Customer Reviews

Autobiographical Writings

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Hermann Hesse was someting of a cult-figure during the 60' and 70' in the States and around the world - known as a "mystic", and through his writings one could well penetrate (or so we believed) the spirit and attain a state of enlightment.

A few of Hesses' books that I've read are "Journey to the East", "Siddhartha" and "Demian". As a young lad I would read these novels and dream of mysticism and being a writer.

In his Autobiographucal Writings, actually short essays over his long life, we come to understand his childhood, his slightly altered perception of the world; comparable to Jung's biography, the stories are really about Hesse's "inner life" or more acutely, his thougths and dreams that he successfully communicated through his books and this autobiography.

Reading "Journey to the East" last week, my early years in school came to the fore, and now I'm attempting to read his entire canon, again.

To my knowledge, Hesse was friends with such writing luminaries as Carl Jung, Thomas Mann and Sigmund Freud - many other philosophers and writers which he wrote to on a consistent basis. These letters I've attempted to find and read over the years.

This book will give the reader a greater insight into this engimatic writer.

Hesse won the Noble Prize for Literature in 1946 for his work, particularly, "The Glass Bead Game" and "Steppenwolf."

If you love Hesse, you'll love this book.

Really enjoyed the fascinating look into the life of the writer of the great classics, including "Siddhartha".