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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 was it about Ninon that made Hesse irritable?

2. Who died in 1935?

3. What do Narcissus and Goldmund represent, in Freedman's account of "Narcissus and Goldmund"?

4. What began to replace Hesse's work after "Siddhartha"?

5. Why did Hesse not travel to accept his award?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. What was Hesse's experience with psychoanalysis?

3. What strains was Hesse feeling after he wrote "Siddhartha"?

4. Describe the progress of Hesse's relationship with Ninon Dolbin.

5. Describe the period known as "Hesse's exile."

6. How does Freedman say that Hesse's writing and his life paralleled each other?

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

8. Who was Ruth Wenger?

9. How did Hesse's marriage to Ruth progress?

10. Describe the novel "Rosshalde."

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

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?

Essay Topic 3

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?

(see the answer keys)

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