The life and work of one of the twentieth century's greatest and most inspirational writers.

Hermann Hesse, recipient of the 1946 Nobel Prize for Literature, is acknowledged as one of the major writers of the twentieth century, and his books are international bestsellers. Bernhard Zeller's biography, originally published in German soon after Hesse’s death, was the first of its kind to appear in English. Drawing on the recollections of Hesse's family and friends – including such famous contemporaries as Thomas Mann and André Gide, Zeller reveals the close affinity between Hesse's personal experience and that expressed in his writing.

Hesse’s importance was not fully recognized outside the German-speaking countries until after his death in 1962, but from that time – not least because his works resonated deeply with the countercultural mood of the 1960s – his books and ideas have spread throughout the world and have now been translated into seventy languages. This biography – illustrated with photographs from Hesse’s private collection – gives us a view from a time which pre-dates much of the hype surrounding his works in subsequent decades and remains, in consequence, a valuable and intimate documentary portrait.

Translated from the German by Mark Hollebone

‘Hesse was a great writer in precisely the modern sense: complex, subtle, allusive.’ – New York Times Book Review

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BERNHARD ZELLER (1919–2008) was born in Dettenhausen, Tübingen. He studied history, German language and literature and Latin and was director of the Schiller National Museum in Stuttgart and of the German Literary Archive in Marbach. Zeller wrote, edited and co-edited a number of works on literary history and was a member of several academies and scientific committees. He was awarded honorary doctorates by the universities of Mainz and Norwich as well as being an honorary senator and honorary professor of the University of Tübingen. He died in 2008.