The Journey To The East
First published 1932 · 128 pages
- Novels
- Adventure
- Fantasy
- Philosophy
A short, enigmatic novel narrated by H.H., who recalls taking part in a secret League of travellers journeying through space and time toward an Eastern ideal. Figures from history and literature appear among the companions. After a crisis the narrator loses touch with the group and tries to understand what went wrong. It is a gentle, symbolic tale about faith, memory and the search for spiritual community, and it prepares the ground for Hesse's later work.
Quotes
It is the law of service. He who wishes to live long must serve, but he who wishes to rule does not live long...
It was not for me to convert Lukas, but I gave him some corrected information; for instance...that Zoroaster, Lao Tse, Plato, Xenophon, Pythagoras, Albertus Magnus, Don Quixote, Tristram Shandy, Novalis and Baudelaire were co-founders and brothers of our League. p. 43
Leo looked at me with a warning glance to be patient, silent and respectful, and disappeared amongst the crowd... I perceived familiar faces, serious or smiling. I saw the figure of Albertus Magnus, the ferryman Vasudeva, the artist Klingsor, and others. p. 68
I, who could not decipher or understand one thousandth part of those millions of scripts, books, pictures and references in the archives! Humbled, unspeakably foolish, unspeakably ridiculous, not understanding myself, feeling extremely small, I saw myself... p. 76