Forty years ago, Timothy Leary's suggestion that hippies read Hermann Hesse while "turning on" started a boom that made this Swiss/German author a household name. Today, Hesse is once again receiving attention: faced with ubiquitous materialism, military conflict, and ecological disaster, we discover that these problems of the modern world have found universal expression in the works of this master storyteller. Hesse explores perennial themes, from the simple things in life to the most transcendental. Because he knows about the awkward moments of adolescence and the pressures those around us exert on us to conform, his books hold a special appeal for young readers and are taught widely. Yet Hesse is equally relevant for older readers, writing about the torment of a psyche in despair, or our fear of the unknown. All these experiences are explored from the perspective of the individual self, in Hesse's view the repository of the divine and the sole entity to which we are accountable.
Recent scholarship has shown Hesse to be more subtle and complex than previously acknowledged. This volume of new, specially commissioned essays by leading international Hesse experts will serve as a guide to a new generation of readers and scholars, shedding new light on his major works, including such classics as
Siddhartha, Der Steppenwolf, and
Das Glasperlenspiel, as well as works that have received less attention such as
Roßhalde, Klingsors letzter Sommer, Klein und Wagner, and his poetry. Another six essays explore Hesse's interest in psychoanalysis, music, and eastern philosophy, the development of his political views, the influence of his painting on his writing, and the relationship between Hesse and Goethe.
CONTRIBUTORS: Jefford Vahlbusch, Osman Durrani, Andreas Solbach, Ralph Freedman, Adrian Hsia, Stefan Höppner, Martin Swales, Frederick Lubich, Paul Bishop, Olaf Berwald, Kamakshi Murti, Marco Schickling, Volker Michels, Godela Weiss-Sussex, C. Immo Schneider, Hans-Joachim Hahn.
EDITOR: INGO CORNILS is Senior Lecturer in German at the University of Leeds, UK. Among his publications are the volumes
Hermann Hesse Today / Hermann Hesse Heute (co-edited with Osman Durrani, 2005) and
(Un-)erfüllte Wirklichkeit: Neue Studien zu Uwe Timms Werk (co-edited with Frank Finlay, 2006), and
Baader-Meinhof Returns: History and Cultural Memory of German Left-Wing Terrorism (co-edited with Gerrit-Jan Berendse, 2008).
INGO CORNILS is Professor of German Studies at the University of Leeds.
OLAF BERWALD is Department Chair of World Languages, Literatures, and Cultures and Professor of German at Middle Tennessee State University.
Paul Bishop is Professor of German and Head of Department of German at the University of Glasgow.
