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In August 1904, Hermann Hesse and his wife Maria Bernouilli,
whom he had first met in Basel, come to Gaienhofen on Lake Constance. The
newly-wed couple move into a simply appointed farmhouse at Kapellenberg
right in the centre of the village. The years on Lake Constance are inextricably
linked with Hesse's first major successes as a novelist and writer. Peter
Camenzind (1904) draws paeans from the critics, while Unterm Rad
(1906) proves to be a big seller. Hesse adapts to the seclusion and naturalness
of rural life, develops a "sense of being settled," and is highly
prolific as a writer. A number of stories are written while he is living
on Lake Constance, and he also makes a name for himself as a literary critic
and contributor to a number of literary periodicals. And Hesse also becomes
a father. In 1905, his first son, Bruno, is born, and he is followed, in
1909 and 1911, by sons Heiner and Martin. To find the extra space needed
for the family, the couple build - with the help of the father-in-law from
Basel - a more comfortable house of their own on the outskirts of Gaienhofen.
Socially, too, Hesse begins to establish himself. He maintains regular contacts
to countless artists, musicians and painters who have followed him to the
idyllic region around Lake Constance, among them Otto Blümel, who designs
many books by Hesse. And Ludwig Finckh, his friend from Tübingen, sets up
us a physician in the immediate vicinity. Among those to have come later
were expressionist painters Erich Herkel and Otto Dix. Yet Gaienhofen is
unable to become a permanent home. Hesse undertakes journeys that he himself
describes as little "escapes." In 1911, he travels to India. A
year later, the house in Gaienhofen is sold. The family moves to Berne in
Switzerland. |