Siddhartha (Hermann Hesse novel, German) Add a review

Siddhartha: An Indian novel (German: Siddhartha. Eine indische Dichtung; German: [ziˈdaʁta] ) is a novel authored by Hermann Hesse, originally written in the German language, and published in full in October 1922 (after earlier publication of Part One only in July 1921). Siddhartha is the fictional account of the spiritual journey of self-discovery of a man named Siddhartha during the time of the Gautama Buddha. The book was written in a simpler style than many of Hesse's other writings.

Hesse had completed Part One of Siddhartha in the early months of 1920, and published it independently in July, 1921. Hesse then went through a period of despondency and inward thought, feeling unable to resume work on the book again. Finally, in early 1922, he began work on Part Two, and by May, 1922, Hesse had completed the remaining eight chapters that compose Part Two. The entirety of the two-part book was finally published in October, 1922.

Hesse split the dedication section of Siddhartha, dedicating the first part of the novel to the French writer Romain Rolland and the second part of the novel to Wilhelm Gundert, his cousin.

Siddhartha was translated into other languages over the years before an English translation would come to exist. In fact, 1922's Siddhartha was not published in English until decades later, when it finally found a publisher in New Directions Publishing in the United States, in New York. This English translation of Hesse's 1922 Siddhartha was completed by Hilda Rosner, and was published in 1951. The paperback version of the Rosner translation was released in 1957, and it was this edition of Siddhartha that would eventually bring the novel to such prominence during the turbulent times of countercultural America in the 1960s.

The word Siddhartha is made up of two words in the Sanskrit language: siddha (achieved) + artha (what was searched for), which together means "he who has found meaning (of existence)" or "he who has attained his goals". In fact, the Buddha's own name before his renunciation was Siddhartha Gautama, prince of Kapilavastu. In this book, the Buddha is referred to as "Gotama", the Pali version of the Buddha's name.

Hermann Hesse wrote Siddhartha after he traveled to India in the 1910s.