Wandering
Jan 1972 · The Early Works of Hermann Hesse Book 43 · Marchen Press
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About this ebook
In 1920 Hermann Hesse published Wanderung (“Wandering”), a collection of prose-poems and vignettes accompanied in some editions by his own watercolor illustrations. Wandering is a quiet, meditative work quite distinct from the fiery Klingsor that appeared the same year. Subtitled “Notes and Sketches” in English translations, it’s essentially a literary travelogue of Hesse’s walks and reflections in nature, written during and after World War I. Published by S. Fischer in Berlin, Wanderung is Hesse’s love letter to the simple life of wanderers, a celebration of solitude and the small revelations that come from walking the roads and hills with no fixed destination. The pieces in it are short, often no more than a page or two, some reading like free-verse poetry, others like diary jottings, others like tiny stories or parables. In some editions, Hesse’s delicate watercolors of landscapes (simple, impressionistic washes of color depicting mountains, trees, or houses) are reproduced, underscoring the book’s theme of integrating art, writing, and nature. Wanderung might not have had the sensational impact of Demian or Siddhartha, but it endeared Hesse to many readers who were seeking solace and peace after the horrors of WWI. It’s often cited as an example of Hesse’s more uplifting and affirmative side. This collection, penned during Hesse’s Swiss exile, responds to postwar Europe’s border shifts and refugee crises. Its meditations on transience—rootless travelers, seasonal migrations—resonate with the era’s mass displacements and economic nomadism. Published in Bern with Hesse’s own woodcuts, the work’s tactile engagement with landscape reflects a search for stability amid civilizational flux. Wandering’s celebration of impermanence countered the era’s nationalist fixation on territorial integrity, offering a pacifist vision of identity unmoored from geography. Its blend of lyrical observation and philosophical reflection influenced interwar hiking movements and youth leagues, which romanticized nature as a refuge from urban-industrial decay. 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 and into the 21st century.
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.
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