Siddhartha (1922) by Hermann Hesse is a novel whose title character is an exceedingly intelligent young Brahman, a member of Hindu's highest caste, who leads an ostensibly charmed and wealthy life, yet is existentially hollow. Originally written in Hesse's native German, Siddhartha is his 9th and most famous work. It wasn't published in the U.S. until 1951, but would achieve cult status there during the turbulent social crises of the 60s and 70s. Hesse had difficulty writing Siddhartha, which took him several years, as he felt he could not achieve a similarly enlightened state as his protagon |