From the Publisher
“A poetic novel unique in its fascination.” —Thomas Mann
“Hesse was a great writer in precisely the modern sense: complex, subtle, allusive; alive to the importance of play, to the desperate yet frolicsome game of writing....Narcissus and Goldmund is his very best....What makes this short book so limitlessly vast is the body-and-soul-shaking debate that runs through it, which it has the honesty and courage not to resolve: between the flesh and spirit, art and scientific or religious speculation, action and contemplation, between the wayfaring and the sedentary in us.” —The New York Times Book Review
“One of the most profound and magical novels published in our age.” —Kirkus Reviews
JUNE 2009 - AudioFile
Set in medieval Germany, this much-lauded 1930 novel contrasts its hero, the mercurial wandering artist Goldmund, with his great friend, Narcissus, an Apollonian intellectual and priest. The former meanders through medieval Germany, womanizing and striving to discover the meaning of his wayward life, while the latter dedicates his life to science and contemplation. Despite the many violent and emotional occurrences limned herein, narrator Simon Vance adopts a gentle tone, beautifully suggesting the mystical, poetic, and arcane nature of the parable-like story. This he retains throughout while still doing ample justice to the passages of drama, pathos, and humor. A neat trick and one that enhances every passage of this excellent translation. Y.R. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine
