Hermann Hesse was born July 2, 1877, in Calw, Württemberg, Germany. Both of his parents had been missionaries in the East Indies, and the young Hesse grew up in a Protestant family characterized by piety and religious devotion based on biblical study. Hesse was also freely exposed to Eastern philosophy and religion, as his maternal grandfather studied Indian culture. Hesse attended the Protestant Theological Seminary in Maulbronn, Germany, but found it unbearable and ran away. He then attended the Gymnasium in Cannstadt, Germany, from which he was later expelled. He eventually found steady employment in a bookshop. His first novel, Peter Camenzind (1904) is about a failed writer. The book was such a popular success that Hesse could afford to leave his job and become a full-time writer. His struggles with artistic aspiration are further expressed in the novels Gertrud (1910) and Rosshalde (1914).

When Germany engaged in the...