On this page, we have selected several books available in the American market that we feel would be of interest to fans of Hermann Hesse. The books listed below include both monographs and other forms of secondary literature that expand upon Hesse‘s life, his relationships to other writers and thinkers, and those experiences and influences that shaped his work.

C.G. Jung & Hermann Hesse

C.G. Jung & Hermann Hesse

by Miguel Serrano – Paperback – January 1, 1997 – 137 pages

In this book the author Miguel Serrano, who was a good friend of Jung and Hesse, talks about his meetings and his correspondence with both of them. As a result, the book contains many reproduced letters and in particular documents which Jung wrote to the author shortly before his death, containing many explanations of his fundamental ideas.
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Hesse: The Wanderer and His Shadow

Hesse: The Wanderer and His Shadow

by Gunnar Decker (Author), Peter Lewis (Translator) – Hardcover – November 5, 2018 – 800 pages

With this book, Gunnar Decker presents a new, comprehensive biography. It describes Hesse as a man who had to struggle with crises and self-doubt and was a loner all his life. Decker convincingly demonstrates how life and writing are inseparably linked in Hesse’s work. In short, with this biography, Hesse has arrived at the present: as a visionary defender of the spirit in the age of mass culture.
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Hermann Hesse – Life and Art

Hermann Hesse - Life and Art

by Joseph Mileck – Hardcover – 397 pages

“Hesse was a prolific author for some 60 years, and his mind drew everything it contemplated into his private wars between flesh and spirit. objectivity and subjectivity, the longings for society and isolation. No one is better qualified to disentangle this abundance than Mileck, compiler of the huge two-volume Hesse bibliography. For completeness, then, no biography in English compares.”
–Kirkus Reviews
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The Seasons of the Soul: The Poetic Guidance and Spiritual Wisdom of Hermann Hesse

The Seasons of the Soul: The Poetic Guidance and Spiritual Wisdom of Hermann Hesse

by Hermann Hesse (Author), Ludwig Max Fischer (Translator), – Paperback – October 11, 2011 – 136 pages

This book is a valuable guide in poetic form for all those who are looking for more in life, for a return to nature in harmony with the divine. Using substantial quotes from his prose, each topic covered in the book is addressed: Love, fantasy, nature, the divine and the passage of time. In addition, well thought-out commentaries by translator Ludwig Max Fischer help the reader to understand the poems in the context of Hesse’s life.
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