The Journey to the East

'The classic literal-metaphorical journey' Guardian A classic meditation on artistic creation and the quest for spiritual transcendence from the Nobel Prize-winning author of Siddhartha In the aftermath of the Great War, a band of artists embarks on a journey traversing space and time. Each is on a different quest, but all are united in a vow of secrecy. Years later, a writer tries to set down an account of the voyage, thereby breaking his vow - only to find words, memories, and his very sense of self beginning to slip from his grasp. A kaleidoscopic narrative reeling between despair and elation, Hermann Hesse's novel is a profound meditation on creativity and spiritual transcendence. Part of the Pushkin Press Classics series: timeless storytelling by icons of literature, hand-picked from around the globe. Translated by Hilda Rosner. Hermann Hesse (1877-1962) was born in was born in Württemberg, Germany. He resented his pious and repressive upbringing, and was determined to be 'a writer or nothing else'. His writing was greatly influenced by his travels to Asia and his friendship with psychoanalyst Carl Jung. In 1946 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. Several of his novels are available or forthcoming from Pushkin Press Classics, including Siddhartha, Narcissus and Goldmund and Demian.

'The classic literal-metaphorical journey' Guardian A classic meditation on artistic creation and the quest for spiritual transcendence from the Nobel Prize-winning author of Siddhartha In the aftermath of the Great War, a band of artists embarks on a journey traversing space and time. Each is on a different quest, but all are united in a vow of secrecy. Years later, a writer tries to set down an account of the voyage, thereby breaking his vow - only to find words, memories, and his very sense of self beginning to slip from his grasp. A kaleidoscopic narrative reeling between despair and elation, Hermann Hesse's novel is a profound meditation on creativity and spiritual transcendence. Part of the Pushkin Press Classics series: timeless storytelling by icons of literature, hand-picked from around the globe. Translated by Hilda Rosner. Hermann Hesse (1877-1962) was born in was born in Württemberg, Germany. He resented his pious and repressive upbringing, and was determined to be 'a writer or nothing else'. His writing was greatly influenced by his travels to Asia and his friendship with psychoanalyst Carl Jung. In 1946 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. Several of his novels are available or forthcoming from Pushkin Press Classics, including Siddhartha, Narcissus and Goldmund and Demian.

Hermann Hesse's 'Journey to the East' tells of a journey both geographic and spiritual, in a simple and mesmerizing prose. H.H., a German choirmaster, is invited on an expedition with the League, a secret society whose members consist of Paul Klee, Mozart, and Albertus Magnus. The participants traverse both space and time, encountering Noah's Ark in Zurich and Don Quixote at Bremgarten. The pilgrims' ultimate destination is the East, the "Home of the Light," where they expect to find spiritual renewal. The harmony that ruled at the outset of the trip soon degenerates into open conflict. Each traveler finds the rest of the group intolerable and heads off in his own direction, with H.H. bitterly blaming the others for the failure of the journey. It is only long after the trip, while poring over records in the League archives, that H.H. discovers his own role in the dissolution of the group, and the ominous significance of the journey itself.

Hermann Hesse's 'Journey to the East' tells of a journey both geographic and spiritual, in a simple and mesmerizing prose. H.H., a German choirmaster, is invited on an expedition with the League, a secret society whose members consist of Paul Klee, Mozart, and Albertus Magnus. The participants traverse both space and time, encountering Noah's Ark in Zurich and Don Quixote at Bremgarten. The pilgrims' ultimate destination is the East, the "Home of the Light," where they expect to find spiritual renewal. The harmony that ruled at the outset of the trip soon degenerates into open conflict. Each traveler finds the rest of the group intolerable and heads off in his own direction, with H.H. bitterly blaming the others for the failure of the journey. It is only long after the trip, while poring over records in the League archives, that H.H. discovers his own role in the dissolution of the group, and the ominous significance of the journey itself.