The Fairy Tales of Hermann Hesse

by Hermann Hesse

Overview

A collection of twenty-two fairy tales by the Nobel Prize-winning novelist, most translated into English for the first time, show the influence of German Romanticism, psychoanalysis, and Eastern religion on his development as an author.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780553377767
Publisher:	Random House Publishing Group
Publication date:	10/28/1995
Pages:	304
Sales rank:	421,260
Product dimensions:	5.20(w) x 8.24(h) x 0.79(d)
Age Range:	14 - 18 Years

About the Author

Hermann Hesse was born in 1877 in Calw, Germany. He was the son and grandson of Protestant missionaries and was educated in religious schools until the age of thirteen, when he dropped out of school. At age eighteen he moved to Basel, Switzerland, to work as a bookseller and lived in Switzerland for most of his life. His early novels included Peter Camenzind (1904), Beneath the Wheel (1906), Gertrud (1910), and Rosshalde (1914). During this period Hesse married and had three sons. During World War I Hesse worked to supply German prisoners of war with reading materials and expressed his pacifist leanings in anti-war tracts and novels. Hesse's lifelong battles with depression drew him to study Freud during this period and, later, to undergo analysis with Jung. His first major literary success was the novel Demian (1919). When Hesse's first marriage ended, he moved to Montagnola, Switzerland, where he created his best-known works: Siddhartha (1922), Steppenwolf (1927), Narcissus and Goldmund (1930), Journey to the East (1932), and The Glass Bead Game (1943). Hesse won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1946. He died in 1962 at the age of eighty-five.

Editorial Reviews

Merging Eastern mysticism with the motifs of the European fairy tale, the stories translated for this volume, many for the first time, offer insight into Hesse's development as an artist during the first two decades of this century. Sometimes lush and lyrical, sometimes in the simple language of the parable, these tales elaborate Hesse's concerns with mortality, the unity of life and the isolation of the artist. Characters renounce human society to become poets, vegetarians or, as in the fantastic story ``Faldum,'' a mountain. The artist as ascetic, observer and loner, misunderstood by his audience, is a recurring theme. Several of the stories reflect Hesse's pacifist stance during WWI, covering great spans of time to drive home the devastation of war and transience of civilization. Whether evoking the rise and fall of a nation or an individual, Hesse is preoccupied with the need for both to rediscover their ``undestroyed essence'' and begin anew. A refreshing lack of narrative closure distinguishes Hesse's tales, which mitigates an irritating tendency to equate self-knowledge with the return home to an eternal, spiritual mother. Quirky and evocative, Hesse's fairy tales stand alone, but also amplify the ideas and utopian longings of such counterculture avatars as Siddhartha and Steppenwolf. (Nov.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Hesse unerringly creates the feel of a fairy tale in the first paragraph of all these works but then proceeds to alter their development in an unmistakably 20th-century way. The title character of "Augustus," for example, loses everything and passes through a series of tribulations, like the traditional fairy-tale hero, but attains happiness without regaining his fortune, looks, health, or the love and affection of his friends. Slightly more than half these tales were written during World War I and consequently deal with the great themes of war and peace, life, suffering, and death. Particularly poignant is "A Dream of the Gods," which depicts the enthusiasm that greeted the outbreak of war while subtly exposing its folly. Lay readers will enjoy this as much as literary specialists.Michael T. O'Pecko, Towson State Univ., Md.

Library Journal

Gr 9 UpSix timeless, imaginative tales of individuals who struggle to fit within the boundaries of normal society are brought to life"The Poet," "The Flute Dream," The Dwarf," "Faldum," "Ziegler," and "Dream of the Gods." The characters are unconsciously compelled to search for meaning in their lives. Often Hesse involves elements of magic and fantasy to the delight of listeners. The tales are narrated by well-known singer, Donovan, whose voice has a special ethereal quality which is perfect for these fanciful tales. His raspy, resonant tones and slight accent add a mysterious touch, but he is easily understood as every syllable is clearly enunciated. The pace is slightly fast which is good, since Hesse gives many background details which could become tedious. The speed varies appropriately to raise interest. The few passages of direct dialog are differentiated for age and sex, but most is spoken by a narrator. Short musical passages heighten dramatic intensity, help to show the passage of time, and separate the stories. This tape will be an excellent introduction for teens where this author is studied.Claudia Moore, W.T. Woodson High School, Fairfax, VA

School Library Journal