Synopsis
An allegorical novel by the celebrated German writer. Sidhartha, the hero, is a type of Buddhist Everyman, who passes through many temptations and trials on his way to purification. The different stages of his spiritual development are represented by the various roles he takes on: wanderer, courtier, merchant, and hermit. Originally published in Germany in 1923, "Sidhartha" has been a perennial bestseller since its American publication in 1951.
| Details | | Publication Date: | 1957-06-01 |
| Size | | Height: | 8.3 in | | Width: | 5.3 in | | Thickness: | 0.2 in | | Weight: | 4.8 oz |
Publisher's Note
A young Indian mystic, a contemporary of Buddha, sacrifices everything to search for the true meaning of life.
Industry Reviews
"This book has been a particularly great help to those who had attached themselves to the noisy world and leaders of yesterday, and who are sincerely trying to find their own individuality and peace."
Fritz Richter (11/18/1951)
"[Henry Miller] asked me if I'd ever read Hermann Hesse. I hadn't, but I'd heard about him. Henry told me to read 'Siddhartha'. He had found a translation of it in England, and sent it to me. I read it, and thought, well, this is pretty sugar-candied Buddhism. And I said, 'Oh, gosh, Henry, do I have to?' And he said, 'Yes, you have to.' And so I did it. The first year the novel sold 400 copies. The next year it was about 800. But within 10 years it was selling a quarter of a million a year."
Poets & Writers - James Laughlin
"A product of the first postwar years, it gives a new and significant twist to the great question pervading all these works by Hesse--the question concerning the goal of the spirit....'Siddhartha' permits no prescriptions concerning what one is supposed to love in the world and what one is supposed to despise....In a time in which the representatives of the spirit so frequently enslaved themselves to rulers, he intrepidly maintained the free steadfastness of the spirit."
"A Believing Humanism" - Martin Buber
"The clarity of this short tale allows one to look through to its profound depth."
Saturday Review - Robert Halsband (12/22/1951)
"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."
Richter
"The author's stringent, economical phrasing with its careful rhythms lends the book an air of studied antiquity, refreshing, yet, oddly, new."
Hirsch
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