Young Hermann shared a love of music with his mother. Both music and poetry were important with his family. His mother wrote poetry and his father was known for his use of language in both his sermons and the writing of religious tracts. His first role model for becoming an artist was his half-brother, Theo, who rebelled against the family by entering a music conservatory in 1885. Hermann showed a precocious ability to rhyme, and by 1889-90 had decided that he wanted to be a writer.
His best-known works include Steppenwolf, Siddhartha, and The Glass Bead Game (also known as Magister Ludi), each of which explores an individual's search for authenticity, self-knowledge and spirituality.
Following the death of Hesse in 1962, his novels saw a revival in popularity because of their association with some of the popular themes of the 1960s counterculture (or hippie) movement. In particular, the quest-for-enlightenment theme of Siddhartha, Journey to the East, and Narcissus and Goldmund resonated with those espousing counter-cultural ideals. The "magic theatre" sequences in Steppenwolf were interpreted by some as drug-induced psychedelia. These and other Hesse novels were republished in paperback editions and were widely read by university students and young people in the United States and elsewhere.
Biography:
- Eine Stunde hinter Mitternacht. Novella. (1899)
- Hermann Lauscher (1900)
- Peter Camenzind (1904)
- Unterm Rad (1906)
- Freunde. Novella. (1908)
- Gertrud (1910)
- Roßhalde (1914)
- Knulp (1915)
- Schön ist die Jugend. Novella. (1916)
- Demian (published under the pen name Emil Sinclair) (1919)
- Klein und Wagner (1919)
- Klingsors letzter Sommer (1920)
- Siddhartha (1922)
- Der Steppenwolf (1927)
- Narziß und Goldmund (1930)
- Die Morgenlandfahrt (1932)
- Das Glasperlenspiel (1943)