Klingsor's Last Summer

A trio of tales from the Nobel Prize-winning author, exploring the complexities of innocence, guilt, and the search for life's meaning.

This is the first English-language edition of Klingsor's Last Summer, originally published in 1920 between Hermann Hesse's celebrated novels Demian and Siddhartha. The book comprises three parts: A Child's Heart, a story delving into a boy's loss of innocence and the painful guilt that follows; and two of Hesse's finest novellas, Klein and Wagner and Klingsor's Last Summer.

Set in a southern landscape reflecting Hesse's life in the summer of 1919, both novellas feature heroes of Hesse's age, each confronting a spiritual crisis that leads to a profound vision of unity where life's polarities are resolved. In Klein and Wagner, Hesse mercilessly exposes his own struggles through a story of escape and letting go, while Klingsor's Last Summer paints a more direct self-portrait of the author as an expressionist artist.

Together, these tales offer a glimpse into a transformative period of Hesse's life, and a compelling exploration of the human condition.