Vowing at an early age to be a poet or nothing at all, Hermann Hesse rebelled against formal education, focusing on a rigorous program of independent study that included literature, philosophy, art, and history. One result of these efforts was a series of novels that became counterculture bibles that remain widely influential today. Another was ...

A powerful new translation of Nobel Prize winner Hermann Hesse's masterpiece of youthful rebellion--with a foreword and cover art by James Franco
A young man awakens to selfhood and to a world of possibilities beyond the conventions of his upbringing in Nobel Prize winner Hermann Hesse's beloved novel Demian. Emil Sinclair is a quiet boy drawn into a forbidden yet seductive realm of petty crime and defiance. His guide is his precocious, mysterious classmate Max Demian, who provokes in Emil a search for self-discovery and spiritual fulfillment. A brilliant...

An unabridged edition of Herman Hesse' 1922 classic -

Siddhartha is a novel by Hermann Hesse that deals with the spiritual journey of an Indian man named Siddhartha during the time of the Buddha. The book, Hesse's ninth novel (1922), was written in German, in a simple, powerful, and lyrical style. It was published in the U.S. in 1951 and became influential during the 1960s. Hesse dedicated Siddhartha to Romain Rolland and Wilhelm Gundert. The story begins by painting a picture of Siddhartha as a perfect son: smart, athletic, obedient, and handsome. However, he eventually sees the limitations of the Brahmin life, and leaves his home to join the...

Siddhartha, a tale of self-discovery, is one of great novels of the early twentieth century.

Knulp is the eternal drifter, a true drop-out of an earlier time. Originally published in Germany in 1915, Knulp was Hermann Hesse's most popular book in the years before he published Demian. During the 1950's, the book was influential on Jack Kerouac author of "On the Road" and "The Dharma Bums" as well as othe Beat Generation authors.
With profound understanding and sympathy, but also with some irony, Hesse portrays Knulp's life journey, his love affairs and his questioning of life. The novel reaches a final powerful...