Hermann Hesse

1. Steppenwolf.
2. A Journey to the East
3. Narcisuss and Goldmun.
4. Siddartha.

Some facts about Karl Gjellerup i stumbled across while looking for the engish title:
http://nobelprize.org/literature/laureates/1917/gjellerup-autobio.html

they seemed kinda goofy and turned me off coz i wanted BIG REVELATIONS and instead got dippy spiritual ones, even tho i felt like they promised the other. a sorta like zen that was too broken to be profound.

but reading them again at a difft. level for historic context etc. might... might prove to be interesting.

what do yall niggas think of siddhartha

I need to read this. Fortunately i bought an older edition--the current one has an introduction by master-dickhead Paulo Coelho

loved 'siddhartha' in high school. own a couple others that i'd like to read.

http://www.theispot.com/images/source/1hesse1.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/W0K5Scn.jpg

I read a book more than a decade ago that made extensive reference to The Glass Bead Game, which I picked up because of that other book and which I could not get more than about 75 pages into. It bothers me that I can't remember what the other book was.

I didn’t make it any farther either

i've been on a bit of a Hesse kick. read PETER CAMENZIND last month, and just now finished DEMIAN. i was a bit disappointed in the latter, which started to fall off about halfway through and then eventually became downright silly -- "dippy spiritual" revelations upthread is otm. CAMENZIND was much less cornball but ultimately was another case of the first half being much better, and the second half failing to deliver.

i'm thinking now of tracking down some of the other early ones, like GERTRUD and ROSSHALDE. still haven't read STEPPENWOLF, and eventually will probably read NARCISSUS AND GOLDMUND, which is my favorite of his along with SIDDHARTHA.

*re-read N&G

it's crazy how much that cover of Der Spiegel looks AI generated ...

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fb/Hans_Sturzenegger_-_Hermann_Hesse_mit_Panamahut%2C_1912.jpg

Hesse made his bones as a westerner who appropriated various strands of eastern philosophical and religious traditions, but filtered them through an essentially western interpretation and reworked them into narratives with allegorical elements. That's his basic contribution to the canon. But I have trouble with his novels because, for me, he never quite figured out how to marry his ideas with compelling narratives. I'd rate Steppenwolf as probably his most successful, if only because it came from a more personal and urgent place and broke through his tendency toward awkward and labored exposition.

I loved the Glass Bead Game when I was in my early 20s but I don't think I'd dare re-read it: current me would see straight through it, I think?

I read a lovely short book of his, Wandering, a spiritual autobiography built around his walks in the Italian Alps.

I would never bother with Jesse again but that sounds nice

Hesse