Knulp

Hermann Hesse

Sep 2023 · Newcomb Livraria Press

About this ebook

"I cannot read Hermann Hesse without feeling that I am drawn into the presence of a deeply serious mind, a mind that is searching for the meaning of life." - Carl Jung

A new 2023 translation of the original German manuscript of Hermann Hesse's Nobel Prize-winning novel "Knulp". This edition also contains an epilogue by the translator, a philosophical glossary of concepts used by Hesse and a chronology of his life and work. Hesse won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1947.

"Knulp: Three Stories from the Life of Knulp" (in German "Knulp: Drei Geschichten aus dem Leben des Knulp") is a third-person narrative following an eponymous protagonist, a wanderer who embodies freedom but also intense loneliness. These three stories about a vagabond, which Hesse wrote between 1907 and 1914, highlight the humanity and profundity of Knulp's life, in mimicry of Dickens and Hugo. There is a pervading little homesickness for freedom in these stories.

About the author

A German-Swiss poet, novelist, and painter, Hesse’s literature deeply explores the individual's search for self-knowledge, authenticity, and spirituality. Influenced by Eastern philosophy, Nietzsche and Jungian psychology (he was a personal friend of Jung), his works like "Siddhartha" and "Steppenwolf" became emblematic of the counter-culture movements of the 20th century and literary manifestations of Continental Philosophy. Awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1946, Hesse's highly individualistic and spiritual narratives continue to inspire personal growth and Socratic self-awareness