Knulp: Three Tales from the Life of Knulp

By Hermann Hesse and Robin M Koppensteiner

Book Overview

Knulp is the eternal drifter, a true drop-out of an earlier time. Originally published in Germany in 1915, Knulp was Hermann Hesse's most popular book in the years before he published Demian. During... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0374509875
• ISBN13: 9780374509873
• Release Date: January 1971
• Publisher: Farrar Straus & Giroux
• Length: 114 Pages
• Weight: 0.36 lbs.

Customer Reviews

genius hesse does it again

this early book by hesse is a masterpiece like all of his books. once you read hesse, you'll wonder why you even read other authors, if you are a writer, then you'll feel like your writing sucks after reading hesse. this book is a gateway read into the hesse world, the life of a vagrant who ponders the meaning of life and realizes his life had a purpose.

must read

This is one of those books that you will want to read over and over. I pick it up in the spring, when I feel like going 'tramping about the countryside'. I was reminded of this book when talking to my teenaged niece recently and gave her my copy. It is a great intro to Hesses other books. Read it--you will NOT be disappointed. It is quick and meaningful.

Knulp: Three Tales From The Life Of Knulp

I thought that I wouldn't enjoy this book because of it's age. It was nearly 10 times my age when I read it and it has been one of the most resplendent books I have ever read. Knulp lives this prodigious life (to me at least) and gets to travel all over without a care in the world. I don't want to give away the ending to people who have never dipped into his world, but I will so please do not further read this article until finshing the book. The concluding story is what I think everybody truly wishes for. Knulp is laying in the snow and telling God how his life was meaningless and he lived a pejorative life, and then God tells him that he did live a meaningfull life. He said that Knulp was living for other people too and I think that it's just the perfect ending to a story and to a life. This book is an laudable piece of literature that should be read by all.

Wander over the Mountain

"Everywhere on earth there are people of our kind. That for a small part of them, I can be a focal point, the nodal point in the net, is the burden and the joy of my life." (Hesse private letter, 1955) This is a fantastic book that deals with the mysteries of life and a man's relation to his surrounding. Knulp is a wanderer who has an inherent quest for freedom and travel which conflicts with tradition. We see the stages of his life including his death at the end in a dialogue with god who represents existence. Man must express himself in order to find his own nature is the basic thrust of this short work by a great author...

A little book, a grand story

Knulp, in its time, was the book that for me opened the window into Hermann Hesse`s world. A lovely story about the joy and sadness of being a bohemian in life and soul. It is filled with passages of life wisdom and human insight. This book is a perfect introduction to one of the greatest Nobel prize winners.