Demian

By Hermann Hesse,

Book cover of Demian: The Story of a Youth

Book description

2011 Reprint of 1948 Edition. Full facsimile of the original edition, not reproduced with Optical Recognition Software. The main character of this classic novel, Emil Sinclair, is a young boy raised in a bourgeois home, amidst what is described as a Scheinwelt, a play on words that means "world of…

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Why read it?

2 authors picked Demian as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

I read this wonderful coming-of-age tale when I was in my teens, but its magical mood remained with me ever since.

Reading the story of Emil Sinclair meeting the enigmatic Demian at school–who not only freed him from bullies but showed him that there was another world usually invisible to the common senses–set me on a life-long journey in search of the miraculous. 

This book lived in the back pocket of my Levi’s, then later in my military fatigues, for many years.

Although I first read it in the 1960s, I can still remember with near-perfect recitation Max Demian’s remark: “I wanted only to live in accord with the promptings which came from my true self. Why was that so very difficult?” It became my lifelong guide to being different in a world constantly demanding conformity. My nonconformity got me into loads of trouble in the military, but it also kept me sane.

Some years later, my mentor described our affliction as the…

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