Siddhartha – Novel - Hardcover

Hesse, H

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0811202925 ISBN 13: 9780811202923

Publisher: New Directions, 1951

Synopsis

In the novel, Siddhartha, a young man, leaves his family for a contemplative life, then, restless, discards it for one of the flesh. He conceives a son, but bored and sickened by lust and greed, moves on again. Near dispair, Siddhartha comes to a river where he hears a unique sound. This sound signals the true beginning of life - the beginning of suffering, rejection, peace and, finally, wisdom.

About this title

Review

In the shade of a banyan tree, a grizzled ferryman sits listening to the river. Some say he's a sage. He was once a wandering shramana and, briefly, like thousands of others, he followed Gautama the Buddha, enraptured by his sermons. But this man, Siddhartha, was not a follower of any but his own soul. Born the son of a Brahman, Siddhartha was blessed in appearance, intelligence, and charisma. In order to find meaning in life, he discarded his promising future for the life of a wandering ascetic. Still, true happiness evaded him. Then a life of pleasure and titillation merely eroded away his spiritual gains until he was just like all the other "child people," dragged around by his desires. Like Hesse's other creations of struggling young men, Siddhartha has a good dose of European angst and stubborn individualism. His final epiphany challenges both the Buddhist and the Hindu ideals of enlightenment. Neither a practitioner nor a devotee, neither meditating nor reciting, Siddhartha comes to blend in with the world, resonating with the rhythms of nature, bending the reader's ear down to hear answers from the river. --Brian Bruya

Review

One could even hope that Hesse’s readers are hungrily imbibing Siddhartha, and that they will be so wisely foolish as to live by it.

One could even hope that Hesse's readers are hungrily imbibing Siddhartha, and that they will be so wisely foolish as to live by it.

In Siddhartha the setting is Indian and we encounter the Buddha, but the author's ethos is still closer to Goethe.

The cool and strangely simple story makes a beautiful little book, classic in proportion and style; it should be read slowly and with savor, preferably during the lonely hours of the night.

Hermann Hesse is the greatest writer of the century.

Edition details

• Publisher: New Directions
• Publication date: 1951
• ISBN 10: 0811202925
• ISBN 13: 9780811202923
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 132