Hermann Hesse (1877-1962)
Novelist, Painter and Poet
"...from my thirteenth year on, it was clear to me that I wanted to be a poet or nothing at all." - Hermann Hesse
Introduction
The German/Swiss novelist, poet, painter and Nobel Prize winner Hermann Hesse was born in Calw, Württemberg in Germany's Black Forest on July 2, 1877. He spent his formative years in Calw, Göppingen, Cannstatt, and Basel, Switzerland, where his missionary father worked for a time. In 1901 Hesse undertook his first of two Italian journeys. (He would later live in the Swiss-Italian province of Ticino.) He also traveled to India (1911), a trip that influenced several of his works, particularly Siddharta (1922).
Although he wrote in German, Hesse spent most of his life living outside of Germany in Italian Switzerland. He rebelled against the traditional Protestant education his father wanted for him, and he was for a short time an apprentice with a clockmaker and later a bookseller. Following a nervous breakdown, he underwent pschoanalysis with Carl Jung in Switzerland (1921). Hesse reestablished his Swiss citizenship in 1924. He married three times, his last wife being the art historian Ninon Doblin Ausländer. He and Ninon lived in Montagnola, in Ticino, Switzerland. After 1939 Hesse's books were banned in Nazi Germany, but he continued to publish in Switzerland. In 1946 Hesse was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. In the 1960s Hesse—in English translation—became a trendy author among American college students. His works include:
- Peter Camenzind (1904, novel)
- On the Road/Unterwegs (1911, poems)
- Demian (1919, novel)
- Siddharta (1922, novel)
- Der Steppenwolf (1927, novel)
- Narziss und Goldmund (1930, novel)
- Poems/Die Gedichte (1942, full edition of Hesse's poetry)
- The Glass Bead Game/Magister Ludi/Glasperlenspiel (1943, novel)
NEXT > Hesse Books and Links
Related Pages
Dual-Language Books (German/English)
A collection of German literature in side-by-side German/English format.
Book Reviews
Reviews of books and materials for German.
German Book Sources
Where to find and buy German literary works and other books in German.
Authors in German Literature 1
Our main page for German-language authors on the Web.
Authors in German Literature 2
Our author index and link page for German-language authors on the Web.
Das Goethe-Institut
All about this indispensible resource for just about anything to do with German and German culture.
German Literature
Articles and links for German literature online.
Quotations/Sayings
German proverbs, sayings, and literary quotations on the Web.
English-German Glossaries
All of the annotated glossaries on this site - from aerospace to travel.
German Grammar
All of the grammar resources on this site.
German Newsletters
Subscribe to a free newsletter!
OUR GERMAN FORUMS