Anyone remember Herman Hesse??

I read Siddartha the first time in 1968,man it was trippendickular!!!!! I reread it last year almost 40 years later, what a trip it was. I think any self respecting hipster should read It! Herman Hesse was a man way ahead of his time..

 

I read my first Hermann Hesse book in '69. I read Steppenwolf and really became fascinated by his work and ended up reading everything he wrote. I really enjoyed everything but The Glass Bead Game: I thought it was a waste of time- it really didn't say anything.
Maybe I will also reread some of his books. He definitely was a great author. I hope that the youth of today read his work as well.
PAX

 

I'm the other way, the Glass Bead Game is my favorites.

The story of a high adept trying to pass the core of his understanding to those just starting on their path resonates with me.

 

I don't mean this as an insult, but you are the first person I have ever met that actually liked that book. The thing I remember the most about it is how all of us pseudointellectuals[LOL] would sit there for hours discussing the book and the only conclusion that we could come up with - whatever meaning there was in the book - had totally escaped us.

now- Steppenwolf - I believe was his best work -
It was the first book that I truly could not put down until I had finished it.
The next day at work was extremely difficult because I didn't get any sleep the nite before.
PAX

 

Yeah Steppenwolf was his greatest works.....and was a manitory read for any one who came of age during the 60's....thanx to John Kay......I have his complete library (in paperback) unfortunately...wished they were all hard bound editions

 

I was born in '88 but Hesse's book Demian was one of my choices for summer reading senior year of high school. The book had such an impact on me I've probably read it 4 times now.

After that I read Steppenwolf, Siddhartha, and Journey to the East. I liked them all, especially Siddhartha, but Demian would have to be my favorite. I really connected with the main character Sinclair.

The part about Abraxas is so deep, how he is the god of both light and dark. I still struggle to grasp the concept Abraxas represented.

See, if your god is all the good and the evil then you worship everything as it is. Blind fate basically and thats what Demian was trying to teach but I still have a problem with the philosophy.

It puts you in the hands of fate and says you have no free will but to me is problematic. If you have no free will then what motivates you. Fate maybe?

Who even knows? but its that concept that keeps me coming back to Demian.

 

Yes I do !

'Siddharta' is a great book ... it gave me chills when I was young by age.

It's a wonderful trip when a book takes you into kinda mellow, continous rapture.

 

I read Siddhartha in the summer of 2007, as a summer reading book for my English class senior year. I really enjoyed it, and felt very connected to it. What would you all suggest I read next by Hesse?

 

Interesting, I hadn't thought about Hesse in years! I read Steppenwolf and something no one else mentioned...Beneath the Wheel...kind of a tough read.

But I cannot for the life of me remember if these were high school or college reads?

 

i remember reading "for mad men only". i don't know if i ever read his sidartha or not.

i remember being a little worried about his maybe rotting my mind, his connections, well i don't know if all the herman hesses were the same herman hesse or not, but i was worried about his writing possibly suggesting something to my subconscience mind i might not be conscious about.

i don't think that happened though. i didn't really see anything like that consciously, not that would give an actual hint or clew to such things. just a lot of chaos, that didn't seem entirely dark. though i certainly wouldn't call what i read of his anything approching enlightenment either. but then i wasn't looking for or expecting anything like that there anyway.

 

I've been thinking of rereading The Glass Bead Game. I loved it. It's been a while but I remember it as one of the loftier books I've read. Maybe a little too rarified for many people. For those willing to make the trip, however, there really is something worth getting.

 

i really like Hesse's work. i think i've read most of his novels. Narcissus and Goldmund (a favorite), Magister Ludi, Glass Bead Game. Steppenwolf, Siddhartha (another favorite), Journey to the East, Demian and Beneath the Wheel. i know i've missed out on 2 or 3 of his books but i keep an eye open for them in used book stores and at flea markets. i wouldn't mind rereading the others as well. Hesse is a head trip.

 

I read Siddhartha in the summer of 07...It was really what I needed. It is a wonderful book, I suggest it to everyone!!!!

 

I read Siddhartha out of boredom one summer. I was glad I did, it was an amazing novel. My sister had to read it for school and write an essay on it, complaining. I wish I got to write an essay on that instead of the boring forced readings I have to do this year ugh

 

Siddartha is a great book. So great, that I changed my habits around, so I can spend hours and hours each and every day painting the river. I do believe that there is much we can learn from water. Water is one of the most incredible things around.

 

that's just awesome.

 

I did read Siddhartha..... I liked it, I liked how he does not waste words... very simple and very thought through.... but If I ever talked to Buddha, god knows what I would say maybe something a little different? was that the key question to ask a legend?

 

Read Glass Bead Game for a Utopian Literature class at UCSB in the late 60's. It was considered "very intellectual". If you wanted to appear smart, you could just carry a copy around.
As I recall, the characters were based on real people--Tegulairus was supposedly Nietzsche, etc. The book was considered a reaction against Naziism.
I had a borzoi once, named "Damien", from the book of the same name. He stood 36 3/4" high at the withers, almost a record. Perhaps somewhat morbidly, I still have his skull...

 

HIGH TIDE. Sweetest and trippiest picture book I have ever owned, and its huge too.

 

I am soo happy, my dad suggested a read of steppenwolf to me, i read it about 6 months ago, and to be honest the first 40 pages were a bit boring me, then boy, it got fascinating the rest way through, and the end .... wow , blew me away ... i am wanting to read it maybe when i am older so that i understand what the heck went on with "mozart's followers and his sins "
Peace out
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