In simple, mesmerizing prose, Hermann Hesse tells of a journey both geographic and spiritual. H.H., a German choirmaster, is invited on an expedition with the League, a secret society whose members include Paul Klee, Mozart, and Albertus Magnus. The participants traverse both space and time, encountering Noah's Ark in Zurich and Don Quixote at Bremgarten. The pilgrims' ultimate destination is the East, the "Home of the Light," where they expect to find spiritual renewal. Yet the harmony that ruled at the outset of the trip soon degenerates into open conflict. Each traveler finds the rest of the group intolerable and heads off in his own direction, with H.H. bitterly blaming the others for the failure of the journey. It is only long after the trip, while poring over records in the League archives, that H.H. discovers his own role in the dissolution of the group, and the ominous significance of the journey itself.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
11 of 12 people found the following review helpful
By Matt Wilson
Format:Paperback
This little book totally captivated my attention, my imagination and my emotion. I found the book worked for me on two distinctly different levels...
Firstly, it is one of the best allegories of leadership that I have ever read. The intrepid group undertaking the Journey to the East (a spiritual rather than geographic destination) are having a ball until one day they notice that one of their servants in missing. The realisation dawns on them that they all in various ways depend on this servant, Leo. He models lightness of spirit, he offers a listening ear and words of wisdom, and in his luggage he seems to carry all the important things required for the journey. Without him the journey becomes impossible - Leo was a true leader - not in name but in character.
Secondly, it is a book about loss: losing faith, losing youth and losing innocence. But unlike many books Hesse doesn't end there. He hints at what lies beyond... there are rays of hope for every reader who, like the writer, has faced the despair of age and asked, "Are my the best moments now behind me?" Hesse seems to be suggesting that whilst the answer may well be yes, that doesn't mean there's nothing to look forward to.
Firstly, it is one of the best allegories of leadership that I have ever read. The intrepid group undertaking the Journey to the East (a spiritual rather than geographic destination) are having a ball until one day they notice that one of their servants in missing. The realisation dawns on them that they all in various ways depend on this servant, Leo. He models lightness of spirit, he offers a listening ear and words of wisdom, and in his luggage he seems to carry all the important things required for the journey. Without him the journey becomes impossible - Leo was a true leader - not in name but in character.
Secondly, it is a book about loss: losing faith, losing youth and losing innocence. But unlike many books Hesse doesn't end there. He hints at what lies beyond... there are rays of hope for every reader who, like the writer, has faced the despair of age and asked, "Are my the best moments now behind me?" Hesse seems to be suggesting that whilst the answer may well be yes, that doesn't mean there's nothing to look forward to.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
By T E
Format:Paperback
This short story of Hesse's has a magical quality; it tends to project the reader temporarily into a radically different mode of thought, and is quite beautifully written. It is also noticeably ambivalent towards many of the aspirations of the modern world, and in this sense is a welcome relief from much contemporary fiction. The one thing to note for this edition is that it is listed on Amazon as 'hardcover' when the best that can really be said of it is that it is a stiffer paperback.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
By Garga
Format:Paperback
Not sure how it happened, but I read this book at just the right time - I was, as many readers of Hesse probably are, on my own journey to the east at the time! His books were easy to pick up in India as they are/were favourites on the backpackers trail and crop up in the book exchanges and second hand shops you find on the way.
This book made more of an impression on me even than the more celebrated Siddhartha and Glass Bead Game - the work is a kind of parable that follows a spiritual group journeying through Europe in search of who knows what.....they seem to wonder through different eras of history and reality and fantasy are interwoven - the spiritual message within the story comes through strongly and it was this that really got under my skin when I read it - inspiring me towards a more meditative and spiritual life.
Sadly for an english speaker, the translation is a little dry (as so many translations are) but don't be put off - once you get used to the writing style, the story is compelling and the book really captures your imagination. My copy had an introduction by Timothy Leary which I am sure has attracted a lot of people who would not otherwise read the book. It's total garbage, but if it gets people reading the Hesse books then fine :)
A short book but a real gem - hope you get as much from it as I did.
This book made more of an impression on me even than the more celebrated Siddhartha and Glass Bead Game - the work is a kind of parable that follows a spiritual group journeying through Europe in search of who knows what.....they seem to wonder through different eras of history and reality and fantasy are interwoven - the spiritual message within the story comes through strongly and it was this that really got under my skin when I read it - inspiring me towards a more meditative and spiritual life.
Sadly for an english speaker, the translation is a little dry (as so many translations are) but don't be put off - once you get used to the writing style, the story is compelling and the book really captures your imagination. My copy had an introduction by Timothy Leary which I am sure has attracted a lot of people who would not otherwise read the book. It's total garbage, but if it gets people reading the Hesse books then fine :)
A short book but a real gem - hope you get as much from it as I did.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
A 'modern parable'
This is a clever, well written story that rests upon a convoluted and surrealistic 'logic ; you need some knowledge of eastern religion ( chiefly Hinduism ) literature and Hesse's... Read more
Published 4 months ago by John
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Journey to the East
This book has been my personal bible for many years. The importance of 'not selling your violin' will always be with me.
Published 11 months ago by Mr C G Jackson
4.0 out of 5 stars
Intriguing Novella from Hesse
I've read most of Hesse's works, both fiction and non-fiction, and this is probably one of my least favourites. Read more
Published 21 months ago by Glasgow Reader
5.0 out of 5 stars
Journey to Understanding
Of course the paradoxical lesson of this profound mythical book is its influence on Robert Greenleaf and the modern servant leadership movement, which is flourishing everywhere... Read more
Published 24 months ago by David T. Guerra
2.0 out of 5 stars
Ah, the Folly of Youth...
Hermann Hesse won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1946. As the Nobel Committee so often does, it chose an individual who represented a minority position within his/her overall... Read more
Published on 22 April 2011 by John P. Jones III
4.0 out of 5 stars
VERY, VERY ENJOYABLE
Cool, short story. Great ending and, having read it the once, works even better the second time around (it's only short - you can do it).
Published on 4 Jan 2009 by Easily Me
5.0 out of 5 stars
new insight
This journey by Hermann Hesse leads to an extra-ordinary place non other the self. It provides a mystical window to the reader for finding the micro and the macrocosm.
Published on 14 Mar 2006 by Akhtar Wasim Dar
5.0 out of 5 stars
What goes around.............
Hermanne Hesse's reputation flowered amongst the sixties 'love affair' with all things Zen and Eastern, but in recent years his Buddhist allegories of self discovery have passed... Read more
Published on 15 July 2001 by jharvey@ybp.co.uk
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