Beneath the Wheel
Author: Hermann Hesse
Desc: In Hermann Hesse's Beneath the Wheel or The Prodigy Hans Giebenrath lives among the dull and respectable townsfolk of a sleepy Black Forest village. When he is discovered to be an exceptionally gifted student the entire community presses him onto a path of serious scholarship. Hans dutifully follows the regimen of tireless study and endless examinations his success rewarded only with more crushing assignments. When Hans befriends a rebellious young poet he begins to imagine other possibilities outside the narrowly circumscribed world of the academy. Finally sent home after a nervous breakdown Hans is revived by nature and romance and vows never to return to the gray conformity of the academic system.