Peter Camenzind: A Novel (edition 2003)

Hesse's first novel. A story about traveling and youth and romance and loss. Rather simple, but some budding fragments of what would make Hesse great can be seen here. ( )

Interesting, difficult to define. Another perspective on life and rather a depressing one. What are we looking/striving for? Maybe its there in front of you. It was only when he 'gave' did he get back many times over and learn so much about himself and the world. ( )

A classical Bildungsroman about Peter Camenzind who grows up in a remote Swiss village, tries to find a purpose in life, gets lost in culture, love and drink but eventually returns home because he realizes it's the best place to be.

I liked this book for more than one reason. The beautiful, elegant prose is one of them. His ode to nature is simple and beautiful and maybe a bit corny and old-fashioned at times.
I thought this was a soothing, accessible read. I'd recommend it to anyone who doesn't mind a bit of old-fashioned, Walden-like prose. ( )

Doesn't everyone go through a Hesse phase? Books like this make you happy you did. Best read when you are late teens/early twenties I'd say, for maximum effect! ( )

“In the beginning was the myth. God, in his search for self expression, invested the soul of Hindus, Greeks, and Germans with poetic shapes and continues to invest each child’s soul with poetry every day.”

I found this book by complete accident at an independent bookstore in Manhattan. It was a happy accident, complete serendipity. I was not familiar with this work, the first novel by the esteemed author, Herman Hesse and was not particularly impressed with the title. I picked it up anyway as I was a fan of Hesse’s having read Steppenwolf, Siddhartha, Demian and Magister Ludi, in my own wayward and misspent youth. I just recently revisited Steppenwolf and found it to be compelling as ever. About a year later, I got around to reading it. It was worth the wait. I loved it! Like all of Hesse’s work, it concerns a protagonist that struggles with the duality of his own nature; that of a carnal, hedonistic, lustful human being, and the softer nature loving spiritual side. In this novel, Hesse traces the travels and travails, both spiritual and physical, of Peter Camenzind, a young man born in a small mountain village in Switzerland. He leaves his village to go to university and aspires to be a poet. He falls in love with a beautiful woman who is love with another man, which breaks his heart. He becomes close friends with Richard who later drowns. Peter turns bitter, becomes a wanderer, and suffers from spiritual malaise. He is aware of his own wretched existence. He forms a friendship with an invalid named Boppi, who restores his humanity to him. After Boppi’s death, Peter returns to his village and care for his father. He then begins to plan his great life’s work of becoming a poet.

The book is the perfect length for a novel, in my opinion, coming in at exactly 200 pages comprised of eight chapters. Peter Camenzind is written in a simple, lyrical manner that that wastes no words yet is complex and quite compelling. ( )