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Hermann Hesse Biography
born: July 2, 1877
died: August 9, 1962
Hermann Hesse was a German author, and the winner of the 1946
Nobel Prize in literature. He is most famous for his novels Steppenwolf, Das Glasperlenspiel (The Glass
Bead Game), and Siddhartha.
Hesse's interests in existential, spiritual, and mystical
themes and Buddhist and Hindu philosophy are obvious in his
works.
Born in Calw, Württemberg, Hesse emigrated to Switzerland
in 1912 and in 1923 became a Swiss citizen. A staunch pacifist,
Hesse opposed World War I strongly. The residual fallout of
his feelings towards war can be seen in many of his books.
During World War II his writings found strange allies. The
German propagandist Joseph Goebbels initially defended Hesse's
books, and as a result he was allowed to continue writing
unhindered. However, after he demanded that certain portions
in his book Narcissus and Goldmund dealing with pogroms be
left untouched, he found himself on the Nazis' blacklist.
Despite this ominous situation, Hesse escaped World War II
unharmed.
Like some of his characters, Hesse had many problems with
women throughout his life. His first marriage with Maria Bernoulli,
with whom he had three children, ended sadly; presumably his
wife's increasing mental instability contributed to the marriage
breakdown. His second marriage was apparently a brief fling
with Ruth Wenger, lasting only a few months. He finally married
Ninon Dolbin in 1931 and remained with her for the rest of
his life.
Hesse developed a certain conservatism in his later life-in Das Glasperlenspiel, characters denounce all music
after Johann Sebastian Bach as superficial and bad, with Ludwig
van Beethoven being an extreme example of bad taste. Das
Glasperlenspiel, with its William Morris-like idealised
medieval style, was extremely popular in the war-torn Germany
of 1945.
The author died from a cerebral hemorrhage in his sleep in
Montagnola in Southern Switzerland at the age of 85. Famous
German missionary Rev. Dr. Hermann Gundert is the grandfather
of Hermann Hesse.
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