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

Short Answer Questions

1. What did Hesse record in special notebooks?

2. What was the name of the periodical to which Hesse contributed around the time of his first child's birth?

3. What family trait does Freedman say Hesse seems to have inherited?

4. What circles was Hesse running in when he took his job after Tubingen?

5. How did Hesse's income change in his new job?

Short Essay Questions

1. Under what circumstances did Hesse ultimately marry his first wife?

2. What does Freedman say about artists' lives, at the beginning of the prologue?

3. What was Hesse's relationship with his family's values as a young man?

4. When did Hesse begin to write?

5. Why was 1902 an important year for Hesse?

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

7. Describe Hesse's move to Basel.

8. What was Hesse's arrival in Tubingen like?

9. When were Hesse's sons born?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What did the decision to be a writer mean for Hesse as a young man, and how did the identity of the 'writer' clarify his role and responsibilities? How did he see his job as a "writer"? What was he supposed to do? What was he supposed to avoid? Pay particular attention to his relationships with his family and their expectations for his career.

Essay Topic 2

What was Hesse's relationship with the military? He finished his exams in order to reduce the length of his military service. Where else are his feelings about the military in evidence? Why did he feel compelled to withhold his feelings about World War I? How did he arrive at his pacifism, and of what did his pacifism consist?

Essay Topic 3

Describe Hesse's experience as a husband. What trajectory can you draw through his three marriages? What did his marriages teach him? What patterns are common in all three marriages? What did Hesse refuse to learn from any of his marriages? If you were speaking for his wives, what would you try to get Hesse to understand about himself as a husband?

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This section contains 768 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample