The poet
A Fable
By Hermann Hesse
Translation by Dr. Kate Roy
Wood Block Prints by Kristen Etmund
Afterword by Prof. Dr. Ingo Cornils
Slipcase Edition: Out of Print
Deluxe Edition: $1850.00 (Inquire/Limited)
When Hermann Hesse (1877-1962) wrote his fairy tale The Poet in 1913, he was at a crossroads. His career had gone well, taking him from obscurity as a romantic poet to national fame, but he knew full well that something was missing. On a three-month sea voyage to Sumatra, Singapore, and Sri Lanka (Ceylon) in 1911, in the footsteps of his missionary parents and grandfather, he had hoped to experience the spirituality and philosophy of the mystical ‘East’ but found it corrupted by European influence. What stood out to him, though, were the radically different cultural ideals of the Chinese people he encountered.
In Hermann Hesse’s fable The Poet, published in 1913, we meet the Chinese youth Han Fook, who is grappling with the tension between his creative impulses, spiritual leanings, and the societal expectations associated with his wealthy family. Hesse portrays the young poet as a seeker on a quest for deeper meaning and enlightenment. This poet’s journey, with a master at the river’s headwaters in the mountains, reflects a spiritual awakening that unfolds through struggle, the transformative power of the creative urge, and the difficulty that often awaits one along the journey down such paths.
Hesse’s story is a premonition of his later work Siddhartha which drew much attention from the counterculture of the times. The Nawakum edition includes the original German text and a new, heir approved English translation. This poignant story follows the spiritual trials of the aspiring poet as he leaves his village of privilege to pursue poetic perfection, enduring sacrifice in his search for self. His journey highlights the importance of inner experience over external authority, aligning with Eastern beliefs that advocate for the path of personal spiritual discovery and awakening.
The Poet was designed and published by David Pascoe of the Nawakum Press in Santa Rosa, California in an edition of thirty-six copies. Multi-colored Japanese woodblock prints were created and printed by Kristen Etmund at her studio in Olympia Washington. The short story has a new translation by Dr. Kate Roy of Franklin University, Switzerland. The afterword is by Hesse scholar Prof. Dr. Ingo Cornils, University of Leeds, United Kingdom. Thirty-six copies with forty-eight pages are published at 9 x 13. inches. The edition comes in two states, Deluxe and Slipcase.
