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Hermann Hesse is a German novelist, poet, essayist and water colorist. His musical prose and delicate portrayal of natural scenery are the outstanding features of his narratives. His poetry alternatively somber, radiant and idyllic, very melodious, revealing its depth through subtle symbolism is very popular. In his essays he had condemned technocracy and had groped helplessly towards a means of banishing chaos.
Hesse's maternal grandfather Hermann Gundert had been an authority on India and Eastern thought. He is revered in Kerala as the father of Malyalam lexicography. He and Hesse's father worked for years as missionaries in Malabar. Hesse's mother was also born in Tell cherry in Kerala. All these had formed in Hesse a love towards this land and he had visited South Asia during his journeys to the East. He has confessed that the study of Hindu and Buddhist philosophy and the familiarity with South Indian and culture through his mother and grandfather have influenced him tremendously - as much as Christianity. His search for religious serenity in Eastern mysticism is reflected in Siddhartha (1922), Mongelandfahrt (1932) and Das Glasperlenspiel (1943).
Hesse had been a democrat in politics and an individualist in his world outlook. World wars threw Hesse into severest crisis. When he used his pen against the terrible bloodshed and hatred he was treated as a traitor by the government and forsaken by friends. As a protest against his county's militarism he moved to Switzerland and lived there in self-imposed exile continuing his work for peace.
Hesse was a great individualist. The problem of the spiritual loneliness occurs again and again in his works. These constitute a continuous effort on his part to find himself, for man's soul in his fate.
In 1946 the Swedish Academy awarded to him the Nobel Prize for Literature "for his inspired writings which while growing in boldness and penetration exemplify the classical humanitarian ideals and high qualities of style"
The project Hesse and India was undertaken by Centre for South Indian Studies. The Suhrkamp Verlag, Frankfurt am Main and the German Embassy in India also extended support for the project. Prof. V.C. Chacko of Department of German, University of Kerala guided the project.
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