What's /lit/'s opinion of Herman Hesse?

>>9350168
Fucking GOAT

Can't wait to read everything I haven't read yet.

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>>9350168
Started Steppenwolf yesterday and I love it so far. Other than that, I've only read Siddhartha which was very good and very accessible. Plus there's sort of a novelty to him because he seems very German, but with a strong "eastern" influence. I don't like to describe it in this admittedly stupid way, but it's unique.

>FOR MADMEN ONLY

>>9350184

I started Siddhartha last night and am about halfway through at the moment. The language, even translated, is still very accessible and enjoyable.

Seems like this might be one of his lighter works though, because I don't really feel much weight in it.

>>9350240
>Seems like this might be one of his lighter works though
Yeah, Steppenwolf is a significant step up in terms of density of prose and just more complex in general but still very readable on the spectrum of modernist writers.

>>9350168
Melodramatic pseud

>>9350168
I started and then dropped Siddhartha cause it seemed really, really gay. Should I try again?

>>9350274
Yeah. I mean Siddhartha is like a 1-2 day read so it's a pretty minimal time investment. Or try Steppenwolf- it's way different.

>>9350274

How is it gay?

>>9350266
John Green of his generation

>>9350302
He probably saw the part where Govinda kissed him and closed the book

i'm a fan. i'm 26 and i still keep coming back to siddhartha for life advice. i'm reading Das Glasperlenspiel at the moment and it's a lovely book about academia and separation. Read Narziss and Goldmund as well and enjoyed it quite a bit too. Sometimes the whole "i looked into the water and saw the whole movement of life itself" bit is hackneyed but ultimately he's an author worth reading. Maybe not worth doing a PhD thesis on but serious enough for every cosmopolitan

>>9350302
>>9350317
the prose

>>9350168
steppenwolf and naziss und goldmund are very enjoyable.

I haven't developed an opinion on Glasperlenspiel so far. I like the ending - the shock of coldness, that the intellect has to endure, if he wants to stay fluid, outside of even the most generous institution (which eventually leads to religion - always).
I do not like the writing in this last one though. It seems so constructed, this set up biography. Seemed like a cheap way to describe a utopia - seems like he would have rather written a theoretical work, but didn't know how.

Someone tell me their opinion on Glasperlenspiel!