Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse

Name: Hermann Hesse

Year Won: 1946

Read: Siddharthan

Original Language: German

Reason: "for his inspired writings, which while growing in boldness and penetration, exemplify the classical humanitarian ideals and high qualities of style"

About: "Siddhartha" follows Siddhartha on his quest for enlightment. He meets the Buddha. He also meets another friend who follows the Buddha and seeks enlightment while he, instead, pursues the courtesan Kamala. Eventually he sits by the river and seeks enlightment and finds it after Kamala shows him his son and he sets him free. It's a strange book.

What I liked: The writing is beautiful and it's permeated with an intense sense of spiritual questioning. What makes life worth living? What is enlightment? Which way are there of achieving it? It's really a very thought provoking novel.

What I Disliked: It's a peculiar novel, to put it mildly. It doesn't make a huge amount of sense as a novel from a standard perspective and there's something a bit weird about Siddhartha's hemming and hawing over being with the courtesan. (He very much wants to be with her, but also wants enlightment and...???) I also felt that Kamala could have used a bit more agency. (Although I was pleased that she, too, reached enlightment in the end which makes this feel very progressive for a novel from 1946 and definitely more so than many of the others I've read as part of this project.)

Should it have won a Nobel: Yes. It's a solid novel and holds up well even today. It made me really think, "What is the purpose of life and what am I doing to achieve it?" which is a question most books don't make me question. It's obvious from reading it as to why it's remained well known.

Next Up: Wastelands by Andre Gide