Hermann Hesse

Siddhartha

Siddhartha, 2009-04-09
`Siddhartha' is one of those books that is both simple to read and yet powerful and profound at the same time. Following a young Brahmin's son as he tries to find his spiritual path in life, this book manages to weave a tale that is both captivating and enlightening. This book is so good I could read the first 30 pages alone and put the book down a happy man, the remainder is purely icing on the cake! Hesse manages to write in a deceptively simple style that belies the depth to the message he shows us and the skill behind his writing. He won the nobel prize for good reason. This may be a short book, but it is one that will stay with you long after you have read it and will bring you back to rediscover it's delights at regular intervals. Beautiful prose, beautiful message and highly recommended indeed.

Narcissus and Goldmund (Peter Owen Modern Classics)

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wonderful, 2003-07-01
This tale is essentially a diagnosis of human existence and the way individuals respond to it. Without death, says Hesse, life is either an impossibility or an absurdity. It is death that gives value to life and life that gives value to death and the shortness and brevity of life gives it both its absurd insignificance and its amazing importance. The genius of Hesse lies in his ability to capture both the horror and the beauty of life within the same novel: to conjure with the lyricism of a magician the hope out of hopelessness, the joy out of despair and the will to live out of the seeming absurdity of beings born to die and return to dust. Life is indeed meaningless but it is this very meaninglessness that gives life a meaning, as being aware of the finite and absurd nature of life we are, instead of being constrained by a pre-ordained “meaning”, forced to find value in our lives. Life is a series of (seeming) contrasts: sadness to happiness, life to death (the absence of life), masculine to feminine…etc, etc. This is the conception of existence that Narziss attempts to shun by withdrawing into the realm of the mind and Goldmund the world of non-rationalised passion. Both are attempts to escape the essential reality of existence. In this sense Narziss lives like an ascetic – fasting and learning to overcome and negate his sensual nature – and Goldmund the hedonist – sleeping with gipies, wandering roads and plagued towns – and allowing himself to be governed by his senses, seeking no overreaching logic for sheer, unmitigated pleasure and pain. The emotional (our feminine quality) and the intellect (our masculine quality) are the two driving forces behind all that we do, and unlike Narziss and Goldmund, who attempt to adhere to one of the two extremes, Hesse seems to think it is better for us to find a balance between the two: which, in my opinion, is shown by both characters failing in their respective attempts to take mastery over life. It is a complex novel, which would require more thought than I have had time to put into it to fully understand what is being said. Where the novel fails is from a literary (as opposed to philosophical) angle. The prose is flowery – albeit way below the poetic genius of Steppenwolf – but, as there are no descriptions of character or scene, it is impossible to read it as anything but a novel of types and ideas. This is understandable and insightful. It is understandable because Hermann Hesse was not Stephen King: this book is not intended to entertain but to encourage self-reflection, to get people to examine the way they are living, not to give them a few hours cheap entertainment. It is insightful because the book works on an intellectual rather than an emotional level, it appeals to the Narziss in us rather than the Goldmund.

Another amazing work of art, which I have come to expect of Hesse.

Siddhartha (Penguin Modern Classics)

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Siddhartha, 2009-04-09
`Siddhartha' is one of those books that is both simple to read and yet powerful and profound at the same time. Following a young Brahmin's son as he tries to find his spiritual path in life, this book manages to weave a tale that is both captivating and enlightening. This book is so good I could read the first 30 pages alone and put the book down a happy man, the remainder is purely icing on the cake! Hesse manages to write in a deceptively simple style that belies the depth to the message he shows us and the skill behind his writing. He won the nobel prize for good reason. This may be a short book, but it is one that will stay with you long after you have read it and will bring you back to rediscover it's delights at regular intervals. Beautiful prose, beautiful message and highly recommended indeed.

Steppenwolf (Essential Penguin)

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One of the greatest books I have ever read - Hesse's poetic writing is without parallel, 2007-11-22
This was the first of Hesse's books that I ever read, and at a very young age. Perhaps because I still had the imagination of a child the poetry of his writing completely took me over - without his special way of expressing ideas and emotions and just putting words together it would have been just a fairly strange story. I was hooked, and even though some of his other writings did not 'hit' me quite as much (how could they, after this masterpiece!), I eventually found my way through most of his writing, with gems such as Narziss and Goldmund and The Glass Bead game also making their own special mark on my 'mindset', changing me for ever. Having said that, Steppenwolf was the first and for me therefore best piece of poetic writing I have ever had the pleasure of enjoying. I have read and owned it several times, only to lose it to another 'convert' once they had 'borrowed' and read it.... I'm keeping hold of my current copy for ever!!!

Steppenwolf (Penguin Modern Classics)

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A deserving cult classic - a philosophical novel, 2004-03-04
Argued by many to have influenced the counterculture of the 1960s, "Steppen Wolf" succeeds in captivating the reader with its philosophical informative stance, while entertaining with its inclusion into an immersing plot.

Similar in style to "Sophie's World" by Jostein Gaarder, this is a book about philosophy using the plot of a novel to present its ideas, although with more maturity and depth than this comparison. The main narrator is the Steppen Wolf himself - a self-concious and depressed man cynical of the bourgeouis soceity in which he lives. Although a very distinct character, we are able to empathise with his experiences and the thoughts he has. We follow a great change in the Steppen Wolf as he is introduced to new relationships and a very different culture and way of life to that which he endures at the beginning of the novel. The reader is presented with an alternative method of thought, looking deeper into the obvious and ourselves.

Nothing more need be said of this classic except of its guarantee to captivate the reader and force upon them obvious questions perhaps never asked before - one of those books you find your mind drifting back to long after its back on the bookshelf.

The Journey To The East (Peter Owen Modern Classics)

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What goes around............., 2001-07-15
Hermanne Hesse's reputation flowered amongst the sixties 'love affair' with all things Zen and Eastern, but in recent years his Buddhist allegories of self discovery have passed people by. 'Stepponwolf' was to most people a rock band from Canada who were on the 'Easy Rider' soundtrack. But Hesse's fiction is getting re printed more frequently now and 'Journey to the East' is what 'Apocalypse' was for D H Lawrence, a kind of philosophical touch stone to his fiction and a must read for any fans. Following a group of characters through time,myth and the very nature of self, Hesse blends the experiences he had with people like Paul Klee, into a sprawling tale of awakening and re-discovery of the nature of being. The East like a giant philosophical focul point draws all Western strands of narrative toward it, the stories middle beginning and end are not exactly clear cut, but what is clear is Hesse's determined stride to re awaken something he thought the world had lost after the two world wars. This book floats on the river of re-prints like a lotus flower, bobbing back onto book shelves like a hopeful ray of light.

The Glass Bead Game (Vintage Classics)

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Glass bead Game book, 2009-02-04
if you are into ...sci fi...gaming... or just thinking then this is the book for you....:-)

The Fairy Tales of Hermann Hesse

Excellent Short-Story Collection, 1998-06-03
After reading several of Hermann Hesse's novels, I saw this book in a local bookstore and, admittedly attracted at first by it's lovely cover, I decided to purchase it. And what a joy it was to read! It provides a nice selection of Hesse's short-stories, in very readable translation. I'm very happy that I bought it, and I think that it is a must-have for anyone who wants a good introduction to Hesse's short stories. Includes the memorable story "Iris".

Siddhartha

Siddhartha, 2009-04-09
`Siddhartha' is one of those books that is both simple to read and yet powerful and profound at the same time. Following a young Brahmin's son as he tries to find his spiritual path in life, this book manages to weave a tale that is both captivating and enlightening. This book is so good I could read the first 30 pages alone and put the book down a happy man, the remainder is purely icing on the cake! Hesse manages to write in a deceptively simple style that belies the depth to the message he shows us and the skill behind his writing. He won the nobel prize for good reason. This may be a short book, but it is one that will stay with you long after you have read it and will bring you back to rediscover it's delights at regular intervals. Beautiful prose, beautiful message and highly recommended indeed.

The Glass Bead Game (Penguin Modern Classics)

Glass bead Game book, 2009-02-04
if you are into ...sci fi...gaming... or just thinking then this is the book for you....:-)