Hermann Hesse was twelve years old when he decided to become a poet and nothing else. His family interpreted this as madness. However, Hesse achieved his goal. In 1946, he won the Nobel Prize in Literature. He made stubbornness his philosophy.

The message of 'Demian', 'Siddhartha', 'Steppenwolf', and all his works that are so loved by the Greek public is: Be truly against your own self, free from life-hostile compulsions, always dare to depart and start over, in other words, 'be yourself'.

Hermann Hesse (1877-1962) is today the most widely read German writer in the world. Each generation rediscovers him, and his readers are always young in age.

Alois Prinz narrates the life of Hesse, from his childhood in the town of Calw, his existential crises, his attempts to avoid adulthood, his anxieties about the future of the world, and his isolation in the village of Montagnola in Northern Italy, where Hesse, 'the most peaceful rebel of German literature', would start his life over once again.

Prinz recounts in detail the reasons why Hesse urged young people not to take him as a role model, yet with such discretion that it allows the reader to discover them on their own.