Rosshalde * Hermann Hesse

A 1914 modernist novel exploring the severe conflict between marital duty and spiritual or artistic freedom. 

The plot centers on Johann Veraguth, a wealthy and successful painter, who lives an estranged, stifling life from his wife, Adele, on their opulent estate, Rosshalde. The couple avoids one another - living in separate houses on the property - and are only tenuously linked by their deep love for their youngest son, Pierre.

Torn between his responsibilities as a father and his yearning for spiritual fulfillment -which his explorer friend urges him to seek in the East - Veraguth struggles with profound internal turmoil. When young Pierre falls deathly ill, it draws the parents closer in shared grief but ultimately triggers a tragic tipping point that forces Johann to confront his detachment from life and find the courage to leave Rosshalde to discover himself anew.

Highly autobiographical, the novel reflects Hesse's own private struggles with marriage and the isolating nature of being a dedicated artist right before the outbreak of World War I. 

Hermann Hesse won the 1946 Nobel Prize in Literature.

First published 1914. Published May 1972 by Bantam Books