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Gertrude

by Hermann Hesse, Hilda Rosner (Translator)

3.75 of 5 stars 3.75 · rating details · 1,981 ratings · 74 reviews

With Gertrude, Herman Hesse continues his lifelong exploration of the irreconcilable elements of human existence. In this fictional memoir, the renowned composer Kuhn recounts his tangled relationships with two artists--his friend Heinrich Muoth, a brooding, self-destructive opera singer, and the gentle, self-assured Gertrude Imthor. Kuhn is drawn to Gertrude upon their fi...more

Paperback, 256 pages

Published August 1st 2005 by Picador (first published 1910)

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Feb 12, 2009 Gertrude & Victoria rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: german-scandanavian-library

Hermann Hesse's Gertrude and Knut Hamsun's Victoria share a common bond about man's attempt to fight fate, fate's conspiracy against man in his search for inner peace and lasting love. Kuhn, the student, aspiring composer and central character, seeks direction and purpose, understanding, and eventually, solace, through his life struggles, which lead him towards the path of unrequited love, an attempt at suicide, success and fame, death of close friends, and finally to peaceful resignation.

Gertru...more

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Jan 27, 2012 Nawesa rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: novels

Tiene un estilo formal que puede sonar cursi o afectado. Quizá porque fue escrita a principios del siglo pasado. Leí la versión española de Emilio Ávila de la Torre. Me gustó porque me parece que describe muy bien el alma pesarosa de los artistas o mentes creadoras que tienen mucha sensibilidad. Es la historia de un músico, así que cualquier músico compositor podría sentirse conectado con el personaje principal. Pero creo que la forma en que describe el proceso creativo se podría bien aplicar a...more

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Apr 30, 2013 Marty rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2013-reading-challenge, seasonal-reading-challenge

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I confess, I was little disappointed by this novel. I guess I shouldn't have read Steppenwolf first. It's hard to follow that lead. A conventional love story, which this is, fades in the shadow of Hesse's later, greater work.

The story is narrated by Kuhn, a musical composer, looking back on his youth and development as a musician. Wounded for life by a sledding accident (he will always walk slowly and with a definite limp), he almost despairs of having a life, much less a career. Then he meets t...more I confess, I was little disappointed by this novel. I guess I shouldn't have read Steppenwolf first. It's hard to follow that lead. A conventional love story, which this is, fades in the shadow of Hesse's later, greater work.

The story is narrated by Kuhn, a musical composer, looking back on his youth and development as a musician. Wounded for life by a sledding accident (he will always walk slowly and with a definite limp), he almost despairs of having a life, much less a career. Then he meets the famous opera singer Heinrich Muoth, who eventually is revealed as a strange mix of strong supporter, steadfast friend, tortured genius and abuser of women. He helps Kuhn to advance his career, and pushes him to persevere in the face of the initially unsympathetic musical world.

Just when everything is rolling along nicely for Kuhn, he meets and falls in love with Gertrude Imthor, a kind, lovely and intelligent young woman who sings beautifully. Kuhn declares his love, but his gently rejected. Gertrude meets Muoth and falls in love with him instead, despite her father's somewhat weak opposition to the match. The marriage proves to be the undoing of them both.

Kuhn, on the other hand, triumphs. Not only is his music receiving raves from the public, he is learning to live for others as well as himself. On the advice of an old friend, after an aborted suicide attempt, he begins by trying to support his mother after the death of his father. Gradually, he comes to see that his efforts, while not bearing fruit in the beginning, lead him to a greater understanding between the two of them.

Sadly, he can do nothing for his two best friends. Gertrude leaves her husband's house in Munich to try to revive her health. Without her, Muoth falls into alcoholism and eventually destroys himself. This is the ending any reading can see coming from the time that Kuhn falls for Gertrude: we know this isn't going to turn out well for anyone concerned. All in all, this is a poignant little novel, if not a very satisfying one. Still, it is Hesse, and that makes it worth reading.(less)

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Jan 23, 2013 Theia rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, german, hesse, heart-warming

Dacă există ceva creat de om care să poată ajuta trăirea și purtarea existenței, acest ceva cu siguranță are în plămădeală muzică și scriere.
Pentru mine, acest ceva este Hesse, cărțile lui și spiritul lui, impregnat în scriere și îndreptat, direcționat, dedicat cititorului. Tot ce-a creat (și din ce-am citit) e despre natura umană și o încercare de a o înțelege fără a o judeca prea aspru. Fără a-i impune îmbunătățire.
Doar că acel uman prezent în lucrările sale are o puritate aproape inumană az...more Dacă există ceva creat de om care să poată ajuta trăirea și purtarea existenței, acest ceva cu siguranță are în plămădeală muzică și scriere.
Pentru mine, acest ceva este Hesse, cărțile lui și spiritul lui, impregnat în scriere și îndreptat, direcționat, dedicat cititorului. Tot ce-a creat (și din ce-am citit) e despre natura umană și o încercare de a o înțelege fără a o judeca prea aspru. Fără a-i impune îmbunătățire.
Doar că acel uman prezent în lucrările sale are o puritate aproape inumană azi. O puritate a naturii, dar și o noblețe a firii, a spiritului. Mă bucură imens lucrările sale. Mă bucură că a existat, mă bucură că există scrierile lui. Mă bucură că mă face mai bună, mai plină de lumină.

Scrierea (traducerea) e atît de frumoasă, atît de caldă și înțeleaptă, atît de plină de bunătate. Atît de melodică, atît de sinceră. Și cîtă noblețe și demnitate în personaje totuși atît de diferite!

Un minunat pasaj din Gertrude:

„Soarta nu era bună, viaţa era plină de toane şi crudă, în natură nu exista bunătate şi raţiune. Dar există bunătate şi raţiune în noi, oamenii, cu care întâmplarea se joacă şi noi putem fi mai puternici decât natura şi decât soarta, fie chiar şi pentru câteva ceasuri. Şi noi putem fi apropiaţi unii altora, dacă este nevoie, şi ne putem privi în ochi plini de înţelegere şi putem iubi şi trăi consolându-ne unii pe alţii. Şi uneori, când străfundurile întunecate tac, putem chiar şi mai mult. Atunci putem fi zei, timp de câteva clipe, şi putem întinde mâini poruncitoare şi crea lucruri care n-au existat înainte şi care, dacă sunt zăvorâte, trăiesc mai departe fără noi. Putem construi din sunete şi din cuvinte şi din alte lucruri fragile şi fără însemnătate jocuri şi melodii şi cântece pline de sens şi de mângâiere şi de bunătate, mai frumoase şi mai nepieritoare decât jocurile stridente ale întâmplării şi ale destinului. Nu ne putem sustrage inima vieţii, însă o putem forma şi învăţa că este superioară întâmplării şi că poate privi chiar şi durerea fără să se frângă.”
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Nov 04, 2012 Paul rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: european-novels

Another novel about unrequited love. The book shows the influence of Nietzsche and the split between Dionysian passion and the intellectual and cerebral virtues of the Apollonian aspect. This duality reminded me a little of Death In Venice by Thomas Mann, which I have also read this month.
The main protagonist Kuhn, is a fairly successful composer who is looking back. Kuhn reminded me a little of Philip Carey in Maugham's Of Human Bondage (which I have also read recently), because of his physica...more

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Mar 03, 2013 Asma rated it 4 of 5 stars

رواية رائعة ، بشكل عام أعشق الروايات الدراميةالتي سوف تجد نفسك فيها بشكل أو بآخر .
ذكرتني بفلم
Revolutionary Road
اقتباس "

فالقدر ليس رحيما، والحياة متقلبة وفظيعة، ولا خير ولا في عقل في الطبيعة، ولكن الخير والعقل موجودان فينا، نحن البشر، الذين يتلاعب بنا القدر، وفي إمكاننا أن نكون أقوى من الطبيعة ومن القدر، ولو حتى لبضع ساعات. ويمكننا أن نتقارب وقت الحاجة، وان نتبادل الفهم والحب، ونعيش ليواسي أحدنا الآخر.

وأحياناً عندما يرين الصمت في الأعماق السحيقة، في وسعنا أن نقوم بما هو أكثر. نستطيع عندئذ أن ن...more رواية رائعة ، بشكل عام أعشق الروايات الدراميةالتي سوف تجد نفسك فيها بشكل أو بآخر .
ذكرتني بفلم
Revolutionary Road
اقتباس "

فالقدر ليس رحيما، والحياة متقلبة وفظيعة، ولا خير ولا في عقل في الطبيعة، ولكن الخير والعقل موجودان فينا، نحن البشر، الذين يتلاعب بنا القدر، وفي إمكاننا أن نكون أقوى من الطبيعة ومن القدر، ولو حتى لبضع ساعات. ويمكننا أن نتقارب وقت الحاجة، وان نتبادل الفهم والحب، ونعيش ليواسي أحدنا الآخر.

وأحياناً عندما يرين الصمت في الأعماق السحيقة، في وسعنا أن نقوم بما هو أكثر. نستطيع عندئذ أن نكون آلهة برهة من الزمن ونمد يداً آمرة ونخلق أشياء لم تكن موجودة، ولعد أن نخلفها تواصل وجودها بدوننا. ومن الأصوات، والكلمات وأشياء أخرى هشة، وعديمة الفائدة، نستطيع أن ننشىء دمى مفكّرة وعاطفية، نستطيع أن نبتكر مذاهب فلسفية وأغاني مفعمة بالمعنى والعزاء، هي أجمل وأكثر خلوداً من لعبة الحظ والقدر الكئيبة. يمكننا أن نكنز روح الله في قلوبنا ويمكنه، أحياناً، عندنا نصبح مترعين به، أن يتبدّى في عيوننا وفي كلامنا، وأيضاً أن يكلّم الآخرين الذين لا يعرفونه أو لا يرغبون في معرفته. إننا لا نستطيع أن نتخلّص من مسار الحياة، ولكن في إمكاننا أن نوطّن أنفسنا على أن نتفوق على الحظ وأيضاً أن ننظر بثبات إلى الأشياء الأشد إيلاماً.
"

بعد نسخه من الرواية نفسها ، كان هو الاقتباس نفسه على ظهر الكتاب :))
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Sep 12, 2009 Wouter rated it 4 of 5 stars

Very nice book! About love that's not meant to be, about passion for music and about friendship. It's a very easy read, taking notice of the fact that the story was written about a century ago. If you like Hesse's work you should absolutely read this.
Hesse can wrap words around subtleties i thought people could only slightly sense the truth of.

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Oct 06, 2011 Corey rated it 5 of 5 stars

I read most of Hesse in my twenties and I was a little trepidacious approaching him again. I thought perhaps he was one of those authors you read and appreciate only when young. But this is a beautiful book.

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Sep 17, 2012 Muge Okay rated it 5 of 5 stars

"Düşünme denen şeyin çilesini çekmeyenler, sabahleyin yataktan kalkmayı kıvançla karşılar, yiyip, içecek olmalarına sevinir, yeterli görür bunları, durumun başka türlü olmasını istemez. ne var ki, bu doğallığı elden çıkaranlar günün akışı içinde hırsla, gözlerini açarak gerçek hayatı yaşayacak anları kollarlar; öyle anlar ki çakıvermeleri mutlu kılar insanı, bütün yaşamın anlam ve amacına ilişkin tüm düşüncelerle zaman duygusunu silip atar. Bu gibi anlar yaratıcı anlar diye nitelenebilir, çünkü...more

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May 14, 2013 Umut Babilon rated it 5 of 5 stars

Karşımıza Gertrud’da bir müzik insanı olarak çıkan Kuhn ile satıra dökülmüş kelimeler arasında gördüğümüz Hermann Hesse, hemen her kitabında olduğu gibi yine bir sanatçının gözünden bir hikaye anlatıyor aslında. Kitap boyunca yazılmaya başlanması sürecinden tutun da hazırlık sürecine kadar takip edilebilen bir operanın hikayesini de Gertrud’da olan bitene paralel olarak görüşümüz bundan olsa gerek. Ve bu da benim gözümde Hesse’yi, karşıma bazen ressam bazen de müzisyen olarak, ama sürekli bir sa...more

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Oct 11, 2011 Nick rated it 4 of 5 stars

There's something I really like about Hesse's work. Maybe someday I'll work to develop into a thinker, and have more to say about it all. But for now, snippets:

p. 9: At the same time I also had periods of daydreaming when I improvised on the violin and enjoyed the intoxication of fleeting impressions and exalted moods. I soon knew that this was not creativeness but just playing and running riot, against which I had to guard. I realized that it was one thing to indulge in daydreaming and intoxica...more There's something I really like about Hesse's work. Maybe someday I'll work to develop into a thinker, and have more to say about it all. But for now, snippets:

p. 9: At the same time I also had periods of daydreaming when I improvised on the violin and enjoyed the intoxication of fleeting impressions and exalted moods. I soon knew that this was not creativeness but just playing and running riot, against which I had to guard. I realized that it was one thing to indulge in daydreaming and intoxicating hours and another to wrestle strenuously and resolutely with the secrets of form as if with fiends. I also partly realized at that time that true creativity isolates one and demands something that has to be subtracted from the enjoyment of life.

32: ... wearily and unrestrainedly giving way to foolish thoughts.

34-5: ... I no longer made any distinction between pleasure and pain, but one was similar to the other; both hurt and both were precious. Whether I felt pain or joy, my discovered strength stood peacefully outside looking on and knew that light and dark were closely related and that sorrow and peace were rhythm, part and spirit of the same great music.

44: Involuntarily, I remembered rumors I had heard about Mouth, vague, disjointed, students' talk, the exact details of which I had forgotten but the echo and pattern of which I had preserved in my memory.

76: I was thus suddenly dragged away from my unprofitable hermit's existence. I was again drawn into the stream of life, had hopes and cares, sorrows and joys.

81-2: So strange is a human being that in the midst of my new life and fulfilled wishes I was sometimes seized by a sudden, fleeting, almost subconscious desire for solitude, for even boring and empty days. ... I felt that I was not destined for well-being and happiness but for weakness and failure, and that without these shadows and sacrifices, the creative spring within me would flow more feebly and turbidly. At first there really was no question of quiet hours and creative work, and although I was living a full life, I continually thought I heard the dammed-up spring within me whisper softly and complainingly.

125-6. It was as if the opera did not belong to me, as if it had never been my work but had its own life and the effect of an external power over me. For the first time I felt the sense of detachment of a work from its creator, in which I had not previously really believed. My work began to stand up, move and show signs of life. A moment ago I had still held it in my hand; now it was no longer mine; it was like a child that had grown taller than its father; it lived and acted of its own accord and looked at me independently through its own eyes; yet it bore my name and my imprint.

141: It was a comfort to me to know that in the evening I would no longer be alive.

151: That life is difficult, I have often bitterly realized. I now had further cause for serious reflection. Right up to the present I have never lost the feeling of contradiction that lies behind all knowledge. My life has been miserable and difficult, and yet to others, and sometimes to myself, it has seemed rich and wonderful. >Man's life seems to me like a long, weary night that would be intolerable if there were not occasionally flashes of light, the sudden brightness of which is so comforting and wonderful that the moments of their appearance cancel out and justify the years of darkness.

167-8: Now I thought differently. The shattering of my whole life, half a year of loneliness, and the realization that I was leaving my youh behind me had changed me. I was now of the opinion that it was foolish and dangerous to stretch out one's hand to alter other people's destinies. I also had no reason to think that my hand was skillful or that I could regard myself as one who could help and understand other people, after my attempts in this direction had failed and discouraged me. Even now I strongly doubt the ability of people to alter and shape their own lives and those of other people to any appreciable extent. One can acquire money, fame and distinction, but one cannot create happiness or unhappiness, not for oneself or for others. One can only accept what comes, although one can, to be sure, accept it in entirely different ways.(less)

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Aug 23, 2011 Lisa rated it 4 of 5 stars

Not the easiest book to get through. It's pretty dark and sad. But definitely some of the most beautiful writing I've read. This is probably one of my favorite quote of all time:

"Fate was not kind, life was capricious and terrible, and there was no good reason in nature. But there is good and reason in us, in human beings, with whom fortune plays, and we can be stronger than nature and fate, if only for a few hours. And we can draw close to one another in times of need, understand and love one a...more

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Aug 29, 2009 TeacherMrLoria rated it 2 of 5 stars

It is very interesting to read Hermann Hesse extensively and see his development as a thinker and writer. Gertrude has many of Hesse’s central ideas stated in their early and not fully developed forms. It’s almost like seeing a young mind at work, as his works progress his philosophies become more crystallized and his writing becomes more captivating. Gertrude is like a rough draft of many of the ideas central to Hesse’s works. While it is interesting and has its moments, the book doesn’t quite...more

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Jan 19, 2009 Patrick Gibson rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: contemporary-literature

Sounds like an existential law firm for the humanities: “Student, Painter and Musician Esq.” (The subject of Hesses’ first three novels.) This novel deals with the composer Herr Kuhn and his tangled relationship with the worldly singer Heinrich Mouth and the woman they love and share(!) Gerturde. Hesse begins his lifelong quest for exploring the conflict between the good (piety) and evil (worldliness). The subject of his later masterwork “Narcissus and Goldman.” Similar to Goethe in its existent...more Sounds like an existential law firm for the humanities: “Student, Painter and Musician Esq.” (The subject of Hesses’ first three novels.) This novel deals with the composer Herr Kuhn and his tangled relationship with the worldly singer Heinrich Mouth and the woman they love and share(!) Gerturde. Hesse begins his lifelong quest for exploring the conflict between the good (piety) and evil (worldliness). The subject of his later masterwork “Narcissus and Goldman.” Similar to Goethe in its existential but romantic tone this is stills a preparatory novel for the great ones to come. I know it is not a review but here are a few choice examples:

“If what matters in a person’s existence is to accept the inevitable consciously, taste the good and bad to the full and to make for oneself a more individual, unaccidental and inward destiny alongside one’s external fate, then my life has been neither empty nor worthless. Even if, as it is decreed by the gods, fate as inexorably trod over my existence as it does with everyone, my inner life has been of my own making. I deserve its sweetness and bitterness and accept full responsibility for it.”

“For long periods I might sail foreign seas, without touching book or instrument, and yet at every moment there would be a melody in my blood and on my lips, a beat and rhythm in the drawing of breath and life. However eagerly I sought salvation and deliverance in many other ways, however much I thirsted for God, understanding and peace, I always found them in music alone.”

“O music! A melody occurs to you; you sing it silently, inwardly only; you steep your being in it; it takes possession of all your strength and emotions, and during the time it lives in you, it effaces all that is fortuitous, evil, coarse and sad in you; it brings the world into harmony with you, it makes burdens light and gives wings to depressed spirits.”

“And at times, when storms passed over at night, when the continual sound of the cold, down-pouring rain was drowned by the strong, plaintive rustling through the storm-swept fir wood, and when a thousand inexplicable sounds of a sleepless summer night echoed through the girders of the roof of the frail house, I lay dreaming hopelessly and restlessly about life and the tumult of love, raging and reproaching God. I felt like a miserable poet and dreamer whose most beautiful dream was only a thin colored soap bubble, while thousands of other in the world, happy in their youthful strength, stretched out joyous hands for all the prizes of life.”

“That is what he is like, fierce and violent, but mostly against himself. He is an emotional man; he has great vigor but no goal. At every moment he would like to taste the whole world, and whatever he has and whatever he does only constitutes an infinitesimal part of it. He drinks and is never drunk; he has women and is never happy; he sings magnificently and yet does not want to be an artist. If he likes anyone, he huts him. He pretends to despise all who are contented, but it is really hatred against himself because he does not know contentment. That is what he is like. And he has shown friendship toward you, as much as he is capable of doing.”
“What a person really is and experiences, how he develops and matures, grows feeble and dies, is all indescribable. The lives of ordinary working people can be boring, but the activities and destinies of idlers are interesting.”
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Jul 16, 2012 Terry rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: novel

Excellent, thoughtful novel concerning a lonely artist who finds happiness in loving an attractive woman. His friend also falls in love with her and they get married. Soon his friend's bad side shows itself and the marriage dissolves as he commits suicide. The narrator almost did the same thing when he found out about the relationship. Hesse tells us that our life is meaningless unless we devote it to others. Youth is happy, but egotistical while in old age we aren't so self-involved but long fo...more

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Jan 10, 2013 Laura Walin rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 1900

Tämä keskittyi liikaa nuoren miehen oman navan ympärillä pyörimiseen ja ikäisekseen turhan kypsään itsereflektointiin. Elämän suuret intohimot raportoitiin epäuskottavan kliinnisesti. Tarina olisi varmasti ollut mielenkiintoisempi itse Gertrudin näkökulmasta kerrottuna.

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Mar 27, 2013 Sujith Ravindran rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: favorites, german, classics

"Man's life seems to me like a long, weary night that would be intolerable if there were not occasional flashes of light, the sudden brightness of which is so comforting and wonderful that the moments of their appearance cancel out and justify the years of darkness" - page 137, Chapter 6

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Aug 26, 2012 Michael Straka rated it 5 of 5 stars

The first of Hesse's book that left me completely awestruck. He has a beautiful style that entices you. His poetic artistry leaves you wondering with amazement. I couldn't stop reading... i must find this book again!

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Jan 24, 2010 Orin rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The themes of love, passion, music, solitude, finding your path in life, family, friendship all speak deeply to me. There are so many wise quotes throughout that seemed aimed at me. A sullen story but it felt like it gives me hope. Its ideas on wisdom and truth were very apropos to what I want to become. The idea that idleness can have worth if you make it so. Youth and old age, how you view things as your perspective grows and changes. Suicide and what leads people to that point. Believing and...more

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Nov 05, 2012 Sierra rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: classics, enrichment-and-classics

Hermann Hesse... what more can I say? Fabulous characters with good depth and a very, very fascinating plot, although somewhat confusing at times. Not much you can hate about Hesse if you're me.

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Mar 31, 2013 Abhiram Kasina rated it 5 of 5 stars

Herman Hesse is a maestro in portraying emotions. I just love the way he describes them in such detail rather than describing the physical details of the location.

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Sep 27, 2012 Simon rated it 4 of 5 stars

And so, at the age of 52 I finally read a German novel. Worth the wait. Its rather beautiful.

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Jul 17, 2012 Rida Hariri rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: novels

الآن شعرت قليلًا بسبب التقدير الذي يحمله تاركوفسكي لهيرمان هسه..
هيرمان هسه يحتاج لحالةٍ من الهدوء لقراءته هذا ما أحسست به,,تحتاج للهدوء لكي تتمكن من الاستمتاع بالهدوء المطلق الذي يسيطر على طريقته في السرد,على هدوء الأحداث في الرواية الهدوء الذي تفرضه أجواء الرواية التي تدور في محيط أرستقراطي في ألمانيا..
كل شيء بطيء ولكن في مرحلة معينة أثناء القراءة يجبرك على الامساك بالكتاب حتى النهاية..
الرواية لا تحمل أي نوع من الأمل الأحمق بالحياة كما يفعل باولو كويلو وكذلك لا تراجيديا هنا بل حياة فقط والاحسا...more

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Aug 28, 2012 Ehsan rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: novel

کتاب من چاپ اول پاایز سال 1381
نشر چشمه
ترجمخ حانم شهلا حمزاویاست
با عنوان: گرترود

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Sep 07, 2011 Katri rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: owned-books, favourites

Although slightly melodramatic and obvious, Hesse had some very touching paragraphs and ideas about selflessness, music and love. The characters were vivid and made real, yet there was a silent delicacy to their fancies. Some moral melodrama could've been left out, even though it wasn't anywhere near enough to bother me. I wouldn't classify it as a masterpiece, but I happened to read it in a very vulnerable time and it helped me solve some very deep routed thought processes and conflicts in myse...more

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Sep 09, 2012 Bill Baer rated it 5 of 5 stars

A beautiful novel of Love and fate

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Sep 24, 2012 Happy When added it

Another classic by Hesse.

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May 13, 2011 Erik Graff rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Hesse fans

Recommended to Erik by: no one

Shelves: literature

I see by the reviews that this novel, Hesse's third, is sometimes seen as a gloss on Nietzsche's Apollonian/Dionysian schema in his The Birth of Tragedy. Unless forewarned, I tend to read novels like I watch movies--like a child, disbelief and critical apparati suspended. After picking this volume up at Stuart Brent Books on Chicago's Michigan Avenue, I devoured it quickly during quiet times at work around the corner on Ontario and saw no great depths or wide horizons of implication in it.

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Dec 30, 2012 İnci Bilgin rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

"..çünkü bütün dü§lerde e§siz güzellikte bir §arki gibi onun yankilandigini i§itiyorum, gerçekte ya§andigi zamana göre bugün daha saf ve daha gür çikiyor sesi..."

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Mar 08, 2013 Andriy rated it 4 of 5 stars

good book, very interesting

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About Hermann Hesse

Hermann Hesse was a German-Swiss poet, novelist, and painter. In 1946, he received the Nobel Prize in Literature. His best known works include Steppenwolf, Siddhartha, and The Glass Bead Game (also known as Magister Ludi) which explore an individual's search for spirituality outside society.

Hesse was born in the Black Forest town of Calw to a Christian missionary family. Both of his parents served...more

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“Era linistitor sa stiu ca seara nu voi mai trai.” — 3 people liked it

“Aun cuando mi destino externo se haya desenvuelto como sucede para todos, inevitablemente y según lo decretado por los dioses, mi vida íntima es obra propiamente mía, con sus gozos y amarguras, y soy yo, en lo personal, el responsable de la misma.” — 2 people liked it

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