‘Beautifully written. It has a seriousness as compelling as that of The Waste Land’ Observer

‘Rich and strange’ Guardian

Emil Sinclair is a troubled young outsider. But everything changes when he meets Max Demian, a mysterious and charismatic older student, who reveals the glittering possibilities that lie beyond conventional thinking and ordinary life.

Under the intoxicating influence of his new mentor, Emil sets out on a journey of spiritual fulfilment, as he wrestles with the boundaries between illusion and truth, purity and corruption.

Teeming with psychological insight, Demian is a profound and enduring exploration of adolescent awakening from Nobel Prize-winner Hermann Hesse.

Part of the Pushkin Press Classics series: timeless storytelling by icons of literature, hand-picked from around the globe.

Hermann Hesse (1877–1962) was born in Württemberg, Germany. He resented his pious and repressive upbringing, and was determined to be “a writer or nothing else”. His writing was greatly influenced by his travels to Asia and through his friendship with psychoanalyst Carl Jung. In 1946 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature.