赫尔曼·黑塞（Hermann Hesse，1877－1962）：德国作家、诗人、评论家，20世纪最伟大的文学家之一。以《德米安：埃米尔·辛克莱的彷徨少年时》、《荒原狼》、《悉 达多》、《玻璃球游戏》等作品享誉世界文坛。1923年46岁入瑞士籍。1946年获诺贝尔文学奖。自上世纪60年代起，黑塞就成为美国大众的最爱，他出 现在《史努比》系列漫画中，纽约的女大学生说“黑塞是今天美国需要的反物质主义的发酵酶”，他的“Do your own thing”也成为美国整整几代青年人的座右铭；在日本，黑塞是除了歌德之外最著名的德国作家；迄今为止，在日本和美国，黑塞是20世纪被阅读最多的德语 作家。黑塞崇拜还蔓延至全球，他的作品被翻译成40多种语言，总印数超过1.4亿册。
Siddhartha is an allegorical novel by Hermann Hesse which deals with the spiritual journey of an Indian boy called Siddhartha during the time of the Buddha.
The book, Hesse’s ninth novel, was written in German, in a simple, yet powerful and lyrical, style. It was first published in 1922, after Hesse had spent some time in India in the 1910s. It was published in the U.S. in 1951 and became influential during the 1960s.
The word Siddhartha is made up of two words in the Sanskrit language, siddha (gotten) + artha (meaning or wealth). The two words together mean “one who has found meaning (of existence)” or “he who has attained his goals”. The Buddha’s name, before his renunciation, was Prince Siddhartha Gautama, later the Buddha. In this book, the Buddha is referred to as “Gotama”.
