Siddhartha is a Sanskrit word meaning “the one who has accomplished his goal”. The eponymous protagonist of Siddhartha (1922) eventually achieves his goal, and Hesse’s novel is essentially the story of Siddhartha’s voyage of self-discovery. As with Hesse’s other important novels of the 1920s, Demian and Der Steppenwolf, Siddhartha is a tale about the quest for enlightenment, about finding one’s way in a world that marginalizes the more serious-minded.
Hesse wrote Siddhartha between 1919 and 1922. Set in India, the novel reveals the author’s interest in and familiarity with the subcontinent and its religious and cultural practices. Hesse’s grandfather had been a missionary in India, and his father had spent time as a missionary in southeastern Asia as well. Hesse himself had traveled to Ceylon (today: Sri Lanka), Singapore, and Sumatra in 1911 to visit...
1274 words
Citation: Skidmore, James M.. "Siddhartha. Eine indische Dichtung". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 12 February 2008 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=11490, accessed 09 June 2026.]
