ermann Hesse was a German-Swiss poet, novelist, and painter, who was born in a family of Pietistic missionaries and religious publishers in Germany. Later he became a citizen of Switzerland. Instead of following, as expected, the family tradition in theology, he chose to be a writer.
As a Western man profoundly affected by the mysticism of Eastern thought, he wrote many novels, stories, and essays that are spiritual and have captured the imagination of many generations. His best known works include Steppenwolf, Siddhartha, and Magister Ludi. Hesse became a freelance writer in 1904. In 1946, he received the Nobel Prize in Literature. He passed away at the age of 85.