Customer Reviews

Soul of the Age: Selected Letters of Hermann Hesse, 1891-1962

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This is an important book to have if you're a fan of Hesse. There are many personal letters collected here by a reknown Hesse scholar which shed light on Hermann Hesse the man, artist, and writer. These are also the sources for many biographers and it's good to have them available for those of us who like to form their own opinions and thoughts about Hesse's life and works from the man himself. Ziolkowski provides a nice, brief introduction, and reading these personal (often private) letters whether chronologically or at random, is like eavesdropping in on the life of a kindred soul and good friend. Together they create a well rounded, kaleidoscopic view of one of the Twentieth-Century's greatest and most respected writers.

Soul of Age contains a good selection of Hesse's letters that provide a very usefull introduction to Hesse. The translations are very good, and the introduction is informative and intresting. Some letters between Jung and Hesse are missing, but you can find them in Michael Serrano's book.

Yes, after reading passages from Hesses' letters in biographies & literary critisism for 20 years, it was very exciting to hear that Noonday was finally publishing a volume of them in English translation. The focus was to try to put them out in an edition that might pass for an autobiography. But many of the letters that dealt with his major criseses, or the inspiration for his major novels, so many important letters still go untranslated.
If they didnt translate the complete 4 volume edition back in the 1970s, when he was so popular with students & youth, I dont hold out too much hope that they will do it anytime soon. I guess my best bet stll is to try & learn Gearman, go online & purchase the German edition. With my luck though, as soon as I have learned the language the set will suddenly appear in bookstores, neatly translated