In 1919, when Hermann Hesse moves to Ticino, he is already a well known author of works such as Peter Camenzind (1904), (1906), Beneath the Wheel, Gertrud (1910), Rosshalde (1914), Knulp (1915), Demian (1917) and other short stories.

In Ticino he produces at first the two tales Klein and Wagner (1919) and Klingsor's Last Summer (1920), then the following works, which will make him popular worldwide: Siddharta (1922) Kurgast (1925), Narcissus and Goldmund (1930), Stunden im Garden (1935) and The Glass Bead Game (1943).

The novel Steppenwolf, on the other hand,  was written in Zurich, in Schanzengraben 31, in the small two rooms apartment where Hesse lived during the Winter. In this period of crisis, he travelled a lot between Basle, Zurich and Montagnola and to Germany for lectures.

Until his death, in 1962, Hesse wrote numerous works, articles, reflections and poems on his adoptive country, Ticino.

Volker Michels, reader at Suhrkamp Publishers, gathered and arranged this material into topics for Insel Publishers.

In 2005 the collection Hermann Hesse, Sämtliche Werke in 20 Bänder, edited by Volker Michels, is published by Suhrkamp Publishers. This collection  gathers the whole work by Hermann Hesse.

 

 

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