![]() ![]() This blocks about a third of the beautiful cover illustration by fashionable designer Julian House but on the plus side, (a) it may attract people to the book who wouldn’t otherwise consider it (er, other than those swayed by a Penguin Modern Classic tag), and (b) the introduction is very short. As with Robert Walser’s The Assistant, they’ve pulled out the promotional stops by wrapping the book in a vivid red sleeve, advertising a new introduction by the egregious Paulo Coelho (the Helen Steiner Rice de nos jours). (A presumption which had a purity all its own, untainted by evidence.) Now Penguin have gone and made me rethink my prejudice by issuing the book in their fine Modern Classics range. As for Siddhartha, well, a rationalist, sceptical soul like me knew it for a load of sentimental, soft-hearted spiritualism. Gave up on Steppenwolf, intimidated by the scale of The Glass Bead Game (not to mention his Nobel), and tempted – but not enough – by lesser-known titles such as Peter Camenzind and Strange News from Another Star. Hermann Hesse is yet another of those authors I’ve never had much success with. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |