Demian - Hermann Hesse

Originally published under a pseudonym shortly after the First World War, a novel of embracing duality

Emil Sinclair boasts of a theft that he has not committed and subsequently finds himself blackmailed by a bully. He turns to Max Demian, in whom he finds a friend and spiritual mentor. This strangely self-possessed figure is able to lure Emil out of his ordinary home-life and convince him of an existing alternative world of corruption and evil. Progressing from an orthodox education through to philosophical mysticism, Emil's search for self-awareness culminates in a meeting with Demian's mother-the symbol and personification of motherhood.