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Siddhartha: A Novel by Hermann Hesse
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Siddhartha: A Novel (original 1922; edition 1982)

by Hermann Hesse (Author), Hilda Rosner (Translator)

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27,710378104 (3.96)533
Classic Literature. Fiction. HTML:

Hermann Hesse wrote Siddhartha after he traveled to India in the 1910s. It tells the story of a young boy who travels the country in a quest for spiritual enlightenment in the time of Guatama Buddha. It is a compact, lyrical work, which reads like an allegory about the finding of wisdom.

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Member:dibox
Title:Siddhartha: A Novel
Authors:Hermann Hesse (Author)
Other authors:Hilda Rosner (Translator)
Info:Bantam (1981), 160 pages
Collections:Your library
Rating:***1/2
Tags:None

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Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse (1922)

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» See also 533 mentions

English (328)  Spanish (18)  French (7)  Italian (6)  German (4)  Catalan (4)  Swedish (4)  Portuguese (Portugal) (3)  Dutch (2)  All languages (376)
Showing 1-5 of 328 (next | show all)
Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse is a thought-provoking work of religious fiction. It is a person's journey to spirituality amidst all their worldly pleasures. Siddhartha's voyage towards a spiritual awakening can be said to be a motivating one. The narrator's voice also did a good job. The book narrates a conflicting opinion between people who try to find salvation through renunciation and people who try to achieve it by being in the normal world. While listening to it alone, I had so many viewpoints about it. For me, the book was something that I can think about every time I am trying to find my way towards spiritualization. I loved the message from the author that spiritual awakening can come in any form and shape. It is only us who are rigid and do not open ourselves to it. ( )
  Sucharita1986 | Feb 20, 2024 |
Whenever I'm struggling with my vipassana training, I re-read this book and I remember why I try so hard to meditate each day. A very insightful book, and in my opinion the best book [a:Hermann Hesse|1113469|Hermann Hesse|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1287463141p2/1113469.jpg] has ever written. ( )
  jd7h | Feb 18, 2024 |
Siddhartha began well but faded away drastically, akin to a spent runner who set off too fast and became crippled on the last lap by lactic acid build-up.

The problem for me with books which deal and muse on the meaning of life/existence and other existential, metaphysical, spiritual themes is that they must deliver something rather perceptive, insightful and credible by the end; something I wasn't convinced Siddhartha did. This may be in part due to the fact that I have read successors to Siddhartha which deal with similar issues before reading this, therefore admittedly perhaps if I'd read this first, my opinion might have been different.

The works it brought to mind were:

Jonathan Livingston Seagull - Richard Bach
Illusions - Richard Bach
The Pilgrimage - Paul Coelho
The Alchemist - Paul Coelho
Cain - José Saramago
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance - Robert Pirsig

Incidentally, the foreword by Paul Coelho in this edition was exceptional and it is easy to see how Siddhartha has informed both his aforementioned books.

I just thought these works went further and nailed the communication of the belief/faith/spiritualism better. Siddhartha instead seemed to wallow, Hesse's struggle with delivering a pay off that he felt adequately embodied enlightenment felt weak and rather predictable. Another thing mentioned in Coelho's astute introduction.

So, yeah, two stars I think, a bit of a let down but with the glass bead game and Steppenwolf in my to read shelves, there's chance for Hesse to turn it around! ( )
  Dzaowan | Feb 15, 2024 |
I didn't like [book: The Alchemist] very much, so I prepared myself to feel similarly towards Siddhartha. But au contraire mon frere, Siddhartha is awesome. Om. ( )
  LibrarianDest | Jan 3, 2024 |
Sweet simple ( )
  farrhon | Oct 26, 2023 |
Showing 1-5 of 328 (next | show all)
[It] attempts to postulate an answer to the riddle of man's confused and contradictory existence in this universe.
 

» Add other authors (200 possible)

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Hesse, Hermannprimary authorall editionsconfirmed
Appelbaum, StanleyTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Bamji, FirdousNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Bernofsky, SusanTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Binkhuysen, A.M.H.Translatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Brice, SilvijaTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Chalchenets, SemynTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Coelho, PauloIntroductionsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Cunningham, KeithCover designersecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Heberlein, AnnPrefacesecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Holmberg, NilsTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Iyer, PicoForewordsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Kohn, Sherab ChödzinTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Lesser, RikaTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Lustig, AlvinCover designersecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Mila, MassimoTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Morris, Paul W.Introductionsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Neugroschel, JoachimTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Pearson, NickCover designersecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Rosner, HildaTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Xuan, Xuan LocCover artistsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed

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Dedication
(German)

Lieber, verehrter Romain Rolland!

Seit dem Herbst des Jahres 1914, da die seit kurzem angebrochene Atemnot der Geistigkeit auch mir plötzlich spürbar wurde, und wir einander von fremden Ufern her die Hand gaben, im Glauben an dieselben übernationalen Notwendigkeiten, seither habe ich den Wunsch gehabt, Ihnen einmal ein Zeichen meiner Liebe und zugleich eine Probe meines Tuns und einen Blick in meine Gedankenwelt zu geben. Nehmen Sie die Widmung des ersten Teiles meiner noch unvollendeten indischen Dichtung freundlichst entgegen von Ihrem

Hermann Hesse
First words
In the shade of the house, in the sunshine of the riverbank near the boats, in the shade of the Sal-wood forest, in the shade of the fig tree is where Siddhartha grew up, the handsome son of the Brahman, the young falcon, together with his friend Govinda, son of a Brahman.
Quotations
[attributions added]
Kamaswami: "... And what is it now what you've got to give? What is it that you've learned, what you're able to do?"
Siddhartha: "I can think. I can wait. I can fast."
Kamaswami: "That's everything?"
Siddhartha: "I believe, that's everything!"
Seeking means: to have a goal; but finding means: to be free, to be receptive, to have no goal.
Knowledge can be communicated, but not wisdom.
But I think it is important to only love the world, not to despise it, not for us to hate each other, but to be able to regard the world and ourselves and all beings with love, admiration, and respect.
The purpose and the essential properties were not somewhere behind the things, they were in them, in everything.
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(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)
Disambiguation notice
3518012274 1969 hardcover German Bibliothek Suhrkamp 227
3518366823 1974 softcover German suhrkamp taschenbuch 182
3518463543 2021 softcover German suhrkamp taschenbuch 4554 (Geschenkbuch)
3518736507 2011 ebook German suhrkamp
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Classic Literature. Fiction. HTML:

Hermann Hesse wrote Siddhartha after he traveled to India in the 1910s. It tells the story of a young boy who travels the country in a quest for spiritual enlightenment in the time of Guatama Buddha. It is a compact, lyrical work, which reads like an allegory about the finding of wisdom.

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Chi è Siddharta? È uno che cerca, e cerca soprattutto di vivere intera la propria vita. Passa di esperienza in esperienza, dal misticismo alla sensualità, dalla meditazione filosofica alla vita degli affari, e non si ferma presso nessun maestro, non considera definitiva nessuna acquisizione, perché ciò che va cercato è il tutto, il misterioso tutto che si veste di mille volti cangianti. E alla fine quel tutto, la ruota delle apparenze, rifluirà dietro il perfetto sorriso di Siddharta, che ripete il "costante, tranquillo, fine, impenetrabile, forse benigno, forse schernevole, saggio, multirugoso sorriso di Gotama, il Buddha, quale egli stesso l'aveva visto centinaia di volte con venerazione". Siddharta è senz'altro l'opera di Hesse più universalmente nota. Questo breve romanzo di ambiente indiano, pubblicato per la prima volta nel 1922, ha avuto infatti in questi ultimi anni una strepitosa fortuna. Prima in America, poi in ogni parte del mondo, i giovani lo hanno riscoperto come un loro testo, dove non trovavano solo un grande scrittore moderno ma un sottile e delicato saggio, capace di dare, attraverso questa parabola romanzesca, un insegnamento sulla vita che evidentemente i suoi lettori non incontravano altrove.
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