This extremely beautiful novel has a ripeness and wisdom all too rare in modern literature’ Telegraph ‘There’s a certain time in life when one needs to read Hesse’ Jenny Erpenbeck With an introduction by Graham Coxon In a monastery in medieval Germany, brilliant, analytical monk Narcissus is drawn to his new student, the impulsive, charismatic Goldmund. Despite their differences in age and temperament, the two form a deep friendship, but when Goldmund rejects the monastic life and runs away to seek experience of the wider world, their bond is tested, in this plangent, limpid masterpiece, rich with the rhythms of medieval life. Goldmund pursues a sensual, picaresque existence, and Narcissus remains cloistered and controlled, but events and inclination bring them together again and again. One of literature’s most moving portraits of friendship, Narcissus and Goldmund is also a powerful invitation to the reader: to explore the agony and ecstasy of life in the world, to seek the solace of contemplation, and to find the deep unity that exists within all of life’s apparent contradictions.
