A child's heart.--Klein und Wagner.--Klingsor's last summer.

Twenty-three stories arranged in chronological order that are primarily concerned with the authors own secret.

"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 New translation of the original German manuscript of Hermann Hesse's Nobel Prize-winning novel "Klingsor's Last Summer". 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. "Klingsor's Last Summer" is one of Hesse's collection of short stories that deals with the life of an expressionist painter named Klingsor, deeply permeated with Nietzschean motifs. It functions as a commentary on human existence, underlining the challenges of grappling with destiny, the affirmation of life, and existential dread. This essay aims to dissect the interplay of these motifs and the rich philosophical influences embedded within Hesse's narratives.The story captures the summer in which Klingsor feels intensely alive, wrestling with his inner demons, his relationship with life, death, and his artistic creativity. It's significant for its vivid portrayal of the artist's life, and the juxtaposition of life's ephemerality and beauty. Hesse's examination of artistic longing and the search for meaning is what gives this work its importance. It has influenced literature by inspiring contemplation of the nature of artistic pursuits and the existential dilemmas faced by creative individuals. At the outset, it's essential to understand the thematic essence of the stories contained within "Klingsor's Last Summer." "A Child's Soul," for instance, dives into the tumultuous inner world of a child torn between the pull of darkness and the allure of light. The story introduces Nietzsche's "noble criminal," challenging the societal norms, presenting him not as a mere malefactor but as an embodiment of individual destiny, even when it veers into the realm of the negative. This character serves as a poignant reminder of the human struggle to balance between societal expectations and intrinsic urges.Similarly, "Klein and Wagner" offers a compelling narrative of disillusionment. Klein's rejection of the bourgeois existence and his subsequent realization of his personal inadequacies are a reflection of Hesse's exploration of self-realization. The narrative eloquently combines the wisdom of eastern and western philosophies, borrowing from Schopenhauer's existential musings and the affirming-negating principles of Hindu Yoga. The title story, focusing on the artist Klingsor, serves as a microcosm of the broader European existential crisis. Facing his mortality, Klingsor's self-portrait becomes a profound commentary on the nature of existence, capturing the zeitgeist of a tired Europe. Intriguingly, the trajectory of Klingsor mirrors that of Nietzsche himself, especially the philosopher's rapid intellectual outpourings before his descent into mental decline. A recurring element in Hesse's characters, notably Klingsor and Klein, is their psychological pathology. These characters, tinged with existential despair, echo Hesse's personal struggles, suggesting perhaps a subconscious reflection of his anxieties regarding his fate. This introspective element elevates the narratives from mere fiction to a profound exploration of the human psyche.

Eight stories about the distillation of wisdom, concerning dream worlds, magical thinking, the subconscious and the soul.

In the Land of Dreamy Dreams, Ellen Gilchrist's acclaimed 1981 debut collection of short stories, introduced readers to a remarkable Southern voice which has sustained its power and influence through her more than 20 subsequent books. Gilchrist has a distinctive ear for language, and a deep understanding of her flawed, sometimes tragic characters. These fourteen stories, divided into three sections -- There's a Garden of Eden, Things Like the Truth, and Perils of the Nile -- are about mostly young, upper-class Southern women who are bored with the Junior League and having babies, and chafe against the restrictions of their sheltered lives. Talented and bright, but living in the shadow of men -- their husbands and fathers -- they resort to outrageous actions in pursuit of freer lives and uncompromised love, despite the consequences. This collection first introduced readers to some of Gilchrist's most beloved characters, such as Rhoda Manning and Nora Jane Whittington. PRAISE: "It's difficult to review a first book as good as this one without resorting to every known superlative cliché...Gilchrist is the real thing." —Washington Post “A sustained display of delicately and rhythmically modulated prose and an unsentimental dissection of raw sentiment. Her stories are perceptive, her manner is both stylish and idiomatic – a rare and potent combination.” —Times Literary Supplement “Witty, concise and wonderfully varied.” —Literary Review “Gilchrist possess a distinctive voice, and blends a sense of poignancy with an often outrageously Gothic humor.” —New York Times Book Review “Her prose is quick-witted and urbane and as gossipy as Vanity Fair. Quite simply there is no Southern writer quite like her.” —Raleigh News & Observer

August 1991. In a sweltering New York City apartment, a group of Russian émigrés gathers round the deathbed of an artist named Alik, a charismatic character beloved by them all, especially the women who take turns nursing him as he fades from this world. Their reminiscences of the dying man and of their lives in Russia are punctuated by debates and squabbles: Whom did Alik love most? Should he be baptized before he dies, as his alcoholic wife, Nina, desperately wishes, or be reconciled to the faith of his birth by a rabbi who happens to be on hand? And what will be the meaning for them of the Yeltsin putsch, which is happening across the world in their long-lost Moscow but also right before their eyes on CNN? This marvelous group of individuals inhabits the first novel by Ludmila Ulitskaya to be published in English, a book that was shortlisted for the Russian Booker Prize and has been praised wherever translated editions have appeared. Simultaneously funny and sad, lyrical in its Russian sorrow and devastatingly keen in its observation of character, The Funeral Party introduces to our shores a wonderful writer who captures, wryly and tenderly, our complex thoughts and emotions confronting life and death, love and loss, homeland and exile.

An American in Paris at the turn of the nineteenth century, John Durham pays court to an old flame, Fanny Frisbee, now married to the dissolute Marquis de Malrive. Devoutly Catholic, Fanny's husband is unlikely to grant her a divorce or relinquish custody of their young son, who is heir to the family title

One of the most astonishing aspects of Hesse's career is the clear-sightedness and consistency of his political views, his passionate espousal of pacifism and internationalism from the start of World War I to the end of his life. The earliest essay in this book was written in September 1914 and was followed by a stream of letters, essays, and pamphlets that reached its high point with Zarathustra's Return (published anonymously in 1919, the year that also saw the publication of Demian), in which Hesse exhorted German youth to shake off the false gods of nationalism and militarism that had led their country into the abyss. Such views earned him the labels "traitor" and "viper" in Germany, but after World War II he was moved to reiterate his beliefs in another series of essays and letters. Hesse arranged his anti-war writing for publication in one volume in 1946; an amplified edition appeared in 1949 and that text has been followed for this first English-language edition. In his foreword Hesse describes the heart of the philosophy expressed here: "In each one of these essays I strive to guide the reader not into the world theater with its political problemns but into his innermost being, before the judgment seat of his very personal conscience." This faith in salvation via the Inward Way, so familiar to readers of Hesse's fiction, is persuasively set forth as the answer to questions of war and peace.