Demian (Author Biography)

Author Biography

Hermann Hesse was born July 2, 1877, in Calw, Württemberg, Germany. Both of his parents had been missionaries in the East Indies, and the young Hesse grew up in a Protestant family characterized by piety and religious devotion based on biblical study. Hesse was also freely exposed to Eastern philosophy and religion, as his maternal grandfather studied Indian culture. Hesse attended the Protestant Theological Seminary in Maulbronn, Germany, but found it unbearable and ran away. He then attended the Gymnasium in Cannstadt, Germany, from which he was later expelled. He eventually found steady employment in a bookshop. His first novel, Peter Camenzind (1904) is about a failed writer. The book was such a popular success that Hesse could afford to leave his job and become a full-time writer. His struggles with artistic aspiration are further expressed in the novels Gertrud (1910) and Rosshalde (1914).

When Germany engaged in the conflict that became World War I (1914 – 1918), Hesse moved to Switzerland, from where he openly opposed the war and German nationalism. Nonetheless, he aided German soldiers by serving as editor of a journal for German prisoners of war. Between the years 1916 and 1917, Hesse went through a personal crisis as a result of illness and death in his family. His personal distress lead him to seek psychoanalysis with both Carl Jung and his disciple, J. B. Lang. The novel Demian (1919) is based on his process of self-discovery through analysis. Hesse subtitled Demian "The Story of Emil Sinclair's Youth," and published it under the pseudonym Emil Sinclair. However, when the novel was granted a prize for first-time novelists, Hesse admitted to being the author and returned the prize, since this was not his first novel.

In 1919 Hesse became a permanent resident of Switzerland, obtaining Swiss citizenship in 1924. His novel Siddhartha (1922) is based on the early life of Buddha, inspired by Hesse's travels in India before World War I. Der Steppenwolf (1927; translated as Steppenwolf) is about a middle-aged man struggling with spiritual yearnings and the desire to pursue artistic creation. Das Glasperlenspiel (1943; translated as Magister Ludi: The Glass Bead Game) is set in the future and takes place in an elite community of highly gifted intellectuals. In 1946 Hesse was honored with the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Hesse was married three times, the first two marriages ending in divorce. He had three children from his first marriage. Hesse died of a brain hemorrhage in 1962, at the age of eighty-five.