Educated at the Latin School in Goppingen and the Evangelical Theological Seminary in Maulbronn, Hesse's early youth was traumatic and he spent time in a mental institution in Basel. In 1893, he passed his examination at the Cannstatt Gymnasium and began a series of jobs which culminated in a position at a bookstore in Tubingen. He immersed himself in philosophy, theology and poetry for over a year before publishing his first poem, Madonna, in 1896. In 1898, he published his first volume of poetry, Romantic Songs, and followed in 1899 with the prose collection, One Hour After Midnight. In 1901, he traveled to Italy and also took a new position at a Basel antiquarium. In 1904, his novel Peter Carmenzind appeared and was very well-received, enabling Hesse to concentrate on his writing career. He developed an avid interest in theosophy and Buddhism which would later be reflected in much of his work. During the First World War, Hesse cared for prisoners of war. After the death of his father in 1916, Hesse underwent psychotherapy. In 1919, he published Demian and also divorced his wife of 15 years. In 1922, he published Siddhartha, his novel of India which won critical acclaim and which still stands as one of his greatest works. The following year he became a Swiss citizen. He remarried in 1924, but it didn't last long and in 1927 he wed for the third time, this time to a Jewish woman, Ninon Auslander. His novel Steppenwolf, also appeared in 1927 and would later become a counterculture symbol in the 1960's. In 1931, he published Journey to the East, voicing concern over the rise of Nazism in Germany. He assisted Thomas Mann and Berthold Brecht in their flight from Germany in 1933. Hesse's works were banned by the Nazis. In 1943, he published The Glass Bead Game, which resulted in his award of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1946. Hesse continued to write poetry and short stories after World War II, but his output gradually declined. His works include Friends (1905), Gertrude (1910), Strange News From Another Star (1919), Klingsor's Last Summer (1920), Narcissus and Goldmund (1930), Poems (1942) and If the War Goes On (1946). |
