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Cover of Narcissus and Goldmund by Hermann Hesse

Narcissus and Goldmund

  • 321 pages · about 5 hours
  • First published 1930
  • 41 editions

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1 About this book

First published in 1930, Narcissus and Goldmund is the story of two diametrically opposite men: one, an ascetic monk firm in his religious commitment, and the other, a romantic youth hungry for worldly experience. Hesse was a great writer in precisely the modern sense: complex, subtle, allusive: alive to the importance of play.

Narcissus and Goldmund is his very best. What makes this short book so limitlessly vast is the body-and-soul-shaking debate that runs through it, which it has the honesty and courage not to resolve: between the flesh and spirit, art and scientific or religious speculation, action and contemplation.

  • Teacher-student relationships
  • Romance
  • Middle Ages
  • Moyen Âge
  • Mutter
  • Spiritual formation
  • Germany
  • Suche

2 About Hermann Hesse

1877–1962

Hermann Karl Hesse (German: ; 2 July 1877 – 9 August 1962) was a German-Swiss poet and novelist, and winner of the 1946 Nobel Prize in Literature. His interest in Eastern religious, spiritual, and philosophical traditions, combined with his involvement with Jungian analysis, helped shape his literary work.

Bio adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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