Journey to the East

Journey to the East is a short novel by German author Hermann Hesse. It was first published in German in 1932 as Die Morgenlandfahrt. This novel came directly after his biggest international success, Narcissus and Goldmund.

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Jump to content Main menu Main menu move to sidebar hide Navigation Main page Contents Current events Random article About Wikipedia Contact us Contribute Help Learn to edit Community portal Recent changes Upload file Special pages Search Search Appearance Donate Create account Log in Personal tools Donate Create account Log in Contents move to sidebar hide (Top) 1 Plot summary 2 See also 3 References Toggle the table of contents Journey to the East 13 languages العربية Беларуская Deutsch Español فارسی Français Italiano Nederlands Русский Српски / srpski Українська اردو 中文 Edit links Article Talk English Read Edit View history Tools Tools move to sidebar hide Actions Read Edit View history General What links here Related changes Upload file Permanent link Page information Cite this page Get shortened URL Print/export Download as PDF Printable version In other projects Wikidata item Appearance move to sidebar hide From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Gdw1948 ( talk | contribs ) at 19:18, 2 June 2024 (An English translation by Hilda Rosner was published in 1933. See archive.org https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.247218/page/n5/mode/2up) . The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision . Revision as of 19:18, 2 June 2024 by Gdw1948 ( talk | contribs ) (An English translation by Hilda Rosner was published in 1933. See archive.org https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.247218/page/n5/mode/2up) ( diff ) ← Previous revision | Latest revision ( diff ) | Newer revision → ( diff ) For other uses, see Journey to the East (disambiguation) . This article does not cite any sources . Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . Unsourced material may be challenged and removed . Find sources: "Journey to the East" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR ( July 2018 ) ( Learn how and when to remove this message ) 1932 novel by Hermann Hesse Journey to the East First English-language edition Author Hermann Hesse Original title Die Morgenlandfahrt Language German Genre Bildungsroman Publisher Samuel Fischer Publication date 1932 Publication place Germany Published in English 1933 Media type Print ( Hardcover and Paperback ) Followed by The Glass Bead Game Journey to the East is a short novel by German author Hermann Hesse . It was first published in German in 1932 as Die Morgenlandfahrt . This novel came directly after his biggest international success, Narcissus and Goldmund . Plot summary Journey to the East is written from the point of view of a man (called "H. H." in the book) who becomes a member of "The League", a timeless religious sect whose members include famous fictional and real characters, such as Plato , Mozart , Pythagoras , Paul Klee , Don Quixote , Puss in Boots , Tristram Shandy , Baudelaire , Goldmund (from Hesse's Narcissus and Goldmund ), the artist Klingsor (from Hesse's Klingsor's Last Summer ), and the ferryman Vasudeva (from Hesse's Siddhartha ). A branch of the group goes on a pilgrimage to "the East" in search of the "ultimate Truth". The narrator speaks of traveling through both time and space, across geography imaginary and real. Although at first fun and enlightening, the Journey runs into a crisis in a deep mountain gorge called Morbio Inferiore when Leo, apparently a simple servant, disappears, causing the group to plummet into anxiety and argument. Leo is described as happy, pleasant, handsome, beloved by everyone, having a rapport with animals – to a discerning reader, he seems a great deal more than a simple servant, but nobody in the pilgrimage, including the narrator, seems to realise this. Nor does anyone seem to wonder why the group dissolves in dissension and bickering after Leo disappears. Instead they accuse Leo of taking with him various objects which they seem to be missing (and which turn up later) and which they regard as very important (and which later turn out not to be very important), and they blame him for the eventual disintegration of the group and failure of the Journey. Years later, the narrator tries to write his story of the Journey, even though he has lost contact with the group and believes the League no longer exists. But he is unable to put together any coherent account of it; his whole life has sunk into despair and disillusionment since the failure of the one thing which was most important to him, and he has even sold the violin with which he once offered music to the group during the Journey. Finally, at the advice of a friend, he finds the servant Leo and, having failed in his attempt to re-establish communication with him or even be recognized by him when he meets him on a park bench, writes him a long, impassioned letter of "grievances, remorse and entreaty" and posts it to him that night. The next morning, Leo appears in the narrator's home and tells him he has to appear before the High Throne to be judged by the officials of the League. It turns out (to the narrator's surprise) that Leo, the simple servant, is actually President of the League, and at points seems like Pablo, from Hesse's Steppenwolf . The crisis in Morbio Inferiore was a test of faith which the narrator and everyone else flunked rather dismally. H. H. discovers that his "aberration" and time spent adrift was part of his trial, and is allowed to return to the League if he can pass any new test of faith and obedience. What he chooses, and the final dénouement, is a stroke of Hesse's typical Eastern mysticism at its finest. See also Servant leadership Journey to the West References v t e Hermann Hesse Novels Peter Camenzind Beneath the Wheel Gertrude Rosshalde Knulp Demian Klingsor's Last Summer Siddhartha Steppenwolf Narcissus and Goldmund Journey to the East The Glass Bead Game Short stories The Fairy Tales of Hermann Hesse " The Three Linden Trees " Strange News from Another Star Kinderseele Poems " One Hour After Midnight " Poems Essay collections If the War Goes On ... My Belief: Essays on Life and Art Related Ninon Hesse (third wife) Hermann Gundert (grandfather) Hesse: The Wanderer and His Shadow Authority control databases International GND National France BnF data Other Open Library Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Journey_to_the_East&oldid=1226951191 " Categories : 1932 German-language novels Novels by Hermann Hesse 1932 German novels Hidden categories: Articles lacking sources from July 2018 All articles lacking sources Articles with short description Short description is different from Wikidata This page was last edited on 2 June 2024, at 19:18 (UTC) . This version of the page has been revised . Besides normal editing, the reason for revision may have been that this version contains factual inaccuracies, vandalism, outdated information, or material not compatible with the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License . 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