Synopses & Reviews
Known for engaging prose rich in human sympathy and imagination, Nobel Prize-winning German novelist Hermann Hesse (1877-1962) incorporated two themes in most of his works: the isolation of the artist and the fundamental duality of existence. The second of these is particularly evident in Demian, Hesse's first major novel. In it, the youthful Emil Sinclair recognizes that life consists of opposing forces; however, his older friend Max Demian manages to both clarify and complicate Sinclair's confused thoughts about life's conflicting values. Popular with young adults since it was first published in 1919, this brilliant psychological portrait of a troubled young man's exploration of the duality of human nature has retained its remarkable power as a poignant statement of the terrors and torments of adolescence. It is reprinted here with an informative introduction by Stanley Appelbaum, who has also provided excellent literal English translations on pages facing the German original.
Review
"The electrifying influence exercised on a whole generation just after the First World War by Demian...is unforgettable. With uncanny accuracy this poetic work struck the nerve of the times and called forth grateful rapture from a whole youthful generation who believed that an interpreter of their innermost life had risen from their own midst." From the Introduction by Thomas Mann
Review
"The last half of the book suffers a sea change into something rich and strange too rich and too strange for what has gone before. Symbolic dreams and painting, cryptic messages and meetings, transcendental relationships, culminating in a cult of self and of 'Fate,' replace the solution through rational experience that the earlier development seemed to promise. The luminosity of the story grows vaporish with only spasmodic flashes of the earlier intensity and light." New York Times Book Review
Synopsis
In Demian, one of the great writers of the twentieth century tells the dramatic story of young, docile Emil Sinclair's descent led by precocious shoolmate Max Demian into a secret and dangerous world of petty crime and revolt against convention and eventual awakening to selfhood.
Synopsis
In
Demian, Nobel Prize winner Hermann Hesse, author of
Steppenwolf and
Siddhartha, tells the dramatic story of young, docile Emil Sinclair's descent--led by precocious schoolmate Max Demian--into a secret and dangerous world of petty crime and revolt against convention and eventual awakening to selfhood.
Synopsis
An acclaimed, influential, and visionary novel from Hermann Hesse, one of the greatest writers of the twentieth century and winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature.
Demian tells the dramatic story of Emil Sinclair. Docile and unquestioning, Emil follows a precious schoolmate--the charismatic Max Demian--on a shocking decent into a secret and dangerous world of petty crime and revolt against convention. And it is there in the shadows that a formerly complacent and uncomplicated young man achieves a miraculous awakening to adulthood.
The novel includes an introduction by Thomas Mann.
Synopsis
"Hesse is a writer whose peculiar vision is worth inspecting. His world is shadowy and close to areas of the heart that will probably never see light. But his vision is a rare one, as commendable for its humane solicitude as for its strangeness and unearthly color." -- National Review
An acclaimed, influential, and visionary novel from Hermann Hesse, one of the greatest writers of the twentieth century and winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature.
Demian tells the dramatic story of Emil Sinclair. Docile and unquestioning, Emil follows a precious schoolmate--the charismatic Max Demian--on a shocking decent into a secret and dangerous world of petty crime and revolt against convention. And it is there in the shadows that a formerly complacent and uncomplicated young man achieves a miraculous awakening to adulthood.
The novel includes an introduction by Thomas Mann.
Synopsis
In
Demian, one of the great writers of the twentieth century tells the dramatic story of young, docile Emil Sinclair's descent--led by precocious shoolmate Max Demian--into a secret and dangerous world of petty crime and revolt against convention and eventual awakening to selfhood.
"The electrifying influence exercised on a whole generation just after the First World War by Demian...is unforgettable. With uncanny accuracy this poetic work struck the nerve of the times and called forth grateful rapture from a whole youthful generation who believed that an interpreter of their innermost life had risen from their own midst."
-- From the Introduction by Thomas Mann
Synopsis
In Demian, Nobel Prize winner Hermann Hesse, author of Steppenwolf and Siddhartha, tells the dramatic story of young, docile Emil Sinclairs descent—led by precocious schoolmate Max Demian—into a secret and dangerous world of petty crime and revolt against convention and eventual awakening to selfhood.
About the Author
Hermann Hesse was born in 1877. His books include Siddhartha, Steppenwolf, Narcissus and Goldmund, and Magister Ludi. He died in 1962.