Hermann Hesse, who is ranked with the great masters of contemporary literature, was born in Wurttemberg in 1877. He intended to follow in the footsteps of his father, a Protestant pastor and missionary, but rebelled against traditional academic education and worked as a bookseller, antique dealer and mechanic.

After his first novel, Peter Camenzind, was published in 1904 he devoted himself to writing. In 1919, as a protest against German militarism, he moved to Switzerland, where he lived in self-imposed exile until his death in 1962.

Hesse was strongly influenced by his interest in music, the psychoanalytic theories of Jung, and Eastern thought. He wrote: "My political faith is that of a democrat, my world outlook that of an individualist."

Hesse's best-known works include Knulp, Demian, Steppenwolf, Siddhartha, Klinsor's Last Summer, and The Glass Bead Game, each of which explores an individual's search for authenticity, self-knowledge and spirituality. In 1946, Hermann Hesse received the Nobel Prize in Literature.