Following in the wake of its defeat in World War I, Germany was hit with a massive wave of disillusion that particularly affected German youth. Unfortunately, most people responded to this by embracing an often anti-Semitic nationalism that would lead to the rise of Nazism. However, one writer tried to combat this disillusion through a mystical philosophy that combined Christian gnosticism with Nietzsche in a new way. The writer in question was Hermann Hesse, and in 1919, the same year as the Treaty of Versailles, he published his first major work, "Demian."

"Demian" centers around the coming of age of a German schoolboy named Emil Sinclair. Raised in the middle-class, bourgeois culture of pre-war Germany, Emil finds himself looking for something more from life. A way to this 'more' is provided by Max Demian, a mysterious fellow student who comes across as something very different from everyone else. He does this by introducing Emil to Abraxas, which is described in the book as a sort of synthesis of God and Devil, which thereby unites universal dualities into a coherent whole. (Abraxas may sound familiar to fans of Santana, who named his second album Abraxas; Hesse saw a resurgence in the 60's, with one band, Steppenwolf, taking their name from one of his novels.) Abraxas is described as a bird that, breaking out of its shell, destroys one world, but then creates another.

This concept is largely derived from Christian gnosticism, an early Christian philosophy that combined Scriptural teachings with Greek philosophy. Very briefly summarized, the Gnostics held that the world we inhabit was created not by the supreme God, but by a usurping, evil entity, who made all matter evil. For many Gnostics, salvation could only come by turning away from matter and focusing entirely on spirituality. Some Gnostic texts allegedly named the true god Abraxas, who was said to embody all existence, with his sacred number being 365 (all the days of the year). Unfortunately, many of the original Gnostic writings were destroyed, as they had been condemned by the early Church as heretical, and they have primarily survived in others' attacks on them. However, some of these ideas continued to circulate and influence artists and intellectuals throughout the ages. For instance, just a few years previous to "Demian's" publication, the Swiss psychoanalyst Carl Jung wrote about Abraxas as a synthesis of God and Devil. And Hesse, who underwent psychoanalysis during the war, would eventually become a personal friend of Jung.

"Demian" is also heavily influenced by the writings of Friedrich Nietzsche, who often wrote about the need to go beyond such dualities as good and evil, which Nietzsche saw as outdated. After the destruction caused by World War I, many people all across Europe felt similarly, as many saw the war as the inevitable conclusion of hypocritical European tradition. Many felt that a new system of morality, one better adapted to the current situation, had become necessary. This is why Hesse's invocation of Abraxas had such a large impact- because it offered people hope that a new world could, and would, arise from the ashes of the recent war. And it is this message that has allowed "Demian" to remain relevant so many decades after its publication.