Book Bits

The Most Penetrating Preachers: Herman Hesse’s Ode to Trees

This wonderful fragment of Hermann Hesse's writing comes from a book that's actually out of print and one of the hardest of the author's books to come by - Wandering: Notes and Sketches. The book itself follows the author's contemplations through nature and the insights that transpired. Here he talks about his reverence for trees,… Continue reading The Most Penetrating Preachers: Herman Hesse’s Ode to Trees

Book Bits

Hermann Hesse and the Young Saint Francis

'He was one of those hypersensitive children,' Hermann Hesse wrote of his fictional Francesco Bernardone, the child that grew into St Francis of Assisi, 'who in these earliest stirrings of the soul experience a sorrowful foreboding, a saddening intimation that all human joys are transient.' This extract from his short story, The Childhood of St… Continue reading Hermann Hesse and the Young Saint Francis