Hilda Rosner
Hilda Rosner's translations carried Hermann Hesse into English and have stayed in print for more than seventy years. Skomlin publishes two of them, Siddhartha and The Journey to the East.
Hilda Rosner was a translator from German who gave English readers much of Hermann Hesse's fiction. Her version of Siddhartha, published by New Directions in New York in 1951, was the first English rendering of a novel Hesse had finished in 1922, and it remained in print for more than seventy years. She also translated Die Morgenlandfahrt of 1932, which appeared in 1956 as The Journey to the East, and Hesse's earlier novel Gertrude. Skomlin uses her texts for both Siddhartha and 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.