View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What reason does Freedman give for Hesse's choice of subject matter?

2. Why did Herr Bernoulli refuse his daughter's hand to Hesse?

3. Where was Hesse born?

4. What was Hesse primarily working on in 1907?

5. What group did Hesse's work appeal to?

Short Essay Questions

1. What was Hesse's social life like in Basel?

2. Where did Hesse meet his first wife?

3. Describe the importance of spas and cures in Hesse's life.

4. How big was Hesse's family?

5. Describe Hesse's schooling.

6. How does Freedman describe Hesse's childhood?

7. Describe Hesse's move to Basel.

8. How did Hesse's style change after his initial success?

9. Describe Hesse's apprenticeship.

10. Why was 1902 an important year for Hesse?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Describe Hesse's life as a reader. Which authors drew him? Which authors did he return to again and again? What did his favorite books do for him? From whom did Hesse learn to write? Which authors did he write his books to? Whose influences did he struggle to elude? Whose influences did he fail to escape from?

Essay Topic 2

Hesse's parents were Pietist missionaries. What was Pietism, and what role did it play in Hesse's development as a person and as a writer? What values did he get from Pietism? What values did he get by rebelling against it? Is Hesse a Pietist writer?

Essay Topic 3

Hesse once tried to kill himself after he was rejected by a woman. How important was this event, both in terms of his rejection by a woman, and in terms of his failure to kill himself? How did Hesse overcome the emotions he felt as a result of these events? How did he confront them again and again over time?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 716 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample