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"Childhood of a Magician" by Herman Hesse
I 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
no subject
I could fly when I was little, but lost the skill in first grade.
Did you have any superpowers?
no subject
My favorite story about being a kid: It was the first time I had ever been to an amusement park, and I was probably seven or eight. It was a pretty small-scale amusement park, actually, but I feel in love with the "big" rollercoaster the very first time I was on it. My cousins and the parental types were arguing about who got to choose the next ride, which I didn't care about, because I knew what I liked and wanted to go back to the rollercoaster. The adults had already doled out the allotment of tickets, so I went and stood in line for the rollercoaster, gave the man my ticket, and let him strap me in. It took off, gained speed, and crested the reeeally big hill, and I could look down and see the small but still recognizable people who were my relatives. Their heads were swiveling from side to side as if they were looking for something, and then, as one, everyone's head turned upward, so I could see their mouths hanging open, and their eyes met mine as I waved and cackled like a lunatic before the rollercoaster plunged downward.
It was a perfect moment.
no subject
Childhood of a Magician
Can you please refresh the link?
I want to read that story !!!
:)