Beneath the Wheel
Author | : Hermann Hesse |
Publisher | : Farrar, Straus and Giroux |
Total Pages | : 196 |
Release | : 2013-01-22 |
ISBN-10 | : 9781466835047 |
ISBN-13 | : 1466835044 |
Rating | : 4/5 (47 Downloads) |
Book excerpt: Hans Giebernath lives among the dull and respectable townsfolk of a sleepy Black Forest village. When he is discovered to be an exceptionally gifted student, the entire community presses him onto a path of serious scholarship. Hans dutifully follows the regimen of study and endless examinations, his success rewarded only with more crushing assignments. When Hans befriends 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, Hans is revived by nature and romance, and vows never to return to the gray conformity of the academic system.