Hermann Hesse (1877–1962) was a Germany-born Swiss author, poet, and painter. He is best known for his novels that explore themes of spirituality and the search for authenticity, and he received a Nobel Prize in Literature in 1946.
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Though set in a place and time far removed from the Germany of 1922, the year of the book’s debut, the novel is infused with the sensibilities of Hermann Hesse’s time, synthesizing disparate philosophies—Eastern religions, Jungian archetypes, Western individualism—into a unique vision of life as...
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Herman Hesse remained clear-sighted and consistent in his political views and his passionate espousal of pacifism and the bloody absurdity of war from the start of the First World War to the end of his life.
Vowing at an early age “to be a poet or nothing at all,” Hermann Hesse rebelled against formal education, focusing on a rigorous program of independent study that included literature, philosophy, art, and history.
Learn what is to be taken seriously and laugh at the rest.
Hesse’s work was attuned to a youth culture animated by an amorphous desire for a breakthrough in consciousness precisely because such a desire gripped him throughout his entire life. Many of us are familiar with this desire; it animates almost every young person, in one way or another.
Hesse's novel of two medieval men, one quietly content with his religion and monastic life, the other in fervent search of more worldly salvation. This conflict between flesh and spirit, between emotional and contemplative man, was a life study for Hesse. It is a theme that transcends all time.
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Hermann Hesse was a German-Swiss poet, novelist, and painter. His best-known works include Steppenwolf, Siddhartha, and The Glass Bead Game, each of which explores an individual's search for authenticity, self-knowledge and spirituality.
It is not our purpose to become each other; it is to recognize each other, to learn to see the other and honor him for what he is: each the other’s opposite and complement.
With Gertrude, Herman Hesse continues his lifelong exploration of the irreconcilable elements of human existence.
The stories Hesse tells appeal to young people because they keep faith with the powerful emotions of adolescence, which most adults forget or outgrow.
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Learn what is to be taken seriously and laugh at the rest.
