Customer Reviews

Pictor's Metamorphoses and Other Fantasies

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

this book has followed me throughout my life, and has never been topped by another. He was, and is, the author closest to my heart.

Hesse was an inveterate story writer and this collection is an excellent introduction to his work. Most of these tales are only a few pages long and even the longest can be completed in one sitting. They also span his entire career and give the reader a great overview of the author's style.

I recommend especially the title story, "Pictor's Metamorphoses": here a youth named Pictor wanders into a garden and finds a magic carbuncle which transforms him into a tree. But he realizes that his life his incomplete, and remains unhappy until a girl wanders into the same garden...

This is a really good book. From the dreams he has as a young boy to the times after the war. A good book to read in between books. Most of the stories are short but there are some long ones too.

Hesse has scored with this collection of fine short stories written over a span of fifty years. He explores various forms and aspects of fantasy with his classic style. The result is short metaphoric pieces that engage for a while and let the reader go. I was fully engaged and enjoyed almost every one. Highly recommended if you are a Hesse fan, which I am of forty years.

I love the the title story. It is filled with wisdom and laid out in such rich detail. He actually wrote these stories over a number of years and I liked seeing how time affected him in each one.