Best Selling Books by Hermann Hesse

A brilliant journey of the psyche written by one of Germany''s most influential writers and thinkers, Herman Hesse First published in 1919 under the pseudonyn Emil Sinclair, Demian follows the life of a troubled German youth as he navigates the duality of a world filled with illusions and spiritual truth. When Sinclair first meets childhood classmate Max Demian, his eyes are opened to the contradictions of his existing Christian knowledge. As Sinclair continues to question his worldview, the two friends are separated and reunited throughout their lives, with each encounter being a vantage for Sinclair to reconcile a world at discord. He ascends on his path to freedom and a realization of self as the friendship evolves in surprising and explosive ways. Demian is a classic coming-of-age story that continues to inspire generations of readers in its exploration of good and evil, morality, and self-discovery.

Siddhartha, a young man, leaves his family for a contemplative life but soon becomes restless and discards it for pleasures of the flesh. He is quickly bored and sickened by the unending lust and greed, moves on again. Near despair, he comes to a river where he hears a unique sound. This sound signals the true beginning of his life – the beginning of suffering, rejection, peace and, finally, wisdom Hermann Hesse’s beautiful rendition of the journey of a young man during the times of the great Gautam Buddha is not just an evocative piece of art but also a work of mystery offered to the reader to solve for himself. Hermann Karl Hesse was a German-born 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. He received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1946.

An autobiographical novel featuring Harry Haller in "an experimental mix of symbolism, realism, and fantasy."--Cover.

Knulp is an amiable vagabond who wanders from town to town, staying with friends who feed and shelter him. Consistently refusing to tie himself down to any trade, place, or person, he even deserts the companion who might be considered Hermann Hesse himself the summer they go tramping together. Knulp''s exile is blissful, gentle, self-absorbed. But hidden beneath the light surface of these ''tales from the life of Knulp'' is the consciene of an artist who suspects that his liberation is worthless, even immoral. --

This is the story of a passionate yet uneasy friendship between two men of opposite character who set each other on different paths in life.

"A great writer . . . complex, subtle, allusive." - New York Times Book Review In simple, mesmerizing prose, Hermann Hesse''s Journey to the East tells of a journey both geographic and spiritual. H.H., a German choirmaster, is invited on an expedition with the League, a secret society whose members include Paul Klee, Mozart, and Albertus Magnus. The participants traverse both space and time, encountering Noah''s Ark in Zurich and Don Quixote at Bremgarten. The pilgrims'' ultimate destination is the East, the "Home of the Light," where they expect to find spiritual renewal. Yet the harmony that ruled at the outset of the trip soon degenerates into open conflict. Each traveler finds the rest of the group intolerable and heads off in his own direction, with H.H. bitterly blaming the others for the failure of the journey. It is only long after the trip, while poring over records in the League archives, that H.H. discovers his own role in the dissolution of the group, and the ominous significance of the journey itself.

Setting his story in the distant, post-Holocaust future, Hesse tells of an elite cult of intellectuals occupying themselves with an elaborate game that employs all the cultural and scientific knowledge of the ages. The most imaginative and prophetic of Hesse''s works.

Eight stories about the distillation of wisdom, concerning dream worlds, magical thinking, the subconscious and the soul.

In the shade of a banyan tree, a grizzled ferryman sits listening to the river. Some say he''s a sage. He was once a wandering shramana and, briefly, like thousands of others, he followed Gotama the Buddha, enraptured by his sermons. But this man, Siddhartha, was not a follower of any but his own soul. Born the son of a Brahmin, Siddhartha was blessed in appearance, intelligence, and charisma. In order to find meaning in life, he discarded his promising future for the life of a wandering ascetic. Still, true happiness evaded him. Then a life of pleasure and titillation merely eroded away his spiritual gains until he was just like all the other "child people," dragged around by his desires. Like Hermann Hesse''s other creations of struggling young men, Siddhartha has a good dose of European angst and stubborn individualism. His final epiphany challenges both the Buddhist and the Hindu ideals of enlightenment. Neither a practitioner nor a devotee, neither meditating nor reciting, Siddhartha comes to blend in with the world, resonating with the rhythms of nature, bending the reader''s ear down to hear answers from the river.

Throughout his life, Herman Hesse was a devoted letter writer. He corresponded, not just with friends and family, but also with his readers. From his letters home from the seminary at age fourteen, to his last letters, written days before his death at eighty-five, this selection gives a sense of the author of some of the most widely read books of the century.

Hans Giebernath lives among the dull and respectable townsfolk of a sleepy Black Forest village. When he is discovered to be an exceptionally gifted student, the entire community presses him onto a path of serious scholarship. Hans dutifully follows the regimen of study and endless examinations, his success rewarded only with more crushing assignments. When Hans befriends a rebellious young poet, he begins to imagine other possibilities outside the narrowly circumscribed world of the academy. Finally sent home after a nervous breakdown, Hans is revived by nature and romance, and vows never to return to the gray conformity of the academic system.

"Kurt Beals makes this 1927 classic of psychedelic dreams sparkle in new technicolor splendor. Talk to your doctor about possible side effects." —Martin Puchner, author of The Language of Thieves: My Family''s Obsession with a Secret Code the Nazis Tried to Eliminate This revolutionary translation is the only way to experience the novel as Hesse envisioned it nearly one hundred years ago. The quest for self-discovery never ends, especially for Harry Haller—better known as the Steppenwolf. After a life spent in self-imposed isolation, Harry meets the mysterious Hermine and becomes captivated by her intoxicating power. Through their nighttime adventures, the Steppenwolf experiences the decadent underbelly of the bourgeois society he always despised. Harry becomes a man divided—lost in a surreal underground world of pleasure and set on a collision course with his innermost desires. There has never been a translation that fully captures the essence of Hermann Hesse''s own spiritual questioning until now. Kurt Beals restores the original meaning of this hallucinatory German tale in a recognizably modern voice. Beals''s expert introduction traces the impact of The Steppenwolf for readers seeking meaning during the upheaval of world conflicts, the onslaught of new technologies, and life''s uncertainties.

The famous coming-of-age novel by Nobel-price winner Herman Hesse.--En la jaro 1919, la germana-svisa verkisto kaj posta nobelpremiito Hermann Hesse (18771962) publikigis sian parte au''tobiografian romanon Demian sub la pseu''donimo Emil Sinclair (Sinkler). i estas romano pri la ofte komplika vojo de junuloj al sintrovo au'' memrekono, antau'' chio de tiuj junuloj kiuj, kiel Hesse mem, kiel adoleskuloj sentis sin pli soluloj ol partoj de grupoj de samaghuloj.

Siddhartha is an allegorical novel by Hermann Hesse which deals with the spiritual journey of an Indian boy called Siddhartha during the time of the Buddha. The book was written in German, in a simple, yet powerful and lyrical style. It was first published in 1922, after Hesse had spent some time in India in the 1910s. The story revolves around a young man who leaves his home and family on a quest for the Truth. Embarking on a journey that takes him from the austerities of renunciation to the profligacy of wealth. That leads him through the range of human experiences from hunger and want, to passion, pleasure, pain, greed, yearning, boredom, love, despair and hope. A journey that leads finally to the river, where he gains peace and eventually wisdom. This is the story of Siddhartha as told by Nobel Laureate Hermann Hesse in his most influential work. Hermann Hesse: Hermann Hesse (b. 1877) was a German-born Swiss poet and author, best known for writing the novels ''Steppenwolf'', ''Siddhartha'', and ''The Glass Bead Game''. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1946. His themes focus on man''s struggle to break away from the rigid structures of civilization and follow his essential and inner spirit. For this, Hesse became a literary cult figure.