Authorial Information - Herman Hesse was born in 1877 in a rural part of Germany. He lived in a ministry and was expected to devote his life to his religion. He however left the ministry in 1892. When he was expelled from high school he started work at a German bookstore. In 1919 he moved permanently to Switzerland and released many books. One of his last books, Magistar Ludi, won him the Nobel Prize in 1946. He lived in seclusion in Switzerland until his death in 1962. Author's Unique Style - Herman Hesse uses dreams to foretell what stage of his life he is going to next. He also uses images of the river to repr