Beneath the Wheel

As"e;The last knight of German romanticism"e;, the winner of the Nobel Prize in literature, Hesse's new 10-volume anthology, translated by famous writers, includes novels, novellas, short stories, poems, essays, fairy tales and paintings, comprehensively displaying Hesse's creative career.The novel Beneath the Wheel narrates the story that: The hero Hans has been smart, studious and been viewed as the child prodigy by everyone since his childhood. He was sent to a seminary to study. Influenced by the big family and society, he has desired for the success and studied in the solitude school without the slightest free with severe damage to the physical and mental health. His classmate Herman was stubborn and contempt for the fame, so he has not been tolerated by school; however, Hans thought that only Herman was his confidant. Overworking, Hans turned to be physically weak with his grade lower and lower; and the school blamed all of these on Herman. Herman was expelled from the school, Hans felt much lonelier and had to bear teachers' reprimand and the students ridicule from time to time, then he got neurasthenia and could not continue their studies, but return hometown to work as the bench worker for a living. Discrimination from society and frustration in life made him feel as if he had fallen under the wheel of a ruthless and huge wheel. This novel aiming at complaining against the old German educational system has been considered to be a vivid autobiography.