Goldmund, who was in danger of being executed for committing adultery with the governor's mistress, is saved by Narcissus, who has become the abbot of the monastery. In the workshop provided by Narcissus, he creates a statue of the Virgin Mary, which contains images of the women he loved.

"Narcissus and Goldmund" is a novel that beautifully and purely depicts the love and friendship, ideals and conflicts, wandering and longing shared by Narcissus and Goldmund, two characters from opposing worlds of intellect and emotion, religion and art, and the experiences of human growth. It depicts the process of self-realization of the two people like a duet, and shows the process in which the two opposing characters influence each other and reach their true nature.
The excellent depiction of nature vividly reveals the transition between life and death and the transience of love.
Hesse sublimates his own experiences of growing up into a reflection on the fate of humanity through Goldmund, a young man who is imperfect and constantly encounters unfamiliar worlds due to his wanderings, yearning for art, and longing for the feminine.

I have never had a more profound experience of love or friendship between the sexes than that described in Narcissus and Goldmund.
This novel is an 'autobiography of my soul' that contains all of my experiences growing up.
─Hermann Hesse

Abbot Daniel wasn't feeling too well today.
Two middle-aged monks came to see him today and began to quarrel with each other in a heated tone, reviving a petty dispute that had arisen from jealousy between them from long ago.
The abbot listened to the two men in silence, and when the conversation became too long, he warned them, but to no avail.
So, in the end, he strictly removed both of their positions and imposed fairly heavy penalties on each of them, but he still had a feeling in his heart that his measures had been ineffective.
Exhausted, he went into the prayer room of a small chapel and prayed, but he got up again with an uneasy feeling.
Then, guided by the faint scent of roses, I walked towards the corridor to catch my breath for a moment.
There he found Cadet Goldmund unconscious and lying on the floor.
He looked at Goldmund sadly, startled by the haggard, pale face of this young man, who was usually so fresh and beautiful.

--- From the text