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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. Beginning in 1926, what did Hesse do to overcome his depression?

2. What did Hesse work on from 1931 to 1942?

3. What did writing manage for Hesse?

4. What was Hesse's last novel?

5. Where did Hesse eventually settle after leaving Bern?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe Hesse's travels in 1924 and 1925.

2. In what ways was "Steppenwolf" stylistically new for Hesse?

3. Describe Hesse's travels in 1928-1929.

4. How was Hesse supporting himself and his family?

5. What did the Hesses celebrate at the end of 1945?

6. Describe the period when Hesse's marriage began to crumble.

7. What was Hesse's social position by the mid-to-late 1920s?

8. Describe the impact of the Great War on Hesse.

9. What effect did the deteriorating state of things in Germany have on Hesse?

10. Describe "The Glass Bead Game."

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How did Hesse develop as a novelist? What trajectory do his novels trace? What events in his personal life influenced this trajectory? What did he learn as a novelist, and how do his novels reflect an evolution as he acquired various techniques in his writing?

Essay Topic 2

Hesse's parents were missionaries, and they sent him away to a mission school at six because he was judged too difficult to deal with. What is the role of missionary work in Hesse's life and work? What values did he learn from his parents' missionary work? What values did he learn by fleeing from it or rebelling against it?

Essay Topic 3

Which of Hesse's books is most important in his life? Why is it the book that had the greatest effect on Hesse as a man and as a writer?

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