Author Description

In 1920 Hermann Hesse published Wanderung (“Wandering”), a collection of prose-poems and vignettes accompanied in some editions by his own watercolor illustrations. Wandering is a quiet, meditative work quite distinct from the fiery Klingsor that appeared the same year. Subtitled “Notes and Sketches” in English translations, it’s essentially a literary travelogue of Hesse’s walks and reflections in nature, written during and after World War I. Published by S. Fischer in Berlin, Wanderung is Hesse’s love letter to the simple life of wanderers, a celebration of solitude and the small revelations that come from walking the roads and hills with no fixed destination. The pieces in it are short, often no more than a page or two, some reading like free-verse poetry, others like diary jottings, others like tiny stories or parables. In some editions, Hesse’s delicate watercolors of landscapes (simple, impressionistic washes of color depicting mountains, trees, or houses) are reproduced, underscoring the book’s theme of integrating art, writing, and nature. Wanderung might not have had the sensational impact of Demian or Siddhartha, but it endeared Hesse to many readers who were seeking solace and peace after the horrors of WWI. It’s often cited as an example of Hesse’s more uplifting and affirmative side. This collection, penned during Hesse’s Swiss exile, responds to postwar Europe’s border shifts and refugee crises. Its meditations on transience—rootless travelers, seasonal migrations—resonate with the era’s mass displacements and economic nomadism. Published in Bern with Hesse’s own woodcuts, the work’s tactile engagement with landscape reflects a search for stability amid civilizational flux. Wandering’s celebration of impermanence countered the era’s nationalist fixation on territorial integrity, offering a pacifist vision of identity unmoored from geography. Its blend of lyrical observation and philosophical reflection influenced interwar hiking movements and