Siddhartha

…

…novel--the universal desire and quest for self- realization--blended well with the hippie movement that was ongoing during the 1960s, when it was written. The novel is an enactment of the very effort it describes: having yet to achieve it in his own life, Hesse struggles via his writing to attain the same unity of mind, spirit, and body that his protagonist seeks. Siddhartha is Herman Hesse, or rather, what Herman Hesse is trying to achieve.