POEMS BY HERMANN HESSE

by Hermann Hesse ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 15, 1970

These brief poems, written by the German novelist, in the main, in the first two decades of the 20th century, have been selected by the poet-translator James Wright from poetry extant in the German edition of Hesse's works. Wright, in a pleasant preface, admits his own infatuation with Hesse's ""homesickness"" theme. He quotes, appropriately, from Steppanwolf: ""Ah, Harry, we have to stumble through so much dirt and humbug before we reach home. And we have no one to guide us. Our only guide is our homesickness."" Throbbingly romantic, in a cosmic solitude, Hesse pursued his post-Wordsworthian way--through nature, a song overheard (""in seliger Pein""), memory ghosts, dark nights. And ""Only on me, the lonely one,/ The unending stars of the night shine."" Mr. Wright's translations may irk those whose rudimentary knowledge of German sees only the breaches rather than the unions in the renditions; some of Hesse's dying falls lose their music in English: ""HÄrt ist der Winter im fremdon Land"" becomes ""Winter is a hard thing in a strange country""; and ""Vielleicht ist unser Weg noch Welt,"" becomes ""Perhaps we still have a long way to go."" But Mr. Wright has preserved the core of a lyrical imagination that has made alienation a stance of splendor for all time. German originals given on facing pages--a fine contribution to Hesse translations.

Pub Date: June 15, 1970

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Farrar, Straus & Giroux

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 1970

Categories: FICTION