Hesse, Hermann 1887–1962

A German novelist, poet, and essayist, Hesse became a Swiss citizen in 1923. His prose and poetry are often drawn from autobiographical sources and possess a lyricism sharing more with the German romantics of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century than anything found in modern literature. Thematically he is concerned with the plight of the artist in society as well as the psychological motivations of human behavior. Hesse became rather a cult figure in the 1960s for works like Siddhartha, which center on his romantic conception of the young alienated hero and reflect his unique blending of western and oriental philosophy. Hesse also wrote under the pseudonym of Emil Sinclair. He received the Nobel Prize in 1946. (See also CLC, Vols. 1, 2, 3, 6, and Contemporary Authors, Vols. 17-18; Contemporary Authors Permanent Series, Vol. 2.)