Hesse Hermann Biography
Hermann Hesse, born in 1877, was a German-born Swiss writer, poet, aphorist, philosopher and painter. During his youth, he received a very strict and Protestant education, which led him to not tolerate the restrictions of school education. However, despite this, he began working as an apprentice bookseller and watchmaker between 1893 and 1903, but was never able to find stability anywhere.
Hesse published his first poems in 1898-1899, without enjoying great success. Subsequently, after having written some novels in the romantic tradition, Hesse left for a long journey to India, where he was greatly influenced by oriental spirituality. Furthermore, his interest in psychoanalysis led him to be treated by Carl Gustav Jung. Thanks to these experiences, Hesse wrote the book that made him famous, "Siddartha", in 1922. This work expresses the rejection of the overly technicalized modern society and the desire to find a deeper and more authentic spirituality, between the anti-bourgeois revolt and the search for harmony.
Hesse's novels and short stories had a strong impact on the youth protest movement in the 1960s and 1970s. In 1946, Hesse received the Nobel Prize for Literature. He died in 1962 due to leukemia, in Montagnola, Switzerland.
