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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What was Hesse primarily working on in 1907?

2. How does Freedman describe Hesse's world growing up?

3. How old was Hesse when he decided to become a writer?

4. How did Hesse handle his mother's death in 1902?

5. Why did Hesse change jobs for less money around 1901?

Short Essay Questions

1. When did Hesse begin to be successful as a writer?

2. What circles did Hesse enter in Tubingen?

3. Describe Hesse's move to Basel.

4. How does Freedman describe Hesse's childhood?

5. When were Hesse's sons born?

6. What does Freedman say about artists' lives, at the beginning of the prologue?

7. Why was 1902 an important year for Hesse?

8. What was Hesse's relationship with his family's values as a young man?

9. What does Freedman say about Hesse's popularity over the years?

10. When did Hesse begin to write?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Describe the importance of other writers and artists in Hesse's life and in his development as a writer. What role did the circle of writers in Tubingen play for him? What did he get from their company? What did he give to that circle? What connections did he make? How did Hesse play the role of "writer" differently with his writer friends than he played the role with his family?

Essay Topic 2

Describe Hesse's relationship with his parents and family. Why didn't they get along? What traits of Hesse's strained their relationship, even from his childhood? What traits of his parents contributed to a strained relationship? How did Hesse's works, marriages, and decisions change the nature of that relationship over time?

Essay Topic 3

Hesse experienced periods of depression from time to time throughout his life. What was he depressed about? What did he learn to do to fight his depression? What did he learn from examining the causes of his depression? What was his experience of psychoanalysis like?

(see the answer keys)

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