The Journey to the East
Author: Hermann Hesse
Desc: In simple mesmerizing prose Hermann Hesse's Journey to the East tells of a journey both geographic and spiritual. H.H. a German choirmaster is invited on an expedition with the League a secret society whose members include Paul Klee Mozart and Albertus Magnus. The participants traverse both space and time encountering Noah's Ark in Zurich and Don Quixote at Bremgarten. The pilgrims' ultimate destination is the East the "Home of the Light " where they expect to find spiritual renewal. Yet the harmony that ruled at the outset of the trip soon degenerates into an opening conflict. Each traveler finds the rest of the group intolerable and heads off in his own direction with H.H. bitterly blaming the others for the failure of the journey. It is only long after the trip while poring over records in the League archives that H.H. discovers his own role in the dissolution of the group and the ominous significance of the journey itself.