Hermann Hesse Summary

Biography EssayOnly a few German writers of the twentieth century have enjoyed worldwide acclaim. Undisputably numbered among these are Thomas Mann, Franz Kafka, Bertolt Brecht, and Hermann Hesse. Hes... Read more

Hermann Hesse, the most widely translated German author of the twentieth century, authored what he liked to call "biographies of the soul." Though many of his best-known works were novels, they were l... Read more

Critical Essay by Felix Anselm Like every great artist [Hesse] has essentially but one theme, of which all his works are only maturing variations. Hesse's fundamental fable is the endless strug... Read more

Critical Essay by Theodore Ziolkowski The fact of the current Hesse vogue in this country is easier to ascertain than its causes…. It should be noted at the outset that the phenomenon is less a... Read more

Critical Essay by Alfred Werner German dualism shows itself in the young Hesse in the serious struggle between mind and matter, spiritual and physical life. The young Hesse longs for the simple, the u... Read more

Critical Essay by Robert Nye The central statement of ["My Belief"] is made in its title essay…. Far from playing about with ideas of an imminent apocalypse, or vague romantic not... Read more

Critical Essay by Kurt J. Fickert In all of his work Hesse has concerned himself with the individual and his quest for meanings in life. For Hesse the forms of the society which surround the individua... Read more

Critical Essay by Ralph Freedman Hesse used romanticism as a tool for the development of a unique approach, leading to a sharp analysis of the self, the meaning of personal identity and the conditions... Read more

Critical Essay by Publishers Weekly The theme of fantasy runs strong in all Hesse's work; in this selection of 19 stories [Pictor's Metamorphoses and Other Fantasies], which span his ent... Read more

Critical Essay by Theodore Ziolkowski [The] distrust of everyday "reality"—it is characteristic that [Hesse] customarily bracketed the term with quotation marks to indicate what h... Read more

Critical Essay by Idris Parry All nineteen pieces in [Pictor's Metamorphoses and Other Fantasies] are fantasies, chosen by Theodore Ziolkowski from a half century of Hesse's writings. So... Read more

Critical Essay by AndrÉ Gide With Hesse the expression alone is restrained, not the feeling or the thought; and what tempers the expression of these is the exquisite feeling of fitness, reserve... Read more

Critical Essay by Terry Eagleton Hesse is, of course, one of the most significant of 20th century novelists, and his poetry … is for the most part engaging enough; but it has little of the pote... Read more