Hermann hesse brief biography of sir

Both his parents, as well as his grandfather, had seen service as missionaries with the Basel Mission in the East Indies. The atmosphere in which Hesse grew up was therefore pious, but the household was nonetheless an educated one and relatively urbane. In Hesse won a scholarship to the Protestant Theological Seminary at Maulbronn; but he soon rebelled against the intellectual and clerical discipline there and ran away.

This experience of flight was evidently of decisive significance in his imaginative development, and it recurs in one form or another in almost all his major works. After some time at another high school and a short period as a machine-shop apprentice, Hesse found employment in the book trade. He read widely in German and foreign literature and began to write lyric poetry, sketches, and stories.

His first published works, Romantische Lieder and Eine Stunde hinter Mitternacht , are mannered tributes to the neoromantic conventions of the day, pseudoexotic, melancholic, and tinged with irony. The novel Peter Camenzind made Hesse's name. An attempt to overcome decadence by portraying the cure of a melancholic outsider by means of altruistic activity and a return to nature, Peter Camenzind presents an early, half-formed version of that life pattern found in almost all Hesse's novels.

It was followed in by Unterm Rad Beneath the Wheel , a contribution to the then fashionable subgenre of "school novels. In this novel Hesse divides his interest, as so often in his later work, between two characters, Hans Giebenrath who regresses and dies, and Hermann Heilner who breaks out and lives, albeit by eventually finding a compromise with the bourgeois world.

Hesse himself had compromised by marrying and settling down in Gaienhofen on Lake Constance. He lived there until , when he moved to Berne. He published a number of short stories and novellas: Diesseits , Nachbarn , and Umwege are collections of tales of small-town and country life, after the manner of Gottfried Keller. Knulp, three whimsical sketches of the vagabond existence, dates from this period, as do the full-length novels Gertrude and Rosshalde All these works show Hesse as a careful and talented writer, with a keen psychologist's eye and a supple style, but they rather mute the serious conflicts incipiently suggested by his first two novels.

Hesse's journey to the Malayan archipelago in is, however, some indication of his inner restlessness. The interest in Oriental cultures which originated in his childhood now takes deeper root. During World War I there occurred an extremely sharp break in Hesse's life and work. His third son, Martin, fell seriously ill, his wife began to show the first signs of mental disease, and his family life disintegrated.

The war, in which he was directly involved only through his relief work for German prisoners of war , shocked him terribly; he denounced it at its outset and was in his turn denounced by the German press as a pacifist traitor. He never returned to live in Germany and became a Swiss citizen in In he underwent a course of Jungian analysis in Lucerne.

The product of all these diverse traumatic experiences was the novel Demian, published pseudonymously in , which won the Fontane Prize for first novels Hesse returned the prize and later admitted his authorship. Demian reestablished Hesse in the forefront of German letters and perhaps rescued him from a creeping mediocrity in his creative work.

It deals with the "awakening" of a youth, Emil Sinclair, under the influence of an older boy of mysterious presence and powers, Demian. Critics have shown that the primary key to the book is the structure of a typical Jungian analysis. But the novel contains gnostic as well as overtly psychoanalytic material and works out mythical and biblical motifs, such as that of the Prodigal Son.

From this point onward in Hesse's work discrimination between the psychoanalytic and the religious elements in his symbolic motifs and patterns is extremely difficult. Siddhartha is a hagiographic legend, but it is also a very personal confession which reworks the psychological material of earlier novels in a fresh garb; and the mystical conclusion of Siddhartha proves on examination to be as much Christian as Buddhist or Hindu.

Between and Hesse composed several of his most distinguished novellas, notably Iris , Klein and Wagner , Klingsors letzter Sommer ; Klingsor's Last Summer , and Piktors Verwandlungen ; Pictor's Transformations. In he had taken up residence in Montagnola near Lugano, entirely alone and impoverished, resolved to live now only for his literary work.

Iris is a beautifully wrought allegory on the search for selfhood, Klein und Wagnera study of sexual conflict, loss of identity, and rediscovery of self, Klingsor's Last Summera series of passionately colored sketches of the life of a declining artist, and Pictor's Transformations an exotic fairy tale designed to impart a vision of the ultimate androgynous unity and of eternal change and flow.

This insight into a divine reality and unity which may be glimpsed for a moment when the usual order of the mind is momentarily shaken or dissolved, in some trauma such as Klein's suicide or in sexual or artistic experience, is the positive vision which Hesse seeks increasingly to convey. Thus Der Steppenwolf should not be mistaken, as it often is, for a pessimistic and desperate work; on the contrary, this account of a psychopathic outcast, close to suicide, who finds remission and self-insight through friendship with a prostitute, dancing, and drugs is a re-assertion of the omnipresence of the higher reality for those sensitive to it.

Hermann hesse brief biography of sir

The "golden thread" of this reality is often discernible, especially in the music of Mozart or, indeed, the life and art of any of the "Immortals"—Goethe, Leonardo, Rembrandt, among others. Steppenwolf is formally the most consummate of all Hesse's books, an extremely intricate experimental novel. It reflects something of its author's experiences in the s, after the failure of his second marriage.

In Hesse published Narziss und Goldmund, a long picaresque work in a medieval setting, which is his most overt treatment of the relentless struggle between the mind and the senses. By no means his best novel, Narziss und Goldmund has been one of his most popular; sometimes trite, it has, however, an undercurrent of pain, failure, and bitterness which is often overlooked.

In appeared Die Morgenlandfahrt The Journey to the East , an ironic allegory on the subject of the inner pilgrimage, full of secret allusion and whimsical onomastic games; extremely elusive, The Journey to the East subsumes with anecdotal brevity the spiritual experience of several decades. Das Glasperlenspiel ; The Glass Bead Game , Hesse's longest and perhaps his most famous novel, took 11 years to write.

It is concerned with a futuristic society in which a scholars' utopia, Castalia, exists as a separate province with the task of preserving the austere ideals of the Spirit and the unsullied service of Truth, as well as training teachers to work in the schools of the outside world. The protagonist, Joseph Knecht, is followed through his years of training until he is eventually elected Master of the Glass Bead Game, a game "with all the contents and all the values of our culture, " which is Castalia's supreme cult.

Through the game an element of art, and of numinous experience, infiltrates a sphere which has become too much the province of the intellect. The Glass Bead Game depicts Knecht's gradual insight into the decadence which has overtaken Castalia and his apostasy as he resolves to leave for the outside world and to become a simple teacher.

The ambivalence of this delicately written and elaborate novel lies in the question whether Knecht's act is a true breakthrough to ethical action or the expression of an unrepentant individualism, or both. Ethical and esthetical, saintly and artistic elements blend and separate deceptively again and again in this novel as throughout Hesse's work. Hermann Hesse's poetry has been published in several collections, for example, Gesammelte Gedichte , and has been widely anthologized.

There is also the remarkable collection of "Steppenwolf" poems, Krisis In his verse he is generally more derivative and less searching than in his prose works. Having married for the third time in , he continued to live in Montagnola, devoting a good deal of his time to a voluminous correspondence, particularly with young people interested in his work and philosophy of life.

Hesse was awarded the Nobel Prize in literature. He died in August Rose gives a short introduction to the author, Boulby a detailed analysis of eight novels and several novellas, and Ziolkowski a study of Demian and later novels, also placing Hesse in the contemporary literary scene. Famous German novelist he later acquired Swiss nationality whose books on mystical themes were quite influential in the spiritual and occult revival among young adults in the s and s.

The influence of Oriental philosophy is reflected in his novel Siddhartha, which deals with the relationship between father and son and the quest for self-discovery through a journey to India. His novel Das Glasperlenspiel , translated as Magister Ludi, resolves world disorder through a religious game played by rulers. Hesse, Herman. New York : New Directions, Hesse, Hermann gale.

Gale Contextual Encyclopedia of World Literature. Learn more about citation styles Citation styles Encyclopedia. Hermann Hesse gale. Hermann Hesse The novels of the German author Hermann Hesse are lyrical and confessional and are primarily concerned with the relationship between the contemplative, God-seeking individual, often an artist, and his fellow humans.

Meaning of "Steppenwolf" This insight into a divine reality and unity which may be glimpsed for a moment when the usual order of the mind is momentarily shaken or dissolved, in some trauma such as Klein's suicide or in sexual or artistic experience, is the positive vision which Hesse seeks increasingly to convey. Hesse, Hermann Famous German novelist he later acquired Swiss nationality whose books on mystical themes were quite influential in the spiritual and occult revival among young adults in the s and s.

Sources: Hesse, Herman. Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychology. Hesse, Hermann oxford. Hesse, Hermann — German novelist. Hesse studied Indian mysticism and Jungian psychology , subjects that find expression in novels such as Demian , Siddhartha , and Steppenwolf He received the Nobel Prize in literature. More From encyclopedia. About this article Hermann Hesse All Sources -.

Updated Aug 13 About encyclopedia. Related Topics Rudolf Hess. Hermann Georg. Hermann Fol. Hermann Brehmer. This theme would be further explored in Hesse's later works, revealing the conflict between nature and spirit, body and mind. In , Hesse left his family and moved to Montagnola, southern Switzerland. In , a year after the publication of "Siddhartha," he officially divorced his wife.

The novella reflects Hesse's journey to India and his long-standing interest in Eastern religions. In , Hesse married Ruth Wenger, but the marriage lasted only three years. Hesse continued to develop the theme of Faustian dualism in his next major work, "The Steppenwolf," with its protagonist, Harry Haller, a tormented artist searching for meaning.

According to contemporary literary scholar Ernst Rose, "The Steppenwolf' was the first German novel to penetrate the depths of the subconscious in search of spiritual wholeness. The novel reiterates the central themes of Hesse's earlier works. In , Hesse was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature "for his inspired writings which, with growing boldness and penetration, exemplify the classical humanist ideals and high qualities of style.

Overcome yourselves! For being human means to suffer from incurable duality, means being torn between good and evil. Hesse did not write any major works after receiving the Nobel Prize. He continued to publish essays, letters, and new translations of his novels. He spent his final years in Switzerland, where he died in his sleep at the age of 85 from a cerebral hemorrhage.

In , he was elected to the Prussian Academy of Arts but resigned four years later due to political developments in Germany. An authorised translation of Siddhartha was published in the Malayalam language in , the language that surrounded Hesse's grandfather, Hermann Gundert, for most of his life. A Hermann Hesse Society of India has also been formed.

It aims to bring out authentic translations of Siddhartha in all Indian languages and has already prepared the Sanskrit, [ 57 ] Malayalam [ 58 ] and Hindi [ 59 ] translations of Siddhartha. Referring to "The Magic Theatre for Madmen Only" in Steppenwolf a kind of spiritual and somewhat nightmarish cabaret attended by some of the characters, including Harry Haller , the Magic Theatre was founded in to perform works by new playwrights.

Founded by John Lion, the Magic Theatre has fulfilled that mission for many years, including the world premieres of many plays by Sam Shepard. There is also a theatre in Chicago named after the novel, Steppenwolf Theatre. Throughout Germany, many schools are named after him. The Hermann-Hesse-Literaturpreis is a literary prize associated with the city of Karlsruhe that has been awarded since The band Steppenwolf took its name from Hesse's novel.

Contents move to sidebar hide. Article Talk. Read Edit View history. Tools Tools. Download as PDF Printable version. In other projects. German writer — This article is about the German writer. For the Swiss politician and businessman, see Hermann Hess politician. For the Ghanaian technology entrepreneur, see Herman Chinery-Hesse. Life and work [ edit ].

Family background [ edit ]. Childhood [ edit ]. Education [ edit ]. Becoming a writer [ edit ]. During the First World War [ edit ]. Casa Camuzzi [ edit ]. Later life and death [ edit ]. Religious views [ edit ]. Influence [ edit ]. Awards [ edit ]. Books [ edit ]. Novellas [ edit ]. Novels [ edit ]. Short story collections [ edit ].

Non-fiction [ edit ]. Poetry collections [ edit ]. Film adaptations [ edit ]. Citations [ edit ]. A Malayalam and English Dictionary. Retrieved 4 March St Andrews University. The New Yorker. Deutsches Historisches Museum. Retrieved 15 January Hermann Hesse: Biography and Bibliography. ISBN Retrieved 11 October The Nobel Prize. Retrieved 8 January Hermann Hesse : life and art.

Berkeley: University of California Press. OCLC Retrieved 12 July Hermann Hesse: Life and Art. Another translation: "Not the preached, but their practiced Christianity, among the powers that shaped and molded me, has been the strongest. Sanskrit Translation by L. Sulochana Devi. Malayalam Translation by R. Raman Nair. Hindi Translation by Prabakaran, hebbar Illath.

Archived from the original on 2 July Retrieved 2 July Retrieved 23 September Retrieved 4 December Sources [ edit ]. External links [ edit ]. Hermann Hesse at Wikipedia's sister projects. Hermann Hesse. If the War Goes On My Belief: Essays on Life and Art. Hermann Gundert grandfather. Links to related articles. German-language literature.

Denis Tamiris Wiesenthal Wigman. Laureates of the Nobel Prize in Literature. James B. Hermann Hesse Switzerland.