HERMANN HESSE (1877-1963) is counted among the leading novelists and thinkers of the twentieth century. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1946 for a body of literature renowned for its humanist, philosophical and spiritual insight. His most famous works include Siddhartha (1922), Journey to the East (1932), Demian (1919), Steppenwolf (1927), and Narcissus and Goldmund (1930).
'Inside the guise of a simple Eastern fable, Hesse is delivering an anguished German Bildungsroman about a young man who comes upon a new self-cancelling revelation every day and has finally to shed his cleverness, his pride and most of all his love of nothing but the quest ... Siddhartha can encompass many more readings than one first supposes, and can become a touchstone that somehow keeps one company through life, growing older and more mature as the reader does.' - Pico Iyer; 'A writer of genius.' - The Times; 'A subtle distillation of wisdom, stylistic grace and symmetry of form.' - Sunday Times; 'It's simple prose and rebellious character echoed the yearnings of a generation that was seeking a way out of conformity,'materialism and outward power.' - Paulo Coelho