First major novel by Nobel Prize–winning author explores the fundamental duality of existence through the tale of a troubled young man's confusion about life's conflicting values. Recounted in engaging prose, this brilliant psychological portrait offers a poignant statement of the terrors and torments of adolescence.
Hermann Hesse (1877-1962) was born in Germany and later became a citizen of Switzerland. As a Western man profoundly affected by the mysticism of Eastern thought, he wrote many novels, stories, and essays that bear a vital spiritual force that has captured the imagination and loyalty of many generations of readers. In 1946, he won the Nobel Prize for Literature for The Glass Bead Game.





