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Hermann Hesse was a prominent German author, famous for writing fiction, mysteries, and essays. he was also a renowned poet, painter, essayist and short story writer. author hesse was born hermann karl hesse on july 2, 1877 in calw, württemberg, germany. Among his best-known works are novels such as Steppenwolf, The Crystal Bead Game, Denmian, Siddhartha, etc. the specialty of hesse’s novels is that they seem to explore the individual’s quest for self-knowledge, spirituality, and authenticity. Hesse was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1946 for his contribution to the field of literature. he had also received the goethe prize in the same year.
The author Hesse’s grandparents had served in the basel mission in india. His grandfather, in particular, played an important role in compiling the grammar of the Malyalam language and in the formation of a Malayalam-to-English dictionary. he was even involved in the translation of the bible into malayalam language. Author Hesse’s father, Johannes Hesse, was born in Paide and belonged to the minority group of Germans in the Russian-ruled Baltic region. Therefore, when the author Hesse was born, he was a citizen of the Russian and German empires. There were a total of 5 brothers of the author Hesse, but 2 had died as babies. Hesse and his family moved to Calw in 1873, where his father started working for a publishing house called Calwer Verlagsverein.
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This publishing house was directed by the father of Hesse’s mother. and after him the leadership fell on the shoulders of hesse’s father. During her early years, Hesse was raised in the home of a Swabian Pietist.
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It was the pietists’ tendency to isolate people into small, thoughtful groups, one of which was also part of Hesse’s father. According to Hesse, his father was more like a polite, misunderstood, lonely foreign guest. His father’s stories from Estonia added a contrasting religious sense to Hesse’s young mind. he felt that the world at that time was something joyous and cheerful. From his childhood, author Hesse was difficult to handle and headstrong. His mother used to think that he had a powerful will and incredible strength at only 4 years old. she was always worried about how he is going to shape his life after he grows up.
He used to pray to god to help him become a responsible person and give up his passionate turbulence and tyrannical temper. Hesse studied at a Latin school for some time and then joined the evangelical theological seminary in 1891. The first few months at the seminary were very good for Hesse, as he enjoyed translating Greek poems into German and writing essays.
but soon began to suffer a personal crisis. his rebellious and short-tempered character began to take root in him, causing him to flee to a field some distance from the seminary. After this instance, Hesse went through a series of schools and institutions, having the same attitude and going through similar problems with his character. he even started having conflicts and fights with his parents. later, a suicide attempt forced his parents to commit him to a psychiatric hospital. however, things began to look up for him soon after and he began to show signs of improvement.
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In 1895, Hesse began working in a bookstore that gave him access to specialized collections on philology, law, and theology. Hesse used to spend his free time in the bookstore developing his own work. his interest grew even more as the days passed and he used to devote himself to reading books instead of hanging out with friends. Hesse began to follow the works of renowned German Romantic authors such as Joseph von Eichendorff, Novalis, Clemens Brentano, and Friedrich Holderlin, and was inspired by them to create his own novels. In the years that followed, Hesse wrote and published several successful novels and established himself as a leading author. his works are well regarded even today. The author Hesse died on August 2, 1962 in Montagnola, Ticino, Switzerland.
his books, siddhartha and steppenwolf, have been adapted into movies multiple times during the 1970s, which have also been quite successful. A theater located in Chicago is named after Hesse’s novel Steppenwolf, the Steppenwolf Theatre, in memory of him. There are several schools named after Hesse throughout Germany. The German government also founded the Calwer Hermann Hesse Preis. It is awarded every 2 years to a German literary magazine, or to the one that translates Hesse’s works into a foreign language in the best possible way. yet another award is named after the hessian author who is associated with the city of karlsruhe.
an early and successful novel author hermann hesse wrote in his career is titled ‘siddhartha’. This book was published in 1981 by Bantam Books, after its first release in 1922. The book’s German manuscript was translated into English by Hilda Rosner. Hesse has set the story in India and has mentioned the main characters as Siddhartha, Kamala, Govinda, Vasudeva and Gotama. the plot is about the story of a wealthy Indian brahmin, who leaves behind his privileged life and his riches to seek spiritual fulfillment. This classic novel inspired, influenced, and delighted generations of writers, thinkers, and readers. In describing the history of the book, the author has synthesized disparate philosophies of Jungian archetypes, Eastern religions, and Western individualism. and the result of all this is a unique and excellent vision of life seen through one man’s search for meaning, fulfillment and eternal satisfaction.
another excellent novel written by hesse in his literary career is called ‘the steppe wolf’. It was published by Penguin Publishing in 1999 after its initial publication in 1927. The main characters in this novel include Harry Haller, Hermine, Mariecke, and Pablo Soler. the plot of this novel is described in the form of a self-portrait of an individual, who considers himself half human and half wolf. The magical story, similar to a Faust, makes it evidently clear that the Hessian author always tried to search for an extraordinary meaning and philosophy of humanity. With this story he has tried to describe the humanization of that time. The book can also be seen as Hesse’s plea to indict the intellectual hypocrisy and rigorous self-examination of that period. The author Hesse has often said about this book that, of all the books written by him, Steppenwolf is the one that was most violently and often misunderstood by readers and critics. but despite this, the book did well in different parts of the world.
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