Demian

This first major novel by Nobel Prize-winning author Hermann Hesse incorporates a theme he returned to again and again in most of his works: the fundamental duality of existence. The youthful protagonist, Emil Sinclair, recognizes that life consists of opposing forces; however, his older friend, Max Demian, manages to both clarify and complicate Sinclair's confusion about life's conflicting values. Recounted in engaging prose, rich in sympathy and imagination, this brilliant psychological portrait of a troubled young man's exploration of the polarities of human nature has retained its remarkable power as a poignant statement of the terrors and torments of adolescence.