Peter Camenzind
Jan 1930 · The Early Works of Hermann Hesse Book 17 · Marchen Press
Ebook
281
Pages
family_home
Eligible
info
reportRatings and reviews aren’t verified Learn More
About this ebook
"But if you belong to those people who can weep because the sky stands cornflower blue over a golden wheat field, if you are one of those who can rejoice when the wind rustles through blooming linden trees, then tie up your bundle and pack the story of Peter Camenzind on top. And then wander and wander until you come to a dark lake that lies at the foot of some high mountain cliffs. There sit down and read what Peter Camenzind has to tell you of the mountains and the forest, of the streams and of love. And believe me: You will return to the urban confusion greater, purer, freer." - Review by Die Woche, 1909 In 1904, Hesse achieved his first major breakthrough with the novel Peter Camenzind, published by S. Fischer in Berlin. This book, Hesse’s debut novel, lifted him from obscurity and allowed him to become a full-time writer. Peter Camenzind tells the life story of its eponymous hero, a young man from a remote mountain village who ventures out into the world in search of fulfillment and meaning. The novel’s journey—from alpine childhood through bohemian wanderings and heartbreak to a kind of spiritual homecoming—captivated readers across Germany. It was serialized in a magazine in 1903 and then released as a complete volume in 1904, quickly selling well enough to establish Hesse as a rising literary star. Notably, Sigmund Freud praised Peter Camenzind, reportedly counting it among his favorite readings, which speaks to the novel’s psychological insight even in those early days. The publishing history was significant: Fischer, a prestigious publishing house, took Hesse under its wing thanks to the promise shown in Hermann Lauscher, and Peter Camenzind rewarded that faith. By late 1904 the novel’s success enabled Hesse to marry Maria Bernoulli, settle by Lake Constance, and live by the pen—a dramatic change from the struggling poet of a few years before. The novel traces the Alpine-born protagonist’s disillusioning odyssey through Europe’s cultural capitals. Rejecting urban intellectualism, Camenzind returns to rural simplicity, his arc inverting the Bildungsroman’s traditional trajectory toward self-actualization. The narrative’s lyrical naturalism, indebted to Knut Hamsun, critiques industrialization’s erosion of communal bonds, while its protagonist’s friendship with the ailing Boppi introduces a leitiless yet redemptive humanism. Praised by Rilke for its unflinching emotional honesty, Peter Camenzind established Hesse as a literary force. The novel’s ambivalence toward artistic ambition—simultaneously exalted and renounced—reflects the author’s own fraught relationship with fame. Its English editions, occasionally titled The Longing of Peter Camenzind, preserve the text’s unresolved tension between romantic retreat and societal engagement, a dialectic that would dominate Hesse’s subsequent explorations of selfhood. This new edition features a fresh, contemporary translation of Hesse's early work, making his philosophical, existentialist literature accessible to modern readers from the original Fraktur manuscripts. Enhanced by an illuminating Afterword focused on Hesse's personal and intellectual relationship with Carl Jung, a concise biography, a glossary of essential philosophical terms integral to his writings (his version of Jungian Psychological concepts) and a detailed chronology of his life and major works, this robust edition introduces the reader to the brilliance of his literature in context. It not only captures the depth and nuance of Hesse’s thought but also highlights its enduring impact on the debates of the mid-20th century, contemporary culture and Western Philosophy across the 20th century and into the 21st.
About the author
Herman Hesse (1877-1962) navigated a life shaped by psychological turbulence that fundamentally transformed his literary vision following his pivotal encounter with Carl Jung's analytical psychology. After suffering a severe breakdown in 1916 amid his crumbling first marriage and the ravages of World War I, Hesse underwent intensive psychoanalysis with Jung's student J.B. Lang and later with Jung himself, sessions that would profoundly alter his creative trajectory. This Jungian influence became evident in his subsequent works, particularly "Demian" and "Steppenwolf," where the protagonist's journey toward individuation—Jung's concept of integrating the conscious and unconscious aspects of personality—emerges as a central theme. Hesse's correspondence with Jung continued for decades, their intellectual relationship deepening as Hesse increasingly incorporated Jungian archetypes, dream symbolism, and the notion of the shadow self into his narratives of spiritual seeking. The writer later acknowledged that Jung's therapeutic methods had not only rescued him from psychological collapse but had fundamentally reshaped his understanding of human consciousness, enabling him to transmute his personal suffering into the allegorical quests for wholeness that characterized his most enduring works.RetryClaude can make mistakes. Please double-check responses.
Rate this ebook
Tell us what you think.
Reading information
Smartphones and tablets
Install the Google Play Books app for Android and iPad/iPhone. It syncs automatically with your account and allows you to read online or offline wherever you are.
Laptops and computers
You can listen to audiobooks purchased on Google Play using your computer's web browser.
eReaders and other devices
To read on e-ink devices like Kobo eReaders, you'll need to download a file and transfer it to your device. Follow the detailed Help Center instructions to transfer the files to supported eReaders.
