"Childhood of a Magician" by Herman Hesse
Jun. 8th, 2013 10:33 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kestrellI recently read an excerpt of this autobiographical essay in a past issue of "Lapham's Quarterly," and went looking for the entire essay, which reminded me of the writings of one of my favorite authors, Walter de la Mare. It turned out to be, as far as I could tell, only available in a collection of Hesse's essays titled _Autobiographical Writings_, which has not been reprinted since 1972. As I don't see any way in which I could be depriving the author of royalties by sharing it, I have uploaded the entire essay to SendSpace so others could read it. Here is the link, though I haven't used SendSpace in awhile so tell me if I got it wrong
http://www.sendspace.com/file/2qdgbw
begin quote
Fortunately, like most children, I had learned what is most valuable, most indispensable for life before my school years began, taught by apple trees, by rain and sun, river and woods, bees and beetles, taught by the god Pan, taught by the dancing idol in my grandfather's treasure room. I knew my way around in the world, I associated fearlessly with animals and stars. I was at home in orchards and with fishes in the water, and I could already
sing a good number of songs. I could do magic too, a skill that I unfortunately soon forgot and had to relearn at a very advanced age--and I possessed all the legendary wisdom of childhood.
end of quote
http://www.sendspace.com/file/2qdgbw
begin quote
Fortunately, like most children, I had learned what is most valuable, most indispensable for life before my school years began, taught by apple trees, by rain and sun, river and woods, bees and beetles, taught by the god Pan, taught by the dancing idol in my grandfather's treasure room. I knew my way around in the world, I associated fearlessly with animals and stars. I was at home in orchards and with fishes in the water, and I could already
sing a good number of songs. I could do magic too, a skill that I unfortunately soon forgot and had to relearn at a very advanced age--and I possessed all the legendary wisdom of childhood.
end of quote
