Books like

Books like Demian

12 books with a reading profile close to Demian by Hermann Hesse. Deep, inward-looking, contemplative, open-ended and thought-provoking; a moderate read.

  1. 1 Franny and Zooey

    Franny and Zooey

    by J. D. Salinger

    Also deep and inward-looking · philosophy, psychology

    Franny and Zooey consists of two connected narratives centered on the youngest members of the Glass family, a group of former child prodigies.

  2. 2 Steppenwolf

    Steppenwolf

    by Hermann Hesse

    Also deep and inward-looking · philosophy, psychology

    Harry Haller is a middle-aged intellectual living in a rented room, paralyzed by a perceived duality between his refined human persona and a savage, solitary identity he calls the Steppenwolf.

  3. 3 The Death of Ivan Ilych

    The Death of Ivan Ilych

    by Leo Tolstoy

    Also deep and inward-looking · philosophy, psychology

    Ivan Ilych is a high-ranking judge in nineteenth-century Russia who builds a life around social status, material comfort, and strict professional decorum.

  4. 4 A Hero of Our Time

    A Hero of Our Time

    by Mikhail Lermontov

    Also deep and inward-looking · philosophy, psychology

    Set against the rugged landscape of the Caucasus Mountains, the novel follows Grigory Pechorin, a young Russian officer whose life is defined by boredom and emotional detachment.

  5. 5 Notes from Underground

    Notes from Underground

    by Fyodor Dostoevsky

    Also deep and inward-looking · philosophy, psychology

    The narrative follows a retired civil servant residing in St.

  6. 6 Il fu Mattia Pascal

    Il fu Mattia Pascal

    by Luigi Pirandello

    Also deep and inward-looking · philosophy, psychology

    Mattia Pascal, a small-town librarian in Italy, is trapped in a miserable marriage and weighed down by his mother-in-law's temper.

  7. 7 Hamlet

    Hamlet

    by William Shakespeare

    Also deep and inward-looking · philosophy, psychology

    Prince Hamlet returns to Elsinore, Denmark, for his father’s funeral, only to find his mother, Gertrude, married to his uncle, Claudius, who has seized the throne.

  8. 8 The Kreutzer Sonata

    The Kreutzer Sonata

    by Leo Tolstoy, Doris Lessing

    Also deep and inward-looking · philosophy, psychology

    Pozdnyshev, a Russian landowner traveling by train, recounts the events leading to his wife’s murder.

  9. 9 Kokoro

    Kokoro

    by Natsume Sōseki, Edwin McClellan

    Also deep and inward-looking · psychology, literary

    The narrative centers on a university student in Tokyo who befriends an older, cynical intellectual he calls Sensei.

  10. 10 Confessions of a Mask

    Confessions of a Mask

    by Yukio Mishima, Meredith Weatherby

    Also deep and inward-looking · psychology, literary

    The novel chronicles the internal struggles of its narrator, Kochan, as he navigates his adolescence and young adulthood in post-war Japan.

  11. 11 The Dream of a Ridiculous Man

    The Dream of a Ridiculous Man

    by Fyodor Dostoevsky

    Also deep and inward-looking · philosophy, literary

    A cynical protagonist, convinced that nothing in the universe possesses objective value, decides to commit suicide.

  12. 12 Long Day’s Journey into Night

    Long Day’s Journey into Night

    by Eugene O'Neill

    Also deep and inward-looking · psychology, literary

    One August day in 1912, the Tyrone family gathers at their summer home in Connecticut.

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