“Hermann Hesse spent his life searching for truth and inner harmony outside Germany. Yet his quests to the East ultimately led him back to the West and to the realization that the alternatives he found in the East offered no short cut to salvation. To mark the 50th anniversary of his death, Gunnar Decker presents a new biography of the successful author, one which also explains the Orientalism in his work.” >review (c) Qantara.de 2012