Hermann Hesse's 1922 novel — following Siddhartha's spiritual journey in ancient India through asceticism, sensuality, and merchant life to ultimate enlightenment — the most widely read Western novel about Eastern spiritual seeking.
Creates the Eastern spirituality quest novel in Western form — Siddhartha's synthesis of Hindu and Buddhist philosophy (atman, Brahman, the river, the sound of Om) with German Romanticism made Eastern spirituality accessible to Western readers; it is the primary vehicle through which 20th century Western readers encountered Buddhist concepts.
No recorded contemporaries.
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