What do you think?
Rate this book
Najsłynniejsze opowiadania
Hermann Hesse, poeta i prozaik niemiecki uhonorowany Nagrodą Nobla w 1946 roku, autor tak znanych powieści jak Wilk stepowy czy Gra szklanych paciorków, pozostawił w swym dorobku także kilkanaście cennych opowiadań. Utwory zawarte w niniejszym tomie pochodzą z różnych okresów twórczości pisarza. Są literackim świadectwem kolejnych etapów rozwoju intelektualnego i artystycznego ich twórcy.
448 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2001
18 people are currently reading
180 people want to read
About the author
Hermann Hesse
1,795 books19.5k followersMany works, including
Siddhartha
(1922) and
Steppenwolf
(1927), of German-born Swiss writer Hermann Hesse concern the struggle of the individual to find wholeness and meaning in life; he won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1946.
Other best-known works of this poet, novelist, and painter include The Glass Bead Game , which, also known as Magister Ludi, explore a search of an individual for spirituality outside society.
In his time, Hesse was a popular and influential author in the German-speaking world; worldwide fame only came later. Young Germans desiring a different and more "natural" way of life at the time of great economic and technological progress in the country, received enthusiastically Peter Camenzind , first great novel of Hesse.
Throughout Germany, people named many schools. In 1964, people founded the Calwer Hermann-Hesse-Preis, awarded biennially, alternately to a German-language literary journal or to the translator of work of Hesse to a foreign language. The city of Karlsruhe, Germany, also associates a Hermann Hesse prize.
Other best-known works of this poet, novelist, and painter include The Glass Bead Game , which, also known as Magister Ludi, explore a search of an individual for spirituality outside society.
In his time, Hesse was a popular and influential author in the German-speaking world; worldwide fame only came later. Young Germans desiring a different and more "natural" way of life at the time of great economic and technological progress in the country, received enthusiastically Peter Camenzind , first great novel of Hesse.
Throughout Germany, people named many schools. In 1964, people founded the Calwer Hermann-Hesse-Preis, awarded biennially, alternately to a German-language literary journal or to the translator of work of Hesse to a foreign language. The city of Karlsruhe, Germany, also associates a Hermann Hesse prize.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
May 16, 2021
Saved this book when we had to dissolve the library of my grandpa after his death. Siddharta touched me deeply when I read it years ago, and also his short stories really spoke to me. I have a picture of Hesse as an intense, self-reflective and idealistic man struggling to find his path in a society where he feels more like an observer and record keeper of beauty and pain and stupidity happening around him.
What I liked most about the stories is how real they felt and how much care Hesse seems to take in giving the characters the depth to display the complicated inner life that I perceive in myself and others. I am now reminded of Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment, just that the short stories are overall more hopeful and maybe more concerned with beauty and the struggle for it.
Though I should be careful here, I liked the idea of getting a view inside the minds of Germans in the time Hesse wrote his stories, from 1903 to 1953. Many characters seem like they just get minor updates over the centuries, for example the young, unsociable and aimless private tutor of an upper-class family who falls in love with a you woman who visits the family during holidays, feeling unfavourably assessed and ashamed in her presence. Somewhat very relatable.
Another story, "In der alten Sonne", tells the story of an retired and bankrupt former factory owner without a family who has to move into the broken down hotel that is now the city financed retirement home, where he is forced to do tasks he doesn't wish to do and to socialise with mentally unstable bedroom companions. Sad but also somehow dignified.
Two stories prominently include vegetarian world-improvy societies, which I found mildly mind-blowing. In one, Hesse makes fun of the already back then popular idea that the way forward for humanity was getting as close as possible back to nature and self-sufficiency. The main character of this story, "Dr. Knölges Ende", ends up being clubbed to death by the most advanced back-to-nature guru, who in the end-stages of his progress was only known as Monkey Jonas. In the other story, "Der Weltverbesserer", Hesse writes about a conference "for all those, who, by word or by action, are striving for a reform of life and of humanity", where a talk by a Russian, calling all "non-vegetarianist" people body-eaters (Leichenfresser), starts a flamewar, while the main character learns the pleasures of civil society after living alone in a hut for some years.
A final theme are Hesse's processings of childhood memories. I particularly liked "Aus Kinderzeiten", a story of a boy who one day remembers that he hasn't seen a friend for some time and finds out he's confined to his bed and will probably die of leukaemia. The boy is shaken how he could've forgotten him for so long. I can't put my finger on it, but some part inside of me is scared of and heartbroken about forgetting people that ever were important to me. In a later story close to his death, "Kaminfegerchen", Hesse reflects on the difference between him and normies, pointing to his strong desire of finding, memorising and remembering all beautiful moments and features that happen around him.
"Kinderseele" is the story of how he struggles with shame after eating the expensive dates his father had hidden in his study room. At some point the child is so filled with shame that it wants to take revenge and destroy, and simultaneously self-immolate by finally once and for all uncovering how appalling it is, freeing itself from the requirement of questioning itself and hiding its inadequacies all the time. Also never saw this before and one corner of my mind could relate.
What I liked most about the stories is how real they felt and how much care Hesse seems to take in giving the characters the depth to display the complicated inner life that I perceive in myself and others. I am now reminded of Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment, just that the short stories are overall more hopeful and maybe more concerned with beauty and the struggle for it.
Though I should be careful here, I liked the idea of getting a view inside the minds of Germans in the time Hesse wrote his stories, from 1903 to 1953. Many characters seem like they just get minor updates over the centuries, for example the young, unsociable and aimless private tutor of an upper-class family who falls in love with a you woman who visits the family during holidays, feeling unfavourably assessed and ashamed in her presence. Somewhat very relatable.
Die Gegenwart eines altmodischen Professors und zweier junger Damen wirkte versteinernd auf ihn. Er war im Angstgefühl seiner jungen Würde beständig auf irgendwelche Angriffe, ja Beleidigungen gefaßt, welche er zum voraus durch eiskalte Blicke und angestrengtes Schweigen abzuwehren bemüht war. [...]
Herr Homburger merkte endlich, daß niemand Angriffe auf ihn plane, sah aber nun zu spät, daß sein Schweigen unfein gewesen war, und glaubte sich von seiner Nachbarin höhnisch betrachtet zu wissen. Er senkte deshalb den Kopf so weit, daß eine leichte Falte unterm Kinn entstand, zog die Augenbrauen hoch und schien Probleme im Kopf zu wälzen.
Another story, "In der alten Sonne", tells the story of an retired and bankrupt former factory owner without a family who has to move into the broken down hotel that is now the city financed retirement home, where he is forced to do tasks he doesn't wish to do and to socialise with mentally unstable bedroom companions. Sad but also somehow dignified.
Two stories prominently include vegetarian world-improvy societies, which I found mildly mind-blowing. In one, Hesse makes fun of the already back then popular idea that the way forward for humanity was getting as close as possible back to nature and self-sufficiency. The main character of this story, "Dr. Knölges Ende", ends up being clubbed to death by the most advanced back-to-nature guru, who in the end-stages of his progress was only known as Monkey Jonas. In the other story, "Der Weltverbesserer", Hesse writes about a conference "for all those, who, by word or by action, are striving for a reform of life and of humanity", where a talk by a Russian, calling all "non-vegetarianist" people body-eaters (Leichenfresser), starts a flamewar, while the main character learns the pleasures of civil society after living alone in a hut for some years.
A final theme are Hesse's processings of childhood memories. I particularly liked "Aus Kinderzeiten", a story of a boy who one day remembers that he hasn't seen a friend for some time and finds out he's confined to his bed and will probably die of leukaemia. The boy is shaken how he could've forgotten him for so long. I can't put my finger on it, but some part inside of me is scared of and heartbroken about forgetting people that ever were important to me. In a later story close to his death, "Kaminfegerchen", Hesse reflects on the difference between him and normies, pointing to his strong desire of finding, memorising and remembering all beautiful moments and features that happen around him.
"Kinderseele" is the story of how he struggles with shame after eating the expensive dates his father had hidden in his study room. At some point the child is so filled with shame that it wants to take revenge and destroy, and simultaneously self-immolate by finally once and for all uncovering how appalling it is, freeing itself from the requirement of questioning itself and hiding its inadequacies all the time. Also never saw this before and one corner of my mind could relate.
Es fehlte ja nur noch eine Kleinigkeit, eine winzige Kleinigkeit mehr an Angst und Leid und Ratlosigkeit, dann lief es über, dann mupte es ein Ende mit Schrecken nehmen. Eines Tages, an gerade so einem Tag wie heute, würde ich vollends im Bösen untersinken, ich würde in Trotz und Wut und wegen der sinnlosen Unerträglichkeit dieses Lebens etwas Gräßliches und Entscheidendes tun, etwas Gräßliches, aber Befreiendes, das der Angst und Quälerei ein Ende machte, für immer. Ungewiß war, was es sein würde; aber Phantasien und vorläufige Zwangsvorstellungen davon waren mir schon mehrmals verwirrend durch den Kopf gegangen, Vorstellungen von Verbrechen, mit denen ich an der Welt Rache nehmen und zugleich mich selbst preisgeben und vernichten würde.
May 8, 2010
Some beautiful lines of that book:
Und schließlich machte sie es, wie es die meisten Leute in derartigen Lagen machen: sie wog ihre Entschlüsse so lang gegeneinander ab, bis sie gleichsam abgenutzt waren und zusammen wieder dasselbe zweifelnde Schwanken darstellten wie in der ersten Stunde. (Der Lateinschüler)
Sie horchte und lehnte sich zurück und lächelte. Es war schade, daß niemand es sehen konnte, denn ihr Lächeln war von der echten Art. Es geschah weniger mit den Lippen als mit den Augen; das ganze Gesicht, Stirn und Wangen glänzten innig mit, und es sah aus wie ein tiefes Verstehen und Liebhaben. (Heumond)
Wenn er genau darüber nachdachte, haßte er diese ganze Gattung. Sie sahen alle schön aus, aber sie hatten auch alle die gleiche demütigende Zierlichkeit und Sicherheit im Benehmen, die gleichen hochmütigen Ansprüche und die gleiche geringschätzende Herablassung gegen Jünglinge seines Alters. Und wenn sie lachten oder lächelten, was sie sehr häufig taten, sah es oft so unleidlich maskenhaft und verligen aus. Darin waren die Backfische doch viel erträglicher. (Heumond)
Ich ahnte auch, daß meine anderen Hoffnungen nicht haltbarer sein würden. Ich ahnte, daß auch in meiner Heimat alle Dinge graun und glanzlos geworden seien, und daß es überall so sein würde, wohin ich ginge.
Diese Ahnung hat mich nicht getäuscht. Es ist etwas verlorengegangen, was früher in der Welt war, ein gewisser unschuldiger Duft und Liebreiz, und ich weiß nicht, ob das wiederkommen kann. (Taedium vitae)
Und schließlich machte sie es, wie es die meisten Leute in derartigen Lagen machen: sie wog ihre Entschlüsse so lang gegeneinander ab, bis sie gleichsam abgenutzt waren und zusammen wieder dasselbe zweifelnde Schwanken darstellten wie in der ersten Stunde. (Der Lateinschüler)
Sie horchte und lehnte sich zurück und lächelte. Es war schade, daß niemand es sehen konnte, denn ihr Lächeln war von der echten Art. Es geschah weniger mit den Lippen als mit den Augen; das ganze Gesicht, Stirn und Wangen glänzten innig mit, und es sah aus wie ein tiefes Verstehen und Liebhaben. (Heumond)
Wenn er genau darüber nachdachte, haßte er diese ganze Gattung. Sie sahen alle schön aus, aber sie hatten auch alle die gleiche demütigende Zierlichkeit und Sicherheit im Benehmen, die gleichen hochmütigen Ansprüche und die gleiche geringschätzende Herablassung gegen Jünglinge seines Alters. Und wenn sie lachten oder lächelten, was sie sehr häufig taten, sah es oft so unleidlich maskenhaft und verligen aus. Darin waren die Backfische doch viel erträglicher. (Heumond)
Ich ahnte auch, daß meine anderen Hoffnungen nicht haltbarer sein würden. Ich ahnte, daß auch in meiner Heimat alle Dinge graun und glanzlos geworden seien, und daß es überall so sein würde, wohin ich ginge.
Diese Ahnung hat mich nicht getäuscht. Es ist etwas verlorengegangen, was früher in der Welt war, ein gewisser unschuldiger Duft und Liebreiz, und ich weiß nicht, ob das wiederkommen kann. (Taedium vitae)
April 22, 2011
Ich liebe Hesse.
Sein Stil, über was er schreibt, wie er darüber schreibt. Sein Umgang mit Worten. Grandios.
Wie bei solchen "Geschichten-Sammelbänden" üblich, gibt es auch hier Geschichten, die mir etwas weniger gut gefallen haben, als andere. Aber die sind in der Unterzahl. Dafür hat sich das überziehen und die Mahngebühren gelohnt *flöt*. (Habe eben unübliche Wege, die städtische Bibo zu unterstützen *g*)
Sein Stil, über was er schreibt, wie er darüber schreibt. Sein Umgang mit Worten. Grandios.
Wie bei solchen "Geschichten-Sammelbänden" üblich, gibt es auch hier Geschichten, die mir etwas weniger gut gefallen haben, als andere. Aber die sind in der Unterzahl. Dafür hat sich das überziehen und die Mahngebühren gelohnt *flöt*. (Habe eben unübliche Wege, die städtische Bibo zu unterstützen *g*)
August 28, 2008
Wonderful stories, very poetic, beautiful
May 12, 2017
Gosto de ler Hermann Hesse. É um dos meus escritores alemães preferidos e acredito que Hess tenha escrito um bom livro, mas a verdade é que, apesar de bem escrito, "As mais belas histórias" não me transmitiram grande coisa, não me fizeram vibrar, não me agarraram quase nunca, com excepção de um conto, "O Mendigo".
Vi-me grega para chegar ao fim (que parecia nunca mais chegar) e tive pressa de o terminar. Senti-me, muitas vezes, alienada do que estava a ler, superficial, desconcertada. E estas não são sensações que costume ter com Hesse. Não sei o que se passou. Terá resultado do meu exagerado e já incontrolável cansaço? Do stress em que tenho andado nos últimos dias? Não sei.
Sei, todavia, que nunca fui, desde que entrei na adolescência e agora em adulta, grande adepta de livros de contos. Sabem-me sempre a pouco. Acho-os pouco intensos, demasiado rápidos e pouco imprevistos. Será mania minha? Talvez. Espero um dia perceber...!
Vi-me grega para chegar ao fim (que parecia nunca mais chegar) e tive pressa de o terminar. Senti-me, muitas vezes, alienada do que estava a ler, superficial, desconcertada. E estas não são sensações que costume ter com Hesse. Não sei o que se passou. Terá resultado do meu exagerado e já incontrolável cansaço? Do stress em que tenho andado nos últimos dias? Não sei.
Sei, todavia, que nunca fui, desde que entrei na adolescência e agora em adulta, grande adepta de livros de contos. Sabem-me sempre a pouco. Acho-os pouco intensos, demasiado rápidos e pouco imprevistos. Será mania minha? Talvez. Espero um dia perceber...!
June 6, 2025
Desde short stories que roçam uma espécie de sci-fi até a estórias sobre uma infância que, mesmo tendo sido passada nos finais do século XIX, mantém a sua universalidade, Herman Hesse traz-nos humanismo, espiritualidade e humor em todos os seus contos.
Definitivamente um dos grandes escritores do século XX e um dos meus favoritos.
Definitivamente um dos grandes escritores do século XX e um dos meus favoritos.
January 3, 2018
Doamne ajuta ca am terminat cartea asta. Nici nu mi-a luat aproape un an. Dar povestile astea clasice sunt ataaaat de plictisitoare incat nu am cum sa ma mobilizez cand vine vorba de ele.
July 27, 2023
2.5, to zdecydowanie nie mój autor
November 4, 2023
São mesmo belas histórias. De uma simplicidade deslumbrante.
November 3, 2025
Como autor galardoado com Prémio Nobel esperava melhor. São contos simples, bonitos alguns, mas não as mais belas histórias, como o livro se intitula.
December 20, 2012
Most of them are good stories, I can't deny that. I am aware that each character represents some part of ourselves, each story reflects the individual and some - the society. After I read them I had a strange state of suppressed pain, but not a pain from which you can escape into unexpected realms; a faded pain that is smoldering in anxiety.
I wish I liked them more...I guess after reading Steppenwolf my expectations were exaggerated and reckless.
Overall, it's a good reading.
I wish I liked them more...I guess after reading Steppenwolf my expectations were exaggerated and reckless.
Overall, it's a good reading.
October 1, 2016
O livro trata-se de memórias do autor. As histórias representadas são belas e simples, sem nenhum fim ou moral associado, tendo como principal objectivo captar a autenticidade desse leque de imagens vividas pelo o autor. Contudo, todas essas histórias servem para o conhecer melhor. E já por isso, não consigo dar menos de 4 estrelas. Todo o texto que me aproxime mais de Hermann, já por si, vale a pena ser lido.
January 22, 2011
As cheesy as it gets. Some stories are indeed a good read but most are simply boring and very cliché.
November 18, 2012
Com a tota col·lecció hi ha contes que t'agraden més i d'altres menys. Tots molt ben escrits, i un parell de magnífics.
August 8, 2014
Er hat einfach schöne, leserfreundliche Geschichten geschrieben, und nicht nur "fade Limonade", wie Alfred Döblin sich seinem Schaffen gegenüber geäußert hat. ;-)
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews