The Journey to the East

The Journey to the EastA great writer . . . complex, subtle, allusive. New York Times Book Review In simple, mesmerizing prose, Hermann Hesse's Journey to the East 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.

A great writer . . . complex, subtle, allusive. - New York Times Book Review

In simple, mesmerizing prose, Hermann Hesse's Journey to the East 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.

Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: Picador USA
Published: 02/01/2003
ISBN: 9780312421687
Pages: 128
Weight: 0.26lbs
Size: 8.24h x 5.50w x 0.37d

Review Citations: Entertainment Weekly 03/21/2014 pg. 41