Author: Hermann Hesse

The author, Hermann Hesse, a poet and novelist, is known for his stark explorations of the individual’s spiritual search and the striving for a life of virtue, justice and understanding within the restrictions of society. Several of Hesse’s novels are centered on the protagonist’s journey into the inner self, with a spiritual guide who assists the hero in his quest for self-knowledge and shows the way beyond the world “deluded by money, number and time.” He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1946.Hesse was born in the German state of Württemberg. His father was born a Russian citizen in Weissenstein, Estonia; his mother spent her early years in Talatscheri, India. Both parents served as missionaries in India, and these diverse cultural currents infuse his writing with unusual flavor.