Congratulations to Dr Adam Roberts

Congratulations to Dr Adam Roberts

Adam successfully defended his thesis “The Function of the Nietzschean Mask in the Works of Hermann Hesse” on 04 November 2016. He was supervised by Dr Ingo Cornils and Professor Stuart Taberner.

Adam's research examines the use and depictions of masks as tools of identity exploration and construction in the works of Hermann Hesse. The project explores the ongoing development of Hesse's employment of masks in his work (both his fiction and his art), demonstrating how masks develop from tools of disguise in Hesse's early works to tools of expression and identity construction in his later works.

Adam is particularly interested in masks and their literary portrayals throughout western history. Therefore, he also looks at where Hesse's engagement with masks and identity rests within the context of other literary and philosophical occupations with masks.