Siddhartha

Overview

Hesse's mystical parable about two Hindu friends' spiritual journey of self-discovery in fifth century India became a cult classic during the 1960s, 40 years after its original publication. This study aid analyses the book's plot, major characters, key themes, motifs and symbolism.

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Author Information

Bio of Hermann Hesse

In the 1960s, especially in the United States, the novels of Hermann Hesse were widely embraced by young readers who found in his protagonists a reflection of their own search for meaning in a troubled world. Hesse ' s rich allusions to world mythologies, especially those of Asia, and his persistent theme of the individual striving for integrity in opposition to received opinions and mass culture appealed to a generation in upheaval and in search of renewed values. Born in southern Germany in 1877, Hesse came from a family of missionaries, scholars, and writers with strong ties to India. This early exposure to the philosophies and religions of Asia ' filtered and interpreted by thinkers thoroughly steeped in the intellectual traditions and currents of modern Europe ' provided Hesse with some of the most pervasive elements in his short stories and novels, especially Siddhartha (1922) and Journey to the East (1932). Hesse concentrated on writing poetry as a young man, but his first successful book was a novel, Peter Camenzind (1904). The income it brought permitted him to settle with his wife in rural Switzerland and write full-time. By the start of World War I in 1914, Hesse had produced several more novels and had begun to write the considerable number of book reviews and articles that made him a strong influence on the literary culture of his time. During the war, Hesse was actively involved in relief efforts. Depression, criticism for his pacifist views, and a series of personal crises ' combined with what he referred to as the ' war psychosis ' of his times ' led Hesse to undergo psychoanalysis with J. B. Lang, a student of Carl Jung. Out of these years came Demian (1919), a novel whose main character is torn between the orderliness of bourgeois existence and the turbulent and enticing world of sensual experience. This dichotomy is prominent in Hesse ' s subsequent novels, including Siddhartha (1922), Steppenwolf (1927), and Narcissus and Goldmund (1930). Hesse worked on his magnum opus, The Glass Bead Game (1943), for twelve years. This novel was specifically cited when he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1946. Hesse died at his home in Switzerland in 1962.

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Additional Info

Imprint

Penguin Group E-Books

Filesize

312.55 KB

Number of Pages

176

eBook ISBN

9780786581511