Poet Or Nothing At All

Richard C. Helt is Professor and Head of German, Department of Modern Languages, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ

• List of IllustrationsPrefaceIntroductionPART I: CALW AND TÜBINGEN (1877-1899)Chapter 1. ChronologyChapter 2. Parents, Son and SchoolChapter 3. The Tübingen Years: Not Quite "Breaking Away"Bookseller and PrivatstudentA Poet EmergesChapter 4.  Social Life and First Successes"Lulu," the Summer of 1899, and Leaving TübingenPART II: BASEL (1899-1903)Chapter 5. ChronologyChapter 6. Adjusting to Basel and New FreedomA Basel CénacleChapter 7. ElizabethTaking a Critical Look at Basel: Das RathausChapter 8. New Contacts, New Poetry - The Notturni, the GedichteThe Waldpfarrer and his friendsChapter 9. The Last Cénacler, Ludwig FinckhThe Notturni and the GedichteAppendicesBibliographyIndex

"... recommended to graduates and faculty"  · Choice"It is an extraordinary tale of dedication in the face of the severest parental disapproval, financial hardship and ill-health. Helt tells it well, drawing extensively on primary sources such as letters, diary entries and the like, and demonstrates the extent to which Hesse subsumed all his efforts to conducting his apprenticeship … A readable and informative volume, which usefully augments our knowledge of the rigorous years of a major modern writer."  · Journal of European Studies