Hermann Hesse

Hermann Hesse
Born	(1877-07-02)2 July 1877 Calw, Kingdom of Württemberg, German Empire
Died	9 August 1962(1962-08-09) (aged 85) Montagnola, Ticino, Switzerland
Resting place	Cimitero di S. Abbondio, Gentilino, Ticino
Occupation	Novelist short story author essayist poet painter
Citizenship	German Swiss
Genre	Fiction
Notable works	The Glass Bead Game (1943) Siddhartha (1922) Steppenwolf (1927) Narcissus and Goldmund (1930) Demian (1919)
Notable awards	Gottfried-Keller-Preis (1936) Goethe Prize (1946) Nobel Prize in Literature (1946) Wilhelm Raabe Literature Prize (1950) Peace Prize of the German Book Trade (1955)
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Hermann Karl Hesse (German: [ˈhɛʁman ˈhɛsə] ^ⓘ; 2 July 1877 – 9 August 1962) was a German-Swiss poet, novelist, and painter. Although Hesse was born in Germany's Black Forest region of Swabia, his father's celebrated heritage as a Baltic German and his grandmother's French-Swiss roots had an intellectual influence on him. He was a precocious, if not difficult child, who shared a passion for poetry and music with his mother, and was especially well-read and cultured, due in part to the influence of his polyglot grandfather.

As a youth he studied briefly at a seminary, struggled with bouts of depression and even once attempted suicide, which temporarily landed him in a sanatorium. Hesse eventually completed Gymnasium and passed his examinations in 1893, when his formal education ended. However, he remained an autodidact and voraciously read theological treatises, Greek mythology, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, Friedrich Schiller, and Friedrich Nietzsche. His first works of poetry and prose were being published in the 1890s and early 1900s with his first novel, Peter Camenzind, appearing in 1904.

In 1911, Hesse visited India, where he became acquainted with Indian mysticism. His experiences in India—combined his involvement with Jungian analysis—affected his literary work, which emphasizes Eastern spiritual values. His best-known works include: Demian, Steppenwolf, Siddhartha, Narcissus and Goldmund, and The Glass Bead Game, each of which explores an individual's search for authenticity, self-knowledge, and spirituality. In 1946, he received the Nobel Prize in Literature.