Hans Giebernathlives among the dull & respectable townsfolk of a sleepyBlack Forestvillage. When he is discovered to be an exceptionally gifted student, the entire community presses him onto a path of serious scholarship.Hansdutifully follows the regimen of study & endless examinations, his success rewarded only with more crushing assignments.WhenHansbefriends a rebellious young poet, he begins to imagine other possibilities outside the narrowly circumscribed world of the academy. Finally sent home after a nervous breakdown,Hansis revived by nature & romance, & vows never to return to the gray conformity of the academic system.°°°“Hesse brings his point of view on the intersection of traditional Eastern & Western society to this story of a young scholar who slowly grows disillusioned by the world of academia. As he falls in love with a fellow classmate & strays off his rigid life path, you can’t help but draw similar emotional parallels to our society’s most recent collective pandemic years, though this story was published in 1906. A necessary trigger warning for this recommendation is that it depicts suicidal thoughts & death. —Margaret Lin,Vanity Fair