Hermann Hesse
Two of Hesse's shorter novels, both in Hilda Rosner's translations, and both circling the same question of how a person finds their own way to the truth rather than being taught it. Siddhartha follows a Brahmin's son from indulgence to asceticism and past both. The Journey to the East follows a pilgrimage that falls apart in a mountain gorge.
Hermann Hesse (1877-1962) was a German-born Swiss novelist, poet and painter, awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1946. Born in Calw, Germany, and later a citizen of Switzerland, he wrote fiction preoccupied with the individual's search for authenticity and spiritual wholeness. His major works - Siddhartha (1922), Steppenwolf, Demian and The Glass Bead Game - drew on Indian and East Asian thought and made him one of the most widely read European authors of the twentieth century. Skomlin also publishes Hesse's The Journey to the East.
Titles at Skomlin
Siddhartha is the story of a young Brahmin's quest for the ultimate reality. His quest takes him from the extremes of indulgent sensuality to the rigors of ascetism and self-denial. At last he learns that wisdom cannot be taught - it must come from one's own experience and inner struggle.
In Journey to the East "H.H." becomes a member of "The League" a timeless religious sect whose members include famous fictional and real characters such as Plato Mozart Pythagoras Paul Klee Don Quixote Baudelaire Goldmund and the ferryman Vasudeva. A branch of the group goes on a pilgrimage to the East in search of the Truth.